Just like you, I’m getting on and find it very frustrating that I can’t remember stuff easily or quickly. I found it very daunting doing Justin Sandercoe’s music theory course where you’re faced with a very similar situation to yours, trying to memorise all the different arpeggios and fingerings in different patterns. But when I was watching Justin teaching Cissy Strut by The Meters he tells us that part of the main riff is a C minor 7 arpeggio. So now, just by learning to play the main riff as part of a piece of music, I don’t have a problem remembering it and what’s more, I’ve learnt how to incorporate it into a musical piece, rather than learning it as part of a musical exercise. It seems natural now to go and hunt out that arpeggio’s other fingerings and see if they work better for me and the advantages/disadvantages of the different positions.
It can be so overwhelming trying to remember everything but just by taking a little piece of information and becoming really familiar with it is the key for me to actually remember something and retain it in my brain!
For me it depends. Like with some tracks in course, if I dont like the track or the groove theres no way Ill remember it. Even if at that moment I can play it, ask me hour later and my mind is blank for specific tracks. However ask me about something I like, I can play it in my sleep, and Ill learn it quick.
Yes ,at 57 years big problem, repetition, every day little chunks. I usually practice 6 to 8 things every day a few minutes on each one , boring but it gets it done. Then I move on to things I like learning songs ect…
Hey John, I started very late too. It’s easy to get overwhelmed at first and frankly I find many of the best known online bass instructors are better suited to intermediate or higher players than absolute beginners - Ariane Cap included. They know their stuff, but they often throw you in the deeper end than starting out in the shallow end and work your way out (Beginner to Badass was my first set of lessons, still think they are the best for absolute beginners).
One book I keep going back to is “All About Bass” by Chad Johnson. It is very thorough, covers the basics and is fairly easy to follow for beginners.
Also, the music theory is hard to digest if you are like me and was musically challenged when you started. Understanding how to harmonize the major scale is largely what made my lightbulb go off and figure out how to come up with chords, triads and/or arpeggios to make decent basslines. But be patient, it’s a slow process and eventually it’ll make more sense.
Also…
As an older person who will inevitably have natural memory declines. I joined Luminosity (apparently I am not allowed to post the website) a few years ago. It’s a daily brain challenge website where you play games that are designed to sharpen your memory and other mental functions. I have found it helps massively to stay mentally sharp, especially if you include the 10 minutes or so to do the daily workout. It will help your bass playing - among many other benefits.
I can’t remember crap. I have to conceptualize fancy stories about things that explain them in some surrealistic way to remember. I also memorize by noting similarities and differences to blocks of things that are repetitious.
I’m the same way. Ever since I was a kid I always hated memorizing things and preferred to learn via problem solving instead. So I never really built good memorization skills as a student.
What were we talking about? 
think of frets as book pages or chapters. we all know are open strings E,a,D,g (E)ddie (A)te (D)ynamite (G)ood bye eddie. little more destructing when what josh teaches but. It worked for me. Just think of the fret book like a good book. just take it one chapter at a time there no race in playing. nothing wrong if it take you a year to know in fret. The things is to enjoy music and what your doing. little hint at the 12th fret it starts over again. so if you have this memorize to this point your good to go. learning children songs help a ton it all in C major you can play them any where’s on the neck of the fret board. anyways the keyword in learning is having fun. but everyone struggles but once your over that hill it feels great just don’t give up!
Hi John,
At 67 I as well struggle with how long it takes me to memorize songs. I no longer play in a band so now, I just hit the root and fake the rest. My neighbor has forced me to use headphones as well, I can’t stand them but am getting used to using them. Maybe it’s our age, I don’t know. As to finding time to practice, being retired helps in that respect.
Keep at it and Good luck.
In the end, I blame 15 year old me for not picking up an instrument and obsessing over it and my dad for telling me no when i did ask. Friend was a great guitar player and he needed someone to play bass, he told me I should do it but I needed a bass. Dad said no.
I picked up sax ~7 years ago after a similar stint with trumpet, same thing, wish I stuck at it.
In the end, I LOVE these hobbies, they challange the mind, relax the mind and provide endless fun for me. Just will always rue on not having done it sooner. I always imagine how good I would be if I took those countless hours in bars back.
I think the same sometimes, but then I tell myself that my life experiences shape how I play music today, especially when improvising. Don’t worry about the past that you can’t change. It will only frustrate you. Just focus on having fun now. We may not be the most technically skilled bassists, but lets just say we are the wisest. 
I feel for you. I’m 68, and the only suggestion I know is the one I’ve heard all my life:
How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
PRACTICE.
Break it down to patterns. Practice the patterns. Soon, you’ll be doing it in your sleep. Literally.
Keep on keepin’ on.
LOL 
Bad Moon Rising has definitely visited me in my dreams!
I can SO relate! Even the exact same courses 
Yet, I do learn, and it does stick after a bunch of time, it’s just a long hard slog… and then if I leave it for a while, I have to go back to the start… 
The two best things for me have been 1.) learning and playing songs, especially with others on a regular basis, and 2) talkingbass sight reading course. It really helps to learn the fretboard and actually I can teach myself bass lines of songs I love by reading from the standard notation I get from ultimate guitar. It’s a blast and feels like a real accomplishment.
Good luck to us!
Totally agree.
I’ve been going through Ariane Cap’s first book while also doing Mark’s chord tones (purposefully at the same time) and the reinforcement of key things and patterns on the fretboard are literally starting to light up when I look down at the fretboard. It’s starting.
That said. I’ve put in a LOT of extra time in the last few weeks. Staying up too late etc. I’ve never tried this “two at a time approach but I dig it. If I get sick of looking at one thing I switch to the other and it’s basically all the same bass theory etc.
I still want live lessons for technique but will take the feedback from 50s100c for the time being.
This is me to a “T”
- I definitely feel like it’s hard to find time to practice. What sometimes helps is leaving my guitar or bass ready to play at night, then getting up 20 mins earlier to practice while my wife and kids are in bed. I also recently left two guitars and a bass out on a stand in my study. I’ve definitely played a few more times since.
- I try various sources. Some stuff sinks in easier than others, but sometimes it takes a while. Each person teaching can explain something just that little bit different and it can take a certain way before something sticks.
I’m happy knowing the major and minor scale and the basics of what makes up a chord. As I learn where notes are in relation to each other, little things start to connect.
it never to late to learn.
When I played trumpet I kept a junker in the car at all times and would practice at lunch across the parking lot, before work etc.
I used to ferry over to Long Island a lot at the time and would stay in my car and practice.
Sax in a car is too difficult to manage, and keeping one in the car means nothing but trouble to the pads etc.
I find myself up late at night practicing bass which I love until I look up and it 1:30am and I have to get up at 6! I guess I just love playing bass so much that I’ll never feel like I have enough time. This is a good problem to have!