I figured I’d hijack my own thread to talk about left hand technique as well.
I had no issues until I started crossing strings with being creative with fingers, but videoing myself I noticed my thumb goes way high and my palm contacts the neck which after a few hours leads to a sore wrist the next day.
I read “straight wrist” over and over but routinely see people playing with a very bent wrist. I’m actively vetting this problem before I go hard again, any thoughts on finding that perfect balance?
As far as I can tell I’m holding it “correctly,” everything I’ve played in the course has been comfortable because it doesn’t move around a lot, but for whatever reason when I try to play faster coming back to E string my thumb and palm move into the neck and I start using thumb pressure to fret. Maybe I’m just trying to speed beyond my ability at the moment.
My music guru and i had an extended discussion on this and various and sundry items once.
His thinking was-focus on fundamentals and play it slow. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
I’ve heard so many people ( him included ) say that they learned badly in the beginning and had to go back to the start years later and develop good habits. He was always in bands and doing shows, so i found this a little surprising.
About a month in, he asked me to send a photo of my hands while playing. He was really impressed with the form i was using, which was what i had learned from bassbuzz and @JoshFossgreen videos on YouTube.
Just wanted to post an update on my self diagnostics. I went back and re-watched Josh’s explanation of wrist technique and he’s spot on but maybe just a little quick to get people started.
These images courteous of “free SBL” helped me out a ton to realize what I was doing - descending and losing the magical shape because I wasn’t adjusting my wrist but moving my thumb. Glad my problem isn’t unique but man I feel like a dummy for straining my forearm and wrist.
So, I am still towards the beginning of B2B. I started gaining some confidence lesson after lesson. Then Josh unloads Billie Jean. Holy crap! Wow, I am not even close on that song. The slow speed is a struggle. He said to not worry and move on. So, I attempted the next lesson last night. And that seemed like a bit of a struggle. It seems like he jumped from beginner to novice overnight. And my confidence is shot now.
I am going to go back and revisit some lessons I struggled with including those last two. But I just wanted to see if I should keep moving forward like he says or should I try to focus on these last two more? I don’t want to press on and keep running into issues if it keeps getting more and more difficult. Is it just these few lessons that are challenging and he comes back down to Earth soon? Just wanted to check. I felt like i was making great progress and then Bam! Nope!
Hey asikes, to give you some perspective, there is literally a thread compiling peoples challenges with Billie Jean because everyone is shocked by it.
Josh repeatedly says to accomplish the slow workouts because he continues to teach stuff like music theory and tips for string crossing, and you may find a medium or fast workout that you enjoy the rhythm to and are more apt to practice.
I came into this with some guitar playing so BJ was do-able with some practice, but if it’s just not happening I wouldn’t worry about it at all. If slow speeds are a struggle, try mapping out the notes ahead of time at your own speed. Memorizing the exercise pattern so you only focus on timing will definitely get you through the slow workouts.
Josh’s way of teaching allows you to move forward even if you stumble on some stuff. You do have some easier stuff coming up. To me BJ was not hard as like others, I had guitar playing under my belt. But other stuff was. My bane was “Some Kind of Wonderful”. I still try to nail it but at full tempo my fingers get tongue tied on those fast shuffle eights. I moved on past that lesson and came back and got it. May not have been the cleanest playing but I did nail it at speed. Now I use it as a warm-up for my plucking hand. Everyone has their nemesis in his program. Do not let your nemesis defeat you. Move on and come back to it later once your fingers are getting better at speed and accuracy. By the end of the course, you will be able to nail it.
Awesome! Thank you all for the feedback. I will try to stay positive and focus on the next lessons. I may come back to some that I struggled with from time to time and try to build my confidence back up.
