This morning I started with some chugging excercise along with a drumbeat. 30 seconds chugging, 30 seconds rest. Repeat…
Then I continued the slow practice of the first eight notes of BJ in a cycle for about 5-10 minutes. Works a little better now. The alternating plucking with the right hand feels much more natural and easy now.
This method works. I will keep on grinding slowly. 
This is actually really close to a method @JoshFossgreen recommends - doing this with a “BPM ladder”. Keep at it!
Forget backing tracks for this, a drum machine is ideal, IMO. Or a metronome, though drums are a lot more fun.
This is the best method for learning a riff I’ve tried, and Josh teaches it in a video on his other channel.
Josh’s second channel has some great lessons for people who have moved past the beginner stage as well.
Hi howard. Thanks.
Yes, I think this is a great way to improve precision, speed and endurance. It takes time and in my opinion the most important thing is to be patient and to not increase speed too early and thus sacrifice precision.
I appreciate all the comments from the experienced players of this forum! This is a great place to learn and improve!
This is really good review. How easily we forget.
I made it! Just finished the slow workout for Billie Jean. 
My form doesn’t look impressive but at least I got through without making a mistake…finally the extra workouts paid off.
Now on to module 5 
I still use Billie for my stamina practice, after few mins of rocking it fretting hand still can feel sore.
However the original playing is a bit different.
With time Bille will be easy peasy, just forget about it for some time.
Lol. I actually made it through the slow and (with difficulty) the medium versions ok. When it got to the fast version, I fell apart. I have that lesson dog-eared so I can come back to it at a later stage in the lessons to try it again. How can those simple notes be so darn hard to master?
Right? That what I was thinking. “That´s only eight notes! How hard can it be?” LOL
Interesting how you can play the song slowly pretty well after a while, but as soon as you start to increase the tempo, your fingers start to stumble and your picking pattern goes out the window. 
But it´s a great excercise, not only for your fingers but you also learn to be patient and it showed me, that this course really works! You can make progress really fast.
Learning a skill makes defined paths throughout your brain, linking neurons together in patterns. At first while you learn, your brain fires neurons in the same way sheep explore new paddocks. Eventually, the sheep learn the easiest way between places they want to go, like shade and water and start walking the same paths. If you look at paddocks from an aerial view, you can see where these paths of learned and defined travel are.
Practising slowly and precisely has been proven to be the fastest way to learn new skills, because it fires the neurons that are required for the job and forms the connections with efficiency. Connections that are continually used, get more myelin wrapping and become like permanent tracks in the paddock. They will of course slowly disappear without use which is why “use it or lose it” applies to skills as well as muscle. The body ditches stuff it’s not using as an efficiency measure to save energy.
Speeding up should be treated as a separate process. Once you have something down perfectly at low speed, stepping up the pace to the point where you’re making a few mistakes is the place you want to be, until you stop making mistakes at that point. You need to be just past the point where you’re being comfortable, until you get comfortable again. Once you’re at 100 percent pace, go to 105, then 110. It’s probably not worth going past 125 percent pace. If you can do that and be comfortable, you’re at a point where you should move on to something else.
Just remember that one of the few actual skills that differentiate people is the speed at which they can form neurological pathways. It’s why some people learn extremely quickly and other people take much longer.
Thank you @admacdo, that was a very helpful read.
No problem. One of the things I’ve read a lot of research on is the acquisition of skills.
I forgot to mention that you also need to have good quality sleep after practice so that the “learning buffer” of skills gets transferred to long term memory. You only get one go at it as the buffer gets over written with the next day’s learning.
Practice good. Sleep good. Learn good.
Oh, sleeping is one of my biggest skills! 
This was pretty much my experience also; I could barely do the slow workout.
What I found helpful was Josh simply saying “keep moving” and I did, but I started subsequent lessons with a review of that particular song to try and learn the left hand at a very “slooooow” pace.
I also found it was useful to print out the TAB/Staff for all the lessons and work from that. When I muddle the order of my fingers (which happens a lot) or don’t land my fingers on the proper spot on the fret, I go back and try again. If a speed reduction is needed, that is the next level of defence.
I also run a metronome so I don’t necessarily have to be connected to the website and simply get the pace rolling and try to nail it.
I have improved immensely and keep coming back to it as I improve my coordination.
As others are rightly pointing out, the song takes practice and the baby-steps of improvement will start to register.
Josh is a particularly inspiring instructor and I still look forward to playing along even when I am struggling to keep up. I know I have the ability to go back to review and improve.
Excellent comment! That is also what I am doing. Billie Jean has become part of my daily practice routine. I play the song solo very slowly and then I join Josh in the slow workout. And it works. 
Practicing with a metronome is super helpful. I do about 5 minutes every day of chugging excercises with a metronome. It‘s fun (because I can pretend that I am really playing bass…
) and it covers so many bases. Kepping your right hand relaxed, plucking the right way, keeping a steady rhythm etc…
Yes! He really has the ability to lift you up, even when you struggle the first time you encounter a new lesson. At the beginning I often think „this is terrible! This is harder than expected!“. And at the end of the lesson I think „This was fun! That wasn‘t so hard after all!“ 
I made Module 4 Lesson 6 “Billy Joan” today and I gave up - for today. First thing I had to do is to call the ambulance to get rid of the knots in my fingers 🤹and to get my brain working straight forward again. 
Oh boy - killer lesson!
Maybe it will work tomorrow later the day, having some cold beers. Then its getting more smooth… 
P.S.: I’m curious how many beers it will take to get it working…
Billie Jean is a b**** but don’t get mad on her. Learning the main riff is a matter of days, not hours. Give it a 15 min workout every day. Do not focus on speed, play it slow, keep the rhythm and focus on clean sound.
Just take your time. You will make it!
When I first started to work on Billie Jean, I already knew from the comments on this forum that this was going to be a challenge and I planned at least 3-4 days to finish this lesson and to be able to play the slow workout.
It helped to practice some very basic stuff like chugging with a metronome and practicing alternating fingerwork with my right hand. I do this every day and I think this is a helpful and important excercise.
Just keep practicing the basic stuff and practice the song SLOWLY! I am talking 30 bpm or even slower. There is no use in practicing this song fast if you are only making mistakes.
Take it slow, don´t expect to nail the slow workout after one day and accept failure as part of making progress and you will make it.
Hello @Snoopy ,
Thank you for your very kind words. It is very good to see in this forum, that many members run into the same situation.
In the past I was able to run through the lessons - sometimes three lessons a day. Now its a fullstop.
But hey - I want to play bass. So it is natural, that once I had to start learning somewhere.
Today I thought I finally got it. Then I started the slow workout and failt after 30 seconds.
So… Tomorrow will be another day. I want to beat Billy Jean! Let’s go for it!
I had the same experience. You are not alone. 
That means, you were able to play without failure for 30 seconds! That‘s a huge success in my opinion! Well done! Keep on practicing slowly and you will progress further.
And don‘t be afraid to progress slowly. Be afraid, not to progress at all.