Welcome, David!
… ouch. That must’ve hurt.
Welcome, David!
… ouch. That must’ve hurt.
Waskly wabbits, lol
Hi @peterhuppertz,
I would never sell either of mine,
Sorry I’d better rephrase that, I did say I may sell one to @Mac a couple of weeks ago.
It may have scratch marks on it as he pries it out of my hands though.
Cheers Brian
Hi
I’m Sandy, really enjoying the course but am stuck on Billie Jean, of course! I can do the notes, speeding up will just take time but its keeping my notes sharp and not twanging that I am really struggling with. Finding it hard to move on until I have at least nailed the slow work out on this one. Any tips. Maybe I don’t have my hands in the right position generally?
Welcome to the forum @sandywaters36!
Like you, several members had some issues with Billie Jean. Here are 2 topics you can explore and expose your issues:
And here I am looking up those two threads so I can link them…
Welcome @sandywaters36 - In those threads there are tips but it boils down to general tips like: start very slow, breathe, relax, don’t put (too much) pressure on yourself. If the slow workout is too fast for you there is no shame in it. You can slow it down even further (50 and 75% speed) with the video controls (little gear bottom right corner). You can only learn in your pace and trying to hurry won’t help.
Welcome @sandywaters36…
Yes, Billie Jean is the nemesis of us all. Many of us (myself included), after spending a ridiculously long amount of time trying to master Billie Jean, just moved on and finished the course. Amazingly, after you’ve been through the whole course and have had many hours of practice under your belt, Billie Jean is much easier to nail.
Welcome @sandywaters36.
Good idea to not move on till you get the slow workout, but don’t stay stuck on the Med and fast.
Like what @juli0r suggested, you can play it even slower then the slow workout. I beleive the slow is around 62 bpm or around there IIRC. Try going down to 50bpm and get that first, and work your way up a little at a time.
Keep up the good work, you will get there.
Welcome @sandywaters36
Yep Billie Jean is something that haunts many of us to this day. Practice, practice, practice and “ use the force “
Seriously though nail the slow workout and you can always come back to it later
Welcome @sandywaters36!
I practice “Billie Jean” every day. I got the medium workout down but the fast one still gives me trouble. Just continue on and come back to it when you can. You’ll see the improvement as you progress through the course.
Best advice. Be patient; it will come.
… start sloooow is what I’d say generally.
I seem to remember that the slow workout runs at 65 bpm or something. When I decided I was fed up by being taunted by the wretched wench, I started to practice wit a drum loop at 50 bpm… and lo and behold, that same day I was able to nail the medium workout.
Start at a tempo that you are comfortable with… and then, bit by bit, push it up just a little. Make sure you practice at the new tempo until you’re confident, and then push it up with 5 bpm increments.
Without visual references, it’ll be hard for us to see if something is wrong with your hand position, but depending on your bass’s scale length (is it a full scale or a short scale?) and physical properties like arm length and hand size, I would thing your hand is angled downwards a bit when you play on frets 1 up to at least 5, and ideally, your wrist shouldn’t be bent more than 30 degrees or something.
Also, do you find yourself using your thumb to keep your neck tightly gripped?
Hi, I am Cliff. 51 years old and total newb. First instrument since 4th grade trumpet lol. Just started the course and really enjoying it. Seems that my index and middle finger give off different sounds. Not sure what I am doing different, but I will figure it out. Other than that I have short fat fingers. Hopefully I can eventually get them to stretch out. I started the course for two days, and now at the beach for a week. So, probably start over when I get home. Anyhow, glad to be here and looking forward to becoming proficient. That is my goal for now.
Welcome David @Doc, glad you’re digging your Peavey! Sorry abou the Rickenbacker tragedy.
Welcome @sandywaters36, tag me in one of those Billie Jean threads if you still need help after reading! (just type @ and then start typing my name, it’ll pop up)
Welcome @cliffveazey, enjoy the beach, that sounds amazing!
Hi Cliff, welcome!
Could you describe how they are different?
Not really sure. The index sounds like annE should sound. The middle just sounds off, maybe higher
Welcome @cliffveazey!
As far as I know you will never get completely the same sound with both fingers on the right hand but my first guess - and I could be wrong as I know next to nothing about your problem - would just be that your fingers have different strength/dexterity and thus you pluck harder with one.
My other guess would be that you should trim your nails
Yea, probably just need to practice. I did trim the nails as I could feel the string catching on them. Thanks for the suggestions