Excellent!
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@Lo Just changed the forum settings, just for you, should be able to do 2 characters now. 
I can’t handle MMOs, need to be able to play by myself, and not get too sucked into a dopamine spiral. I shudder to think how many other instruments I could have learned in the time I’ve spent playing video games. 
Welcome @hennesykenneth! Hope you enjoy the course.
Welcome @garyfinfrock! Playing along with songs for hours sounds good to me.
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I hear ya! My game playing time has gone way down since starting my Bass addiction a year ago. I purposely keep my bass by my PC so it calls to me when I sit at my desk
And to keep this on topic WELCOME @TK-421!! This course is AMAZING. I have learned more in one month than I have in the last year trying to teach myself. I love how Josh sneaks in theory or technique and you dont even know it sometimes!
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Thanks Josh! 
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So I promised to update you all once I chose my bass so here I am again. After much faffing around, I’ve ordered a Fender SQ CV 60s Jazz Bass in Daphne Blue and a Fender Rumble 40.
They should arrive next week so I’ll only have to wait four weeks until I’m allowed to play with them (they’re a birthday present).
I shall endeavor to be extra nice to my wife in the hope she lets me have them early.
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Welcome to all the new members that snuck in while I was away for a couple of weeks. There are too many for me to greet individually, but you know who you are 
Our forum is really growing!
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Hi everyone.
I’m a re-entering vessel… I used to play bass in the seventies (yes, I’m a borderline boomer).
I was largely self-taught. I did attend a music school for which I actually paid a feee, but that was wasted money. The instructor told me to play with a pick, and to forget about using my pinkie because my hands were too small for a full-scale neck anyway. Don’t ask…
When I quit playing for various reasons, one of the reasons was that I was a talentless hack with hands too small (this wasn’t the only side of my crippling self-doubt).
So now, at age 62, I am determined to become a better bass player than I ever was. That’s gonna require some work… I’ve found that you can forget everything about how to play the bass except all the things you did wrong. 
I started the course three days ago, and I find myself going through it at breakneck speed – things are coming back, and I still know my way around the fretboard – it’s merely relearning the muscle memory stuff and the hand-ear-coordination, plus picking up on how to fix all those things I did do wrong. I now find myself having Module 3 all but finished, but I’m also still convinced that I will hit a point where things become harder than they seem now, and my progress will grind to a halt.
My musical background:
I was raised on a diet of impressionism and jazz. In the late '60’s, my mother got into what we now call progressive rock. I binged for years on a self-titled album from The Nice, with a live rendition of Rondo '69 as performed in Fillmore East. This weird, hyperactive, super-energetic, schizophrenic fusion of baroque-classic, jazz and pure unadulterated rock-on-a-Hammond-organ completely changed the way I, as a prepubescent primary-school-kid, listened to music.
At age 18 or thereabouts, I wasn’t adverse to jazzrock, but only really got into it in 1976, when I first heard Brand X. To my (European) tastes, that sounded like jazz was supposed to sound: a bunch of guys having fun!
And a year later, I would make a much more cathartic discovery - I hit upon the guy who would be my favourite musician ever since, up to and including today… the opening notes of Gong’s album Gazeuse intrigued me, but the guitar solo from that same track left me in a pool of tears, unable to recover my breath. Everything I thought I knew about music was disintegrating in those few moments. I didn’t understand one iota of what this guy was doing, but the sheer ecstatic beauty of it had me sobbing uncontrollably. It was only much, much later than I understood how hard it was, technically as well as harmonically.
Ever since then, Allan Holdsworth has been my musical hero.
Anyway, back to bass.
My main influences on bass playing have been Chris Squire, Geddy Lee (hence the Rick I got in 1977), Percy Jones, Gary Willis and Mick Karn (hence the fretless). If you are interested in hearing how to make a bass guitar sound like the leading melodic instrument, you may want to listen to Mick Karn, specifically his solo album called ‘Titles’.
I also get along very well with drummers. Sebastiaan Cornelissen is not only one of Europe’s best jazz drummers, composers and arrangers, he’s also one of my best friends. We share an admiration of Holdsworth, and I learn a lot from him. His dad was a contrabass player for the Dutch Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as an accomplished bass guitar player, and while Sebastiaan is primarily a drummer, he also plays a mean bass guitar and upright bass (better than I, but I’ll be working on that).
