@JoshFossgreen mentions several times in the early lessons (the only ones I have seen so far, LOL) that he does not want us to get stuck, but to keep moving forward. He (and others on here) also have said that doing the Fast and even the Medium speed workouts are not really mandatory.
So how do you know when the right time to move to the next lesson is? Last night’s lesson was the first one where I had actual trouble keeping up with he fast workout (Sweet Home Alabama) and I’m not sure where exactly the break point is between an acceptable level of mistakes versus a need to do the lesson 1-2 more times until you have it down. I don’t want to move ahead too fast because I have a feeling the difficulty level will spike before too long (I have read a few concerning things about Billie Jean…) so I don’t want to realize that I should have mastered some basic skill already and I moved on too soon.
FWIW: Maybe adding in a sort of “exam” at the end of each module might help out. Just a sort of bonus lesson where Josh plays a line and tells the student that if they can play it the same way without messing up, they should move on, but if not, they should repeat lessons. Just some way to gauge if I am really doing as well as I think I am.
You’re probably just thinking a little too much, @brandoncmurphy . . .
Don’t worry . . . we ALL have problems with “Billie Jean” (I still do!)
Just keep moving on along . . . try to focus on the key concepts of each lesson as you go along. And, yes, as long as you can play the slow workout, you can keep moving ahead. @JoshFossgreen has put a lot of time and thought into developing the pace of the course. The idea is NOT to get bogged down on any one point, ok?
You are not alone!
Remember, you can always go back later and fill in or work on the parts of the course that you didn’t get the first time around.
What Joe and Eric said. Just keeping going. As long as you can do the slow workout you’ll be fine. And I still have trouble with Billie Jean too. It does make for a good finger warmup exercise before playing though.
@brandoncmurphy I second everything the others have said. Don’t get too stressed out about it. This is supposed to be fun, and it is if you don’t stress too much. When you finish, you can to it again, and again, and again. It’s like learning golf. You may suck for 18 holes, but you can go back and play another 18 holes, and suck a little less each time until you become proficient.
As for Billie Jean… if you stroll around the B2B campus, way in the back next to the trash dumpsters, you’ll find a statue of Billie Jean covered in pigeon droppings and rotten tomatoes that students have thrown at her.
So, in what seems to be a re-occurring theme, I have once again gotten ahead of myself. As many of you have pointed out.
Last night in the lesson, @JoshFossgreen states very clearly that I should focus on the key concepts of each lesson, and as long as I can get through the slow workout, I am ready to move on.
I think it is a testament to how well put together the course is that the questions have been anticipated and answered and if that @brandoncmurphy guy would just calm down he would realize that all of his questions will be answered.
In M4-L2 part 2 (With You or Without You), Josh says that as long as you can do the slow workout you can move on to the next lesson . . . then come back later on to work on the medium and fast ones if desired.
I just spent about a week on Mod.11 Lesson 3 " Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag. Happy to say I’ve got thru the medium workout. Now I keep hearing the song in my head … deedle deelde deelde leedle lee … wait for it … Daaaaa!
Part of the “advance/move forward” philosophy is that you get AWAY from something (for a while) and then, later, when you come back, you’ll notice that it feels “easier” to try again, probably much more than keeping at it until your fingers bleed…
Everybody struggles with Billie Jean. Even people who have a lifetime of musical experience behind them if that experience isn’t specifically Bass.
I’m pretty sure Josh put it where he did to reign me in when I started getting cocky.
Actually, I think it’s there to teach us that you have to be prepared to move on and come back to things later. There is some real science behind this also. As it takes time for the brain to build the necessary neurological pathways.
When I started, I was determined to nail every exercise on the fast workout before moving on and I fought with Billie Jean for far longer than I should have. Don’t do that. It only leads to frustration and this is supposed to be fun. Just plan to make Billie Jean part of your practice as you move through the course.
There is something arguably simple and yet infuriatingly complex about that bass line, and I keep coming back to work on it some more. Each time I do, I see some slight improvement.
(I still do!)
