Wow never heard of that… I mostly use my phone for everything but I will be trying different things out to try and make practice easier.
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This is going to be the case for anything new you learn. Don’t get discouraged over not being able to do it the first time, or even the second, third or ninth time. Take your time, slow it down (practice slow = learn faster) and you will absolutely get there.
I remember some years ago as a total beginner guitarist, getting caught up on some small part of a song, and complaining about not being able to play along to it. My husband was like, “Why not just keep the rhythm through that part with one or two notes that sound good.” and I remember asking him in disbelief –
“You’re allowed to do that?!”
Don’t forget to have fun playing music. You’re absolutely allowed to rock-out to the parts you know and “fudge” the ones you don’t until you get them down. I think the right note played over and over again in time is way better than all the right notes all over the place. 
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Good advice!
And most of all, don’t forget you’re trying to mimic something a way more experienced pro player has put together. It’s more than understable that you need your time to get comfortable with it.
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Out of curiosity, do you mind sharing what you’re trying to learn? Or was it just a broad question?
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@gcancella I was trying credence clear water bad moon rising for the challenge. The tab is a bit different on ultimate pro… Its not hard Iv done harder on b2b so it just suprised me how long its taking me to get it… I guess some of it is not having josh break it down, learning from the app and that being different, sometimes you cant see the fill and it can be different each time. I just think I wasgetting frustrated need to approach it better and have more patience and more fun lol
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Well spoken, @chordsykat . . . I find myself doing that a lot . . .
Keeping the correct rhythm and pace is more important than hitting ALL the “correct” notes . . . that will come with repeated practice. Sometimes I have to leave out a few notes to stay on beat.
Cheers
Joe
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How true.
Most people seem to forget what the main function of the Bassist is in a band.
Wanna play lead or shred a solo, to stand out, play a 6 string electric or acoustic lead guitar.
To me solos and riffs are not the main function of a bassist’s part in a band. The Bassist must work in conjunction with the drummer to drive the rhythm.
If the lead guitar plays one wrong note chances are nobody notices but if the Bassist, or drummer, screws up the rhythm everybody will notice because the song will fall apart.
Look at the first couple of lessons in B2B where Josh has beginners playing Bass along to backing tracks using just the root note of the chord with whole notes. In other words you are only playing one note per bar. Then progress from there. Many songs only use the root and fifth of the chord using quarter notes.
The time for any Bass fill riffs and solos will come in time but you need the bassics first and that is what B2B teaches you.
OK David climbs off his soap box, but only for a while. 
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I don’t know if this will make sense/be relevant to you, @locket, but a lot of the times when I’ve already learned a bass song and I want to then sing along to it, I’ll sit in front of Youtube and fail over and over again at lining up words with my playing until my brain starts to enmesh the two.
I never hit all the notes the first time through, even if I’ve played the song a hundred times on bass and sang it a million times in the car. Even if the song is “easy”. But one thing I absolutely pay attention to, is the beat. I’ve tried it the other way, too – forcing myself to get all the notes right before proceeding onto the next part, and as far as retention and progression go, I would pick keeping the beat and missing some notes over painstakingly hammering out each note perfectly while keeping on voice.
Everyone here is right about the bass player’s role in the band – you miss that beat and you risk tearing the song apart. You miss a note and you simply miss a note. You’ll absolutely have an easier (and more enjoyable) time of learning songs if you go through the basics and add onto it, piece by piece, as you learn.
Aaaaanyway – Josh’s latest video shows you a little about breaking a song into its parts, but I tend to think this slightly older video here is a little more relevant if you’d like more detailed instruction: The 5 Levels of Smells Like Teen Spirit
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Its all great advice thanks. I have to remember the role of a bass player I guess even in practice. Also not to be too hard on myself if I dont get it perfect straight away, if im getting the bare bones of the song right well then thats a good thing and a good start and be pleased with that.
I used to sing with guitar but I cant imagine singing with bass that takes some skill.
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Absolutely! You got this – and your bandmates will love you for keeping the rhythm over trying to get too fancy. Bass players have absolutely been fired for hotdogging it outside of the beat 
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This drives me completely nuts. I can’t track something automatically changing behind my glance. +1 to print or Bluetooth pedal page turning music sheets.
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I don’t use any apps like whatever that is you use. I print out (or create) the score a work on it in parts.
First I nail the intro, then the first verse, then the chorus. I’ve found If I can nail those, the rest of the song falls into place.
Difficult parts I practice over and over at slower speed, gradually speeding up until muscle memory takes over.
No matter your technique, breaking it into parts is essential.
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This is a cool idea, will look into it. Hitting “r” over and over to record can get annoying.
Agreed , this is the only way I know how to learn a song
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For me, I do a few things to learn a song.
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Become familiar with the song. It is easier to learn a song you are familiar with and can hum along to.
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Learn it in pieces. I will usually use something like Songsterr (paid version) where I can loop specific sections of the song.
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Slow it down at first. I find it easier to slow a song down to start with and then slowly speed it up as I master it. Another thing you can do in Songsterr (paid version)
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Simplify the song. If the song is just too hard for your current ability, then simplify it. Maybe play 1/8ths instead of 1/16ths or maybe ignore some crazy fill and just play the groove instead.
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Memorize it. Not for everyone, but the more you memorize, the more you can concentrate on other things besides the sheet music / tab.
Hope that helps. I know you can do it!
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Interesting. I wasn’t aware they could do that.
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for those tricky bits, I slow down that bit, but then work on the bar or two ahead going into the tricky bit. The transition from the base bassline to a fill or riff always seems to catch me by surprise. If you not only practice the fill/riff but a bit prior and then slowly speed that up it takes the ‘surprise’ out of the riff approaching.
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I agree 100%! I’ve posted something similar on another thread- that is one aspect of the bass I absolutely love: you do not have to play the song exactly as recorded.
(Especially if you have an opportunity to play with other people) I consider myself very mediocre at this point, but as long as my timing is good and I can stay in sync with the drummer even just with root notes and 5ths thrown in there- everyone is happy!
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I wanna learn Spirit in the Sky with my sister (she has an electric twanger) but I know the tabs I can rely on are few in number. As such I’m taking an underdeveloped step in learning the bassline by ear. Correct me if I’m wrong but it’s mostly a string cross between the E and A strings? I can always tap around to see which frets are the right ones, but I’m going to take a stab in the dark now and say it starts off on the 5th fret of the E. What I’m especially curious about, though, is the brighter sounding fills that follow the steady rhythm parts. It’s hard to describe but I think it goes like “duh duh duh duh-duh duh” like a “one and two and” moment. Anyways, I’m accepting the challenge and feel pretty confident having caught on to “Super Freak” and “Back in Black” rather quickly. Of course I know those songs are “easy” but still 
Yes. The pedals basically simulate a key input. So if you have shortcuts programmed for the recording function (for example the Enter key) and set your pedal to mimic an Enter key, it’ll do just that
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