That’s right, but I was thinking of something else.
Q. What’s the difference between a chickpea and a lentil?
A. I’ve never had a lentil on me.
Sorry everyone. I’ll get my coat.
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I got that, but wasn’t going there 
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A: Depends
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Hey, @JoshFossgreen! Before this topic ran way off the rails 
, did you get the kind of answers that would help you?
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Maybe if this was a psychology/sociology experiment in disguise 
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I need to print this and put it on every wall my eye can reach in my house
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Haha, thanks @eric.kiser, yes this was very helpful! (until it wasn’t 
)
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Bottom line, @JoshFossgreen, we don’t want demotivation, stagnation, rudderlessness.
We want more Josh lessons. We want BeyondBassBadassery.
Please let us know when that might be a reality.
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There are several ways to count rhythms taught simultaneously in music schools.
Counting out rhythm subdivisions by saying 1-E-And-Ah and tapping (clapping) rhythms reinforce each other as one is oral and the other is kinetic/percussive. They are different and complementary ways to “communicate” rhythms clearly and succinctly.
Each is absolutely valid and invaluable as music rhythmic teaching/learning tools. And they are universally used as such.
Like it or not, music is a language and these conventions are the shorthand that get concepts across quickly and clearly.
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The only lessons I’m doing right now are BassBuzz. I’m naturally inclined to feel very impatient with myself when I don’t pick things up right away, so I get demotivated and fall in to the mindset of “why should I bother, I’ll never be good at this”. Like giving up guitar after a few months because I kept buzzing strings on chords and couldn’t move my fingers well.
I am putting my trust in the BassBuzz process, both in Josh’s teaching and the supportive comments I see in this community. I felt a bit demotivated when I spectacularly flunked Billie Jean workouts even though I can play it slowly but I trusted Josh saying just move on.
I did the Ska lesson after Billie Jean and got some confidence back as I did the fast workout. But now I’m on the lesson where it’s jumping from the first fret on E to the third fret (pinky) on D and as a very short fingered person I am feeling a wee bit demotivated, but it’s at the end of a long day and I’m tired. I’m committed to playing for at least an hour a day and when I wake up I think “BASS!” straight away. So it’s all good, and I’m using this course to really push myself to go as far as I can without falling in to my old self sabotaging/defeatist mentality when it comes to music.
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First off, like @John_E said, it’s all about reps, reps, and more reps.
First slow it down.
Second, it takes time. Your fingers will improve their stretch over time. When I started playing, an early song was Zombie by the Cranberries. I had to micro shift between the third and fifth frets. Last night I played it and there’s no shifting at all. My hand over time became more stretchy.
Third, find a song and practice it a few minutes a night. Something that speaks to you. Gimme Some Loving is a good riff - g g g g g G
Play it, record yourself, and come back in a month and see how much you’re improved. It sneaks up on you.
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The only time I get de-motivated is any time I try to learn even the basics about slap/pluck techniques.
I might as well be trying to slam dunk in the NBA. At 5’6" it’s not in my wheelhouse, ever. And apparently so is slap. I’m not even looking to play entire songs or anything, just some basics to maybe add some cool fills. The whole thing just escapes me. 
I get back in the saddle by learning some new riff or other thing not currently in my toolbox that fits my normal style.
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Your comment and knowing you’ve been playing a while made me think of something.
That slapping may be a young man’s game. Learn it young, no problem (go see YouTube).
You read / see a lot of older seasoned bass players say they don’t slap. I think there’s something to it.
At least that’s what I’m using as my excuse.
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I’ve thought that too John_E. Not being patronizing here but that is how I came across Josh’s lessons was trying to follow along with Josh’s slap basics lesson. 
But no matter how well he breaks it down he might as well be trying to teach someone guitar over the phone.
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A student has to have the fire in the belly to learn any musical instrument technique. Pretty much gotta love the music and/or the masters of that technique as sweet inspiration. If that’s not there, it’s not impossible to learn the technique, but it’s unlikely it will be relevant enough to care about it.
Mark Smith of Talking Bass started as a kid wanting to learn how to slap, as did our own Josh Fossgreen. That burning desire came from the gut. That kind of motivation is a super-power that yields results. Adults have that, too, as evidenced by B2B and this here forum.
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Yes, but, cognitive development is weird. Some things are easier to learn at different ages. Take rolling Rs like in Spanish or other languages. Easily done up to age 7. Tough after.
I have no idea whether slapping is one of those cognitive development things, I just know those things exist.
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Does that make me a bit of an oddball?
I bought my first bass on a whim as way of trying to cheer myself up (signed off work with depression at tge time). Hadn’t heard of things like slap until I’d started learning and am only just starting to learn who well known bassists are, so certainly wasn’t inspired by anyone or anything in particular.
Simply a case of ‘this might be fun’.
Turns out, playing bass is indeed a lot of fun 
Haven’t got as far as the slap module yet though, so I’ve not done anything beyond ‘standard’ playing yet, so can’t directly comment on that aspect mind you
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