I am dyslexic and I struggle to keep up with Josh during the play alongs. It is difficult for me to decode the language of music along with the visual and auditory information fast enough. I do okay playing myself but I want to be sure that I am becoming stronger with timing and rhythm. I appreciate any insights that the community is able to offer. Thank you!
It’s not you and definitely your Dyslexia.
Try it again and repeats for the next 100 times, if it’s still difficult for you to follow along then you’ll need to take a different approach to the lesson, but if it gets better then that’s your next weapon to attack the next module.
Think about it you are following Josh along on a new-ish material to you then not only you have to follow Josh instruction and watch what he’s doing on top of what you are doing along, you have to listen to his instruction, the music and what you are playing while keeping time. It’s a big ask.
I can easily follow his instruction live and playing along relatively confidently while playing and reading the whole note, well I’m much better now, half notes.
Anything smaller or faster requires me to break it down and learn one aspect at a time starting from the instruction, then the music example then reading along without playing then playing without time, then playing along slowly and slowly increase speed.
One day I hope to do all at once the first time in one take. Then I’d no longer be a student and could become a teacher.
This could be a blessing in disguise. Have you tried ignoring the tab on the screen and just tried to find the notes and rhythm that Josh plays? I still haven’t really dug in to much ear training a few years into my bass journey. If you can develop that skill right at the beginning, you’d fimd that eventually, you’d be further along than most of us that do rely on tab.
If this is your big goal or concern, there are lots of better options for working on these skills than the lessons. Those are going to focus more on different skills.
Rhythm… just get a drum loop program for your phone, or pull up a drum track on YT, and just pluck rhythms.
I struggle to read TABs live. They really only work for me when I already have a solid understanding of a song, and I use them to remind me of where changes happen, or to help break down complicated sections to learn what’s being played without any concern for timing or rhythm.
Learning to play by ear is completely valid.
Yeah I wouldn’t even attempt to, this is not their strength
Happens to me too sometimes. Typically I will pause the video in the right location to practice the fingering with no volume or motion, that way I can take all the time I need until I feel comfortable. Last lesson I did the slow workout ten times before moving on to the medium. I’ve also slowed the player down to 75% on some occasions too. Take your time and enjoy!
Your brain might actually do better with standard notation than TAB. Doesn’t help with the course, but it might in the future.
It is a steeper learning curve starting, but once you understand it, it might work better for your brain.
And it really isn’t even that much steeper really, it’s how most instruments are taught after all.
I’m dyslexic too, and there are some challenges. Sometimes Josh’s chatter completely throws me off, and reading musical notation is impossible.
I try not to look at the screen while I play. I learn the notes before I start the workouts, and Josh’s chatter I’ve become desensitized to over time, I take it as part of the lesson because if I ever play with others I need to deal with distractions
Just break down the lesson into chunks, learn the chunks, then stitch it back together.
Agree! I’m not a theory guy but I can read music like a book, thanks mainly to growing ypup in Asia and the old way of learning where before you can play your first favorite song you have to know all of the notes available on the sheets, ![]()
The benefit of reading music once you have your fingerboard mapped out cold, is choices of paths. You are not restricted to one way of playing. I’m getting much better at tab reading but I still have a long way to go.
Im not dyslexic but I have similar problems when Josh is counting out the beats. So after I have completed all the exercises in a module I go back to the sneak peak and try to just copy the piece purely by instinct. The usually nails it for me eventually and then I can go back to relook at all the ‘music theory, information again when I can actually play the riff. Maybe that might help you too.
I go back to the sneak peak and try to just copy the piece purely by instinct.
Have you looked in the course extras for the sheet music and extended audio tracks for all the exercises/songs?