Welcome @JT. Nice to have another UK resident around - not that it’s not lovely to be part of the diversity in the forums.
Make all the progress you can while you have extra time available as before you know it you’re squeezed for time and only see your bass when you glance at it collecting dust. I’ve got no full time occupation (work from home, sort of), no kids, only 1 dog and a few chickens, but I never seem to put enough time into learning/practicing/playing.
Hey Josh!
My name is Janie and I’m over the pond in the UK starting out on the lessons. I’m on module 4 and am averaging 3 hours a day as the time seems to fly when I’m learning!
I’ve been around bands for over 20 years as my ex husband is a guitarist however, after a brief encounter with a Warrior Tanglewood (my frist bass) I gave up as he wasn’t much of a teacher so I lost interest. Wind forward 7 years and my 2nd husband bought me a bass for my birthday so here I am again only this time with an awesome, patient tutor!
I have a close friend who is a musician (he’s recording his 2nd album) who really encourages me and has got me to play along with one of his tracks (just open E, F sharp to A then back) but it’s really got me fired up! His music is basically metal/thrash based which I love, but can’t envisage myself playing like his bassist at the mo but I’m tenacious and determined and soooo want to play at a gig - he wants me to, too - how cool would that be!
Re lessons: I’m ok with the string crossing but tend to hit other strings on the crossover at the mo. I’m also using my ring finger AND pinky til I get some strength in the pinky, hopefully soon. I’m quite impatient so make myself go back 2 lessons whenever I start a new lesson just to go over everything again as I really want to learn a good technique so as to limit the chance of injury (I’m 54 so no spring chicken and have RSI in my right hand but a sweatband on my wrist seems to help that.
Anyway, enough about me, I need to get back to my lessons. I’d like you to hear Scott’s stuff if ever you have time so you know what I’m trying to achieve. You can check his album out on U tube - Spotify/Deezer etc - Scott Beveridge Project - album is called ‘A long Way From Sanity’. I’d be interested to hear your opinion.
Thanks for the lessons so far - really helps when you say ‘breathe’ and ‘relax’ as it’s easy to get tensed up then pay for it! I’ll be checking the forum out at as often as I can.
It’s all about the bass!
Janie 
No Treble. No Treble.
Nice to see another UK’er. Glad to see you around and any spouse that buys their loved one instruments is a keeper! 
He totally is! How long have you been playing? What’s your story?
Scroll up about five messages and you’ll see my intro.
I’m new too!
Ah I see it now…so you’re not a total beginner like me but I see where you’re coming from as re: trying to keep fingers more parallel on the neck - my first musical instrument was the Violin from about 7 to 11 years old and you don’t keep your fingers parallel on the neck on that and there are no frets!
I was trying to actually remember this. I played violin for two years in university. I also played fretless bass for a couple years after that. I went to a private bass teacher and that was her main feedback to me. However, I was probably doing too much clumping of my hand as opposed to not being parallel. I was putting my whole hand around the bass, wrapping my thumb, etc. Not all the time, but sometimes. I’ve been trying hard to keep my thumb from making an appearance and that generally puts my hand in the correct position. Again though, if people want to wrap their thumb around, I don’t have any issue with them doing that. This is just my thing. 
Welcome Warron @wchowace!
And welcome @JT if I didn’t already say it elsewhere, glad you’re digging the course!
And yeah, angling your fingers at the end of the neck is normal, keeping them parallel is more natural on higher frets.
Welcome @janie.williamson! Wow, wish I was playing 3 hours a day, that’s awesome. 
Welcome @JT and @janie.williamson!
Good luck and enjoy! This is a great community of future and existing bassists!
Hey all,
I am a sax player that wanted to branch out and the bass has been calling my name ever since i was a kid watching Gene Simmons get blood all over his.
Been working on some bari sax bass line riffs and wanted to add in an actual bass, so figured I would buy one, learn and combine the two myself. It is literally day 2 so will take a bit but really like it so far…nice departure from sax.
The lessons here are GREAT, cannot get enough.
Bought a Squire Vintage Modified 70s Jazz bass and Fender Rumble 40, happy with them both so far.
Can’t wait to figure out how to contort my left hand around the neck properly so the fingers are where they belong! Haha
John
Welcome! At least playing the bass your mouth can have a rest. 
That is a great bass and amp to learn with. I’m using a Squier right now and it isn’t perfect, but gets the job done. I have a Rumble 100, but 40 probably would have been enough for home practice.
For your left hand, the key for me was being consistent with my thumb placement on the back of the neck. Where your thumb is really impacts the rest of your fingers. Also, it just takes time to get your muscles used to something they aren’t used to doing. Although, I’d imagine playing sax helps with the string pressing muscles.
Welcome @John_E. That’s the rig I wish I’d bought right at the start, and from all the consensus I’ve heard I don’t think you can go far wrong with it. I didn’t take the advise I was given about the Squier and now that they’re discontinued they’ve gone up in price and down in availability on the used market. I found a way to console myself (more basses), but the VM will be the one that got away until I get to try one out. I had a chance to buy a Rumble 40 a couple of months ago and I dithered over it and lost my chance.
I’m tight with money so always second guess myself on value.
It’ll be interesting to hear your thoughts on the course and your progress on a drastically different set of playing skills. You have a definite advantage on the music reading side, I’m sure.
That’s also how I got back into it, @John_E . . . 
Very happy with it too!
Welcome aboard and good luck with the course.
Cheers, Joe
@janie.williamson and @John_E Welcome to BassBuzz! I look forward to seeing you both around the forums.
Hi everyone. I’m Jess and I’ve been working my way through the course for a few months now. I’ve been reading here but haven’t posted much, so thought I’d introduce myself. I played acoustic guitar in high school, and just kind of fell away from it once I hit college, work, etc. Fast forward quite a bit and now I’m surrounded by musicians - my husband is an awesome guitar player, both my sons play guitar, one of them is also teaching himself keyboard, and the other is an excellent drummer. It made me want to play music again and since I’ve always wanted to learn bass, I looked around for lessons and found Josh’s course. I started out with my husband’s Dearmond Pilot since that’s what we had. It’s a great bass but was just not the right one for me. I turned 40 a few weeks ago and my husband got me the Jackson JS3 that I’ve had my eye on, plus a Fender Rumble 40 and a Zoom B1X four pedal, so I am all set. Very much enjoying the course, just moving slowly through it due to not having as much time as I’d like to spend on it!
Welcome to the Forums, @Jess . . . 
Happy belated birthday and hope you enjoy your time with us!
All best, Joe
Welcome! Do you jam with your husband and/or kids? Mine aren’t really interested in anything without a screen unfortunately…
We do sometimes, it’s nice to have a built in group of musicians to play with! There’s pretty much always someone playing music at any given time, so there’s lots of opportunities.
A proper welcome now that you’ve introduced yourself in this thread, @Jess. I was going to ask whether you had a family band on the go - you’ve got everything but the superfluous dancer with a tambourine/maracas (name that 90’s Britpop band).
My wife plays piano & sings so I just have to teach the dog to drum and we’ll be a family jazz trio.