Hit a roadblock (Advice needed)

Hi everyone! I’ve been progressing through the course and was wondering if anyone could help because I feel like I’ve hit a bit of a road block, I’ve had no problem understanding stuff up to this point but once more advanced theory stuff like the Nashville numbering system, Syncopation, and diatonic chord progressions came up, they have me kinda stumped. Was wondering how I should go about this? Should I rewatch the lessons to see if they click the second time around, or should I try to do some out of course research to try and get a better understanding, any advice would be cool :slight_smile: I’m currently on module 10 lesson 2

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There is nothing wrong with repeating lessons or skipping something if you get stuck and going back to it later.
I actually repeated the entire B2B course a second time after I got my Fretless bass. I found that I learned and retained things much better with the repetition.
You will discover what works best for you.

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Go back over any lessons that you need. B2B is a journey, not a destination. Repeat it as much as you want. It’s a great resource. :+1:

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Hi Freddie!–

Put me down as the first vote for doing some supplemental reading / research. I don’t say that because B2B isn’t good; it’s an exceptional resource. But sometimes all you need for the lightbulb to come on is to look at things from another perspective.

In a different thread I recommended Patrick Pfeiffer’s Bass Guitar For Dummies as supplemental reading. Like B2B it’s geared toward beginners, and Patrick goes into pretty good detail as to the theoretical “why” of things. Knowing how to do something is good; knowing why to do it is better.

Another suggestion would be the complete edition of the Hal Leonard Bass Method by Ed Friedland. It’s a method book, so explanations are kept brief but there are lots of examples for you to practice. Get the one with audio access included and you can hear what those examples should sound like. That book is also a great way to practice your music reading, if you’re so inclined.

Neither of those works discusses the Nashville Number System, but for that you can find beaucoup resources online. One example comes from the big-hearted folks at Sweetwater:

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/the-nashville-number-system-demystified/

There are tons of others out there, and I’m sure more than a few of them will shed some light on the matter. Help is all around you. Seek and ye shall find.

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Yeah I’ll add to the sentiment to not overlook looking elsewhere for information. Doing a search in Google and/or YouTube on any of these topics will lead to a wealth of information.

B2B really just scratches the surface of these theory topics, so looking elsewhere will lead to more info, more explanations, etc.

Oh, and I always recommend the book Music Theory for the Bass Player by Ariana Cap. This has all the theory you’ll need unless you go pro.

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You can rewatch the lessons but I wouldn’t spend too much time on it… don’t let it impede your progress, you can come back to it later and with the additional experience you’ll probably find it easier to figure out.

Here is a great music theory video from Andrew Huang https://youtu.be/rgaTLrZGlk0?si=OeNPtm2SzpZlHzdu

My thought on the nashville numbering system falls under “use it to learn it”. If you want to learn to use it, find a song and some nashville notation to play through. That sweetwater link in a previous post is a good resource.

For syncopation, google songs that use syncopation and listen to them until you can internalize that feel/sound.

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Understanding particulars, concepts, theory or anything else that can be written or read in words in your first months or more of playing bass will not help you get any better at building the physical and mental skills to play bass.
Physical ability along with stamina only come through one process, this also applies to the mental development required, again there is only one process.
Bass is a hands on game much more than anything else, if your hands aren’t on the strings how is it you are getting any better?
There may come a day where theory training outside of that which you naturally assimilate or understandably recognize through just playing bass is required to take you to the next level. But I don’t believe that day should be sought after so early in the study, it takes far to much time away from actually playing.
Until a person can firstly control their own physical movements what practical importance can there be in believing you theoretically understand how it should work.
There will be great importance one day in theory if the practitioner continues to practice.
If they continue is key… Best to make grooves and more grooves, after you burn groove into yourself you will figure out what to do next.

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