How Easy is It To Learn to Play The Bass

Maybe not, but, with time and practice, YOU can be good at Bass.
Whatever you do DO NOT give up and remember to have fun :+1: :+1: :+1:

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C’mon now. First I do not think this will take you a few years. As a few have said there is learning and there is mastering an instrument. My OP is looking strictly at learning the Bass and being able to play along with your favorite song. Hey even if you are only playing root notes at least you are playing and hopefully enjoying yourself. Look at @Mar post.

Look at where you are now compared to last November when you first joined the forum.
I don’t think you are doing so badly at all, and whatever you do do not compare yourself to others.

It would be nice if you could get together with other like minded people in person but with this damned Covid crap I realize that is not so easy right now.

Have you gone on to the Discord server for the 50 song challenge yet? If not check it out. There is a completely different forum over there with the same people you know from the B2B forum.

Just hang in there and have fun, you will get there. :+1:

ADDED: What lesson on the course are you on now?

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I fully get the jealousy thing. I watched a friend play one of my basses the other day, and he’s fully gifted. It was almost a little intimidating-because he knew my instrument better than i do.
He had also been playing stringed instruments for 20 years, so when i compare my one year, and ask myself if I’m 5% of the player he is? Yeah, i think i can say i am.

That being said, play that thing!

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I finished it a while ago, managed it (even with module 13).
And know what I need to work on.
I have guitar experience (which actually helps me more than bothers) and it was just easier for me to learn then. But I played as a kid, it’s just different now.

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This is the way.

It’s always such a bad game to compare yourself to other musicians. There’s always a bigger fish. But knowing where you are at and where you need to go is the way to improve and enjoy.

The important part is to be happy with it being basically a lifelong process. We’re all where we are at right now, but if you know where to go next and what to work on to get there, you’re a step ahead of a lot of us :slight_smile:

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Easy is relative. Do I have to practice and work to improve? Yes. Is it fun? Yes. Ergo it’s easy

A lot easier than guitar. I never made consistent progress on guitar

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Learning most instruments is easy, after all kids do it without proper instruction all the time!!!
How we as adults perceive it is a different story, a personal one
Was the B2B course easy? Sure, except for the fast tempo lessons that shall not be named on this thread
Am I capable of playing how and what I’d like? Hell no, that stuff is hard
I guess it depends on the bar that one sets for oneself
Bass was easy to learn, but getting to where I’d like to be is hard

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I started at 31 with no musical experience, and it was pretty easy to get the basics. That was probably mostly due to how excellent Josh is as a teacher. Like most people are saying it’s easy to chug roots and 5ths like 90% of pop songs and rock do, but bass feels extremely hard to do well because you have so many things you are responsible for in a band setting, that you risk over playing or neglecting the harmony or rhythm. But on the same token when you realize how much power the bass player has over the song, it can be very rewarding.
Edit: if I could give any tip to a new bass player I would say, the stronger your rhythm/groove is, the less important your melody needs to be and vice versa. And your goal should be to have both

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All i hear reading this is bootsy, “uhhh, and ya hit it on the one”

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So good :slight_smile:

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Easy enough that I’ve stuck with it! After a year and a half, it’s still fun; in fact, it’s getting more fun. I’ve tried cello and piano in the past, only for a few months at a time. Unlike cello, or any bowed instrument, you can get a nice sound out of the bass by fretting a string and plucking it. But to be really good at it? That takes many years of practice—to which I’m looking forward.

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