That’s about it. I’m not a vegan, but I am into NVC. I’m also a Krazy Cat Lady, male corollary, as well as a lover of a nice red wine, preferably Merlot.
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Welcome @peterhuppertz. The end of module 4 is where you probably take a bit to get through… I have been working on it for a week. And probably need another week because my pinky and ring finger are having differences of opinion on who should play on what string! (even though Josh says to move on after you get thru the slow workout). Billie Jean is definitely a finger twister that will test you!!!
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We’ve made it into a bit of a joke around here. It’s actually not as hard as we make it out to be but it is definitely a finger twister, and kind of an endurance battle at full speed. Mostly it’s hard because it is so early in the course.
If you’re like many of us, it will eventually become a permanent part of your practice routine - it’s an excellent technique exercise. And don’t worry, you’ll be able to do it!
I’d recommend not spending too much time trying to nail the fast workout - it’s super challenging that early in the course - and just come back to it later.
I like using it to demo heavily distorted metal tones from my pedalboard, because it just sounds so wrong
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Hi Josh and team,
I’m from Canada, have just joined and digging it already.
Like a few other people here, I’ve never played an instrument (aside from the recorder in high school and some harmonica I taught myself as a 10-year-old at home in the basement).
I’ve always felt deep inside that I need to play an instrument and that somehow, playing music should be in my life.
So, at 50, I thought I’d try the banjo. Ahem. I soon discovered I’d bitten off a bit more than I could chew.
So I’ve switched to the bass with the understanding that I needed to give it a fair shot, take it seriously, apply myself and invest in a proper course rather than watch random, out-of-sequence Youtube videos .
I feel I’m on the right path here and feel true joy taking these modules.
I’ve been practically running home from work to practise and continue my lessons.
Thanks so much for your instruction, Josh.
Erica
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Hi Josh and team,
I’m from Canada, have just joined and digging it already.
Like a few other people here, I’ve never played an instrument (aside from the recorder in high school and some harmonica I taught myself as a 10-year-old at home in the basement).
I’ve always felt deep inside that I need to play an instrument and that somehow, playing music should be in my life.
So, at 50, I thought I’d try the banjo. Ahem. I soon discovered I’d bitten off a bit more than I could chew.
So I’ve switched to the bass with the understanding that I needed to give it a fair shot, take it seriously, apply myself and invest in a proper course rather than watch random, out-of-sequence Youtube videos .
I feel I’m on the right path here and feel true joy taking these modules.
I’ve been practically running home from work to practise and continue my lessons.
Thanks so much for your instruction, Josh.
Erica
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Welcome here @ericabulman! 
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Hey Josh. I see you started studying a few different styles of martial arts back in May of 2018. Are you still studying? Have you decided to study any other martial arts?
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Hi All. I’m like super new. I’ve been wanting to learn bass for a long time. About 2 weeks ago, I bought my first bass. I’ve been using RockSmith 2014 to learn some songs from, but I’ve decided to actually take lessons. I’ve seen a few of Josh’s videos and thought he would be a good person to learn from.
The bass I got was a Busker’s bass, which I got second hand (used) at a local second hand shop here in Bangkok, Thailand.
Nice to meet you all.
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Yay, more APAC folks
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Where are you located?
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OK, thanks for the warning. I’ll let you know how that goes.
I know the bassline in my mind, and I can see the little lights blinking on the imagined fretboard now… but if the ring finger plays a part in it, I’ve probably found the wrong tab sheets in the vaults inside my mind, because I would expect Josh to do that with index/pinky.
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Tokyo.
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Ah ok. I’ve always wanted to visit Japan. One day I will make it over that way.
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Nice! It’s good to have finally one other member here who shares some of my musical tastes and knows (and admires) the same type of music and musicians! Joking aside, this is a wonderfully diverse community, and we learn a lot from each other (I know I do), but it IS great to have fellow-defender of some good (modern) fusion and jazzrock in here! Check out our “good music Friday” thread for a taste of a bit of everything… but, there you also should find Holdsworth, Gong, and Tristan 
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