I’m with Giorgio when it comes to disco bass.
That’s what I did too.
I include myself in the “skipped Billie Jean”, camp.
I am a fully paid up member of ‘tried Billie Jean and decided to come back once I’ve learned a bit more!’ too
Hey BT! Welcome to the forum.
Don’t stress about Billy Jean. I did the course (stick with it, it will turn you into a bass player) having never picked up a bass before. Josh does say somewhere that some lessons will push you a bit and to skip them if it’s too much. I took him at his word, finished the course and now regularly play at open mic events. I probably still can’t play BJ!! It don’t no way matter one bit. Having fun is the thing here.
This is a really important point. You’re much better off practicing an easier song you can play with good technique that trying to play a harder song you can only play with bad technique. I’ve noticed when a song is a bit too hard for me, my technique really suffers as I try to make it work. Billie Jean is one of these. I still can’t play it with good technique at even the slow workout speed, so I’m holding off on it until my technique and playing improve, then I’ll come back to it.
Sometimes it just be like that. Take a break from that song, learn another, then come back. You’ll be surprised how your mind works on the problem while you do something else.
Agree. Small steps. with plenty of practice and have to walk away
sometimes
for a bit. The cool thing about taking breaks is that the learning still happens even if I don’t nail it. Happy practicing.
Fear not! You are not alone! May I suggest to find a bass cover with tabs on YouTube and slowdown the speed and increase when you feel comfortable? I use a Vidami pedal to select chunks of the song, slow down and loop again and again until my ears bleed… I mean until I get it and then increase the speed. Most of the time I barely reach 80-90% of the real speed but hey! most of my mates don’t even notice it