Hello everyone, I started the course about a month ago and love it.
I have days that I pickup my bass and everything feels great, my fingers are flying and it sounds good. Other days it feels like I can’t get comfortable, I can’t find a good position for the bass and I make a lot of mistakes.
Anyone else have these days?
Yup
Oh hell yeah, a lot of those days are mine.
Then it’s time for me to simple get a coffee, and wait for the day to pass. Next day, next change. Works most of the times.
At least once a week.
Definitely have days like this, often when working on “simpler” stuff. I usually give myself a 5 minute break and try again. If I’m still not getting it…I usually call it a day on the session, sleep on it and try again the next day…and quite often it’s clicked and I can play through it. The main thing is to keep picking up the guitar, even if it’s just to noodle around for 5 mins
Yes, same on sax… and any other instrument I’ve ever played.
Here is the trick…never throw the instrument across the room on the bad days, it makes to good days even harder to come by.
I think this happens to all musicians at times, regardless of their instrument.
I often wonder how Keith Richards ever became so good on the guitar when he was either drunk or stoned most of the time 
My theory here is once you have it embedded in your brain (from being one of those young/play all day & night in your room types), the booze/pot gets rid of the anxiety/nerves/inhibitions and makes you play even better…until the point when you fall on the floor of course.
As a new member of Team Sober, having spent years on Team CrazyGoNuts I can attest that this statement is accurate.
Hell yeah!
I had a tantrum trying to learn a new piece last night. I actually am surprised that the whole world didn’t hear ! 
LOl I have weeks like that 
It’s normal, don’t worry!
Yep, every day. I’m on lesson 61 BTW. I slowed down around December, and I’m taking it easy for that very reason. It has to be FUN; yes it’s also frustrating, maddening and tiring, but FUN.
I have two basses now, a P-clone and a Ray4, and it helps me often to switch from one to the other if I’m not getting something right. The two are so different, that it breaks patterns to switch from one to the other and often helps get over an impasse.
Yes, indeed . . . 
No, I can’t say I do but this is state of mind. I accepted the fact that no matter what I do I will suck at it in the beginning and only through practice and perseverance I’ll reach my goals.
If you feel that you’ve hit brick wall during your practice times, lay down your bass and go do something else or come back at it tomorrow…you will notice the difference.
Absolutely.
In everything - not just bass playing.
I think what happens as you get better and practice more and more and more and build your proficiency (at any skill) is that the pattern and duration changes.
Instead of day to day frustrations, I have plateaus that get frustrating.
Then they get overcome, and there’s a feeling of new achievement / understanding / proficiency and usually that slips into another cycle of ‘now I’m just doing the same stuff over and over’.
The key to both (as everyone here has described) is to keep calm, take breaks, and never stop pushing forward.
Echoing what @Gio said - this plateau happens when learning any new skill. It takes time for your brain and body to learn what it’s doing. One thing to keep in mind is to sleep well. Sounds weird, but sleep is when all the new stuff you’ve learned gets cemented in your brain. So keep practicing, keep learning, but let yourself rest from time to time. It’s important, too.
@Noisembryo True! Better than trying until frustration. On days when your fingers are flying over the fretboard and everything works out, you stay a bit longer.
You wonder that until you actually realize that having a couple of beers with an obese cone rolled especially for a 2 hour jam outdoors is really all you need to step your stressful ass out of the studio for a moment.
Works wonders every once in a while. When you take things too serious you can even bend the stick so far that you are just sitting there unproductive, wasting time but also not relaxing or enjoying yourself.
Nothing is more a bitch than being the studio for 4 hours with nothing but air on your canvas. I realized being too strict only made my time tick like a prick. 
Constant burnouts because you push yourself too hard only causes lethargy towards what you’re doing which invades other parts of your life quicker than you realize it’s already happening. Balance & breaks need to be in order as well, without going overboard of course.
@MC-Canadastan I’ve slowed my rate too, but still progressing. I’ve worked out about 15 songs from my dynamic and lengthy goal list. Sometimes I just need to play, and I need to practice singing with my playing too… because I can’t turn the singing off mentally and might as well go with it 
Yes.