I’m with Giorgio when it comes to disco bass.
3 Likes
That’s what I did too.
I include myself in the “skipped Billie Jean”, camp.
4 Likes
I am a fully paid up member of ‘tried Billie Jean and decided to come back once I’ve learned a bit more!’ too
2 Likes
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.
2 Likes
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.
2 Likes
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.
5 Likes
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.
2 Likes
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 
2 Likes
Me today: Does a couple of B2B lessons
Me: “That seems like a good amount for today”
My brain: “Are you just saying that because you know Billie Jean is behind that ‘next’ button?”
Me: “Shut up brain! You don’t know me!”
2 Likes
Billie Jean IS a difficulty spike… for sure. 
But Josh knows exactly what he is doing. If you have problems with it… carry on with the course, then come back to it to see how easy it is!
Don’t hang out there in frustration, keep the learning train chuggin!
Josh stresses several times that getting whatever lesson it is down on slow is the green light to go forward. I ignored that advice my first time through and insisted on not moving on until I got fast down. Really, for real… no joke. If you can get Billie Jean down on slow and that’s what you can do for now, please do that and come back after you finish the course. Billie will be a whole lot easier by then, and it’ll be a great way to show yourself the progress you’ve made.
3 Likes
I will say that with all the talk of BJ being a beast I looked ahead a couple weeks ago and looked at the tab and thought “that doesn’t look so hard”. We’ll see how wrong I was later this afternoon…
3 Likes
For that one, I had an easier time getting it down not finger rolling. If you’re having issues with that part, just try using pinky and ring finger.
1 Like
It’s kind of a finger-twister (as opposed to tongue-twister). The trouble is that it has sort of two pieces that start the same, but end differently, and it’s easy to get them lost or confused.
3 Likes
This will be the first time I follow the “if you can do okay on slow, feel free to move on” advice.
The different plucking pattern in this one (starting on middle) throws my brain off, because with always starting on index before, a straight eighth pattern like this makes me think the index should be on the beat and the middle on the and.
I can mostly muddle through the pattern starting on the D string, but then when it switches to the G string it all falls apart. But as soon as we drop back down to the D string I get back to my prior semi-ok muddling. Don’t know what is so different about the higher strings that suddenly the pattern falls out of my brain, but comes back on the lower strings. Did the slow workout video a couple times and called it a day. We’ll give it another go tomorrow and then move on for a while.
4 Likes
Billy Jean is not my lover either 
2 Likes
Now you have something to come back to 
and see how its not as bad as it first seemed.
Josh very intentionally dropped this bomb of Billie Jean here for a good reason
2 Likes
Yep, I was getting pretty cocky about my skills until that little surprise.
1 Like
This seems to be the way of the bass, best get used to thinking along those line(s).
Almost the same, but subtly different and most often at the end of the bar.
In the beginning until one begins to hear what is actually being played the different bass lines may sound virtually identical.
Bass is a language and the same as learning any new language the sounds being interpreted by the brain use familiar references to distinguish the sounds.
If the sounds are new or unfamiliar sounds the brain will make a comparison to a known sound even if it’s not identical. Believing you are hearing it as it is, is not often the case when learning a new language.
Have you ever been corrected 30 times while learning foreign languages for the same one word?
There seems to be only one answer to being good… Practice, yes for the hands and fingers but it comes from the inside out, train the brain and pump the rhythm until it resonates your entire body then have that rhythm resonate through you right into the floor.
Get those hours behind you asap…
In the beginning it’s challenging as for sometime the bass owns you, but as you stack those hours you begin to own the bass.
The percentages of right notes and proper timing increase with said stacking of hours.
It could be considered a numbers game.
2 Likes