I hit Lesson #28 of 109, Billy Jean, string crossing - very hard for me, but Josh has built up my confidence so much to this point, I know I can conquer this, and keep going! Love your style Josh, very positive, very encouraging, and also excellent instruction! I love that I’m playing parts of songs as we go along, not scale drills! I’ve got musician friends that are super encouraging too! So I’m having a BLAST!!! I’m finally doing it, I’m learning to play the bass guitar!!!
Hey @pat! I’m happy you’re having fun! And glad you have the confidence to keep moving past the roadblocks, it’s a useful muscle to build as the roadblocks just keep coming.
I’m on Lesson 39 or 40 now, did conquer Billy Jean at Lesson 28. Yep, learning how to power through road blocks, is important! I love the variety of music Josh, and how you’re teaching me groove, timing, hearing and listening, and so much more as I have fun playing! Killer course!
That’s great Pat! Powering through road blocks = life as a creative person, IMO, so it’s always good to build that muscle.
I’ve got 3 close pals, all musicians, each 30+ years playing music, two guitarists and a singer. They’ve been picking songs out based on easy bass lines, and I’m playing with them on certain songs!!! I even do a teeny amount of improv (sometimes on purpose), because your course is open to learning it!
Wow!!! It is super fun and your course plus playing live with my buds is moving me along the learning path faster! I’m past the halfway point in the course Josh, and loving even more as I go! I’m beginning to hear things much better now too!
And, I have another buddy who bought a keyboard, he and I are both beginners, but we’re jamming together too on some very basic songs (Stand By Me). The joy of playing with others is motivating me! My Badass course progress is slowing some, because I’m busy learning songs to play live, but I think that’s the whole point anyhow! So slower course progress, in the very best way you can imagine!
Awesome to have somebody to jam with right away; and, both on the same level (to build confidence in a more “forgiving” setting) and with guys at a more advanced level (who will always push you to your current limits)! Practising scales in a room alone with yourself pays off in the long run (no doubt!), but it is just so much more fun to play with others! Enjoy the ride!
This was a roadblock for me as well but it felt a lot easier and almost natural lateron, just like Josh promised. I‘m still playing it as an exercise from time to time trying to play it with better phrasing, shorter note lengths and keeping my other fingers down on the strings or very close to the fret board. As you get more control over your fingers and they become more relaxed it becomes a lot easier. It‘s still hard for me to keep a good timing over the complete song length, it’s a good practice to improve endurance. Sometimes repeating patterns like this line confuse my brain at some point, just like when you walk a stair and you almost fall when you think about what your feet do.
Awesome!!!
Ha yes I’ll allow it. Playing music with other people teaches you things you won’t learn practicing on your own, it’s all good stuff.
That’s smart! I love coming back to challenging stuff over time, I learn something new each time.