Hi all - apologies if this has been answered before but I am not great at searching the forum! I have one more lesson to go and then will have finished Module 6. In between the lessons, what is it best to practise? The exercise from the lessons? Songs? Other exercises from, e.g. my Hal Leonard book? If songs, is Josh’s list split into “levels” of difficulty?
Thanks a lot 
Whatever makes you want to play more. It’s never a waste of time to just play anything that inspires you and with where you’re at in your bass journey right now, anything that you do is going to make you better.
For me it was finding songs I could handle and play them. I also found saying the notes out loud as I played them to help memorization.
Thank you @faydout!
Great, thanks @Rob5589 !
There’s a drawing course called Draw a Box, it’s a really good free course if you want to learn to draw. In one of the first lessons it introduces something called “the 50% rule” which I believe should be applied to anything you learn that could be considered fun (music, sport, art, language etc.). It’s especially important when you’re a beginner.
It goes like this:
The point is to learn how to enjoy the activity and how to play around with it. Sometimes, especially as a beginner, we can get caught up with having to learn something or get it perfect. You can make mistakes, you can sound bad, but it doesn’t matter because you’re having fun.
In the context of drawing, it makes sense right? If you spend all your time doing drawing exercises, you never spend time drawing things you want to draw, which is the whole point of learning the craft in the first place.
I think it’s the same for learning an instrument. You can focus all your time on studying theory or playing exercises to make you faster or better at muting or whatever. But you need to play songs you like, or just mess around on the instrument, because ultimately that’s what you’ll actually be doing with the bass.
So I’d say to try learning a song you like. Or just plug in your bass and make some fun sounds. Try to play some of the lessons you already did from memory, even if you can’t completely remember them. It doesn’t matter if its wrong.
Or try to play a bass riff you know without looking at tabs. You know how Another One Bites the Dust goes right? Could you pick up your bass right now and play it? Give it a try.
The key is to spend over half your time just having fun. You’ll learn a lot more during that time than you think.
Here’s a link to the draw a box site where he explains it in detail: https://drawabox.com/lesson/0/2/50percent
This is so helpful, @THRILLHO: invaluable advice. There is no point learning something of there is no fun involved as you won’t learn as well and it defeats the purpose of…learning in the first place! I will have a look at that website too.
Thanks again: really appreciate your detailed response.
I agree with the others. In a sense Josh’s course is designed as a good blend of lesson and things that most people will find fun, so it kind of fits all the roles here. It’s not necessary to go outside of that, but… I think it’s also important do things you personally enjoy. If you are interested in anything in the songs section of the site…
Yes, his list even has selection to sort them out. If I recall correctly, the video version of this list is roughly ordered as well.
There is also a section on the forum dedicated to this, check out the category “50 songs challenge”. Thread here. The song threads have youtube and spotify links as well as a lot of helpful comments and advice.
Do I have to be at a certain skill level with my bass playing to participate?
No. We started with the easier songs. If it takes you longer to learn a song, don’t be shy to post your recordings or questions whenever you feel ready. Imperfections and mistakes are very welcome and part of the process!
