I love the course. I do one lesson a day or so. But in between I’m not sure what to practice. I’m only a module two
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It’s always worth revisiting lessons, especially early on in learning music.
Early B2B lessons are easy to grasp and perform, by design, because beginners naturally know very little about playing bass. But these lessons also introduce and stress the fundamentals that every player will use in every line he/she will play in the future.
More challenging lessons and lines are coming, for sure. So ease into learning but with the realization that everything you’re taught right now is vitally important to master.
Practice these lessons until they’re very familiar and played clean. Fundamental technique is key. Training in timing will follow soon. Just remember to take your time, practice mindfully and have fun. Enjoy!
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Just keep going as you are for now. Resting your brain as well as your muscles is just as important as practice. As you progress you will find you have things to practice a little more in between lessons and of course you will want to play songs and some in your lessons link into the 50 songs
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It depends a lot on how much prior music experience you’re coming in with. As mentioned - don’t over-tax yourself trying to learn too much too fast.
Other things you might add in:
- Just make noise. Just hold the bass in your hands and goof around seeing what noises you can make out of it.
- Learn to do a setup
- Simple plucking exercises. Get a simple drum-loop app. Practice just plucking and muting strings to different rhythms.
- Learn whole songs (skill level appropriate)
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You can download longer versions of the workout backing tracks in the course extras. I used to use those for extra practice when I was in those early modules. At the end of Module 6 (IIRC), Josh mentions that you should be able to play the easy songs from the First 100 Songs pack, so that might be a good point to start trying to learn full songs.
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Keeping the beat is critical. If you have a drum loop or metronome (there are plenty of free options) just set it for 4/4 at a speed your comfortable with, and pluck any note trying to match the time exactly. I use a metronome on my phone, and if I can’t hear the metronome over the bass I know I hit it exactly.
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Agree with Learn How to do a Setup. Practice alt plucking
Learn the fretboard notes
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Everyone should learn how to do your own setups. It’s so easy and you’ll get better results than taking it to a random guitar shop. You will also gain a better understanding of your instrument and feel more connected to it, and lose any fear of messing it up.
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I am almost at the halfway point and starting to get back to where I was when my playing stopped decades ago. Playing by ear with zero lessons or theory makes me realize how foolish an endeavor I was on. @JoshFossgreen opens up your mind which allows you to really understand why things are done and actually explaining in the simplest terms which is for me a real eye opener. Very happy to have discovered this forum and all the info made available by a good group of folks willing to share their thoughts on all things bass and more if you want it.
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What kept me motivated was noodling around on songs that had inspired me to learn bass. It’s been so much fun having things click and having benchmarks to really see how much progress I’d made in the course.
I also fully second learning how to do setups and just general maintenance. Saved a bunch of money being able to figure out things like “oh god what is humming now make it stop” and fix it myself.
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I’ve also just finished module two and do one lesson a day,i practice in-between usually to a drum loop I don’t know if this is right or wrong.
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Definitely not wrong.
It is most-right if you do it intentionally with goals and a plan. Have identified what skills you want to be working on and shaping your practice to reinforce them. Keeping an even beat, common rhythms, feeling subdivisions, muting, note control, etc. are all simple things you can keep in mind to get the most out of drum loop practice.
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Definitely right.
Playing to a beat and developing a sense of internal timing is super important.
Also fun to not be constrained by the lessons and noodle. 10/10
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If you want to practice alt plucking I find Torn to be a good confidence builder and kinda fun. There are many bass tabs for this on you tube. I like the one on Ultimate Guitar. Songster also has one. I skip the fancy breaks with the idea I’ll get them eventually. This one is pretty good but it only provides a view of a few bars at a time.
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