I’m on Module 5 of “Beginner to Badass” and feel like I’ve hit a block in the road I don’t know how to get past. It’s since the lessons started mixing string crossing & fret position changes alongside alternate plucking - my plucking fingers just can’t do it and I drop back into single finger plucking or go completely freestyle with my right hand.
I’ve tried playing the tabs as slowly as possible but that seems to make no difference. It’s like I’m trying to concentrate on both hands at the same time and as I’m left-handed but play right handed I think my right hand just can’t cope with the the alternating fingers when my brain is trying to concentrate on fretting (I couldn’t even imagine playing left-handed and fretting with my non-dominant hand).
I’ve tried Googling for options but feel like I’m hitting a mental impasse and it’s starting to affect my desire to pick the bass up.
Help! Suggestions welcome…
A disciplined alternating plugging fingers requires a lot of practice. Best way do accomplish this is to practice very slowly and build muscle memory once that happens your right hand will be on autopilot.
There is alot of new things you are trying to do. I think if things are getting too complicated step back. I have the same problem sometimes-realizing I have forgotten to alternate. I am new to bass. It is good that you recognize the problem. Put in specific practice where you isolate what you need to work on. Eliminate the other hand. practice alternating fingers on open strings only. Slow then build speed and then start adding in the other hand.
If something doesn’t work for you, it doesn’t work for you. Don’t stress about it.
Jamerson is one of the greatest bassists of all time, and he only ever used 1 plucking finger. Josh often points out lines where strict alternating makes things feel weird.
Alternating plucking can be a valuable tool. If you want it in your arsenal and are struggling with it, you should practice exercises that just focus on alternating plucking. Drill it into muscle memory without other things to worry about.
I start my practice sessions just plucking open strings. No fretwork (some fret-hand muting). Spend time just plucking rhythm patterns on all 4 open strings.
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Nothing “works for you” when you’re new to it, you need to do a lot of focused practice before things become comfortable and then you can decide what works and doesn’t for your style.
Yes and it significantly affected his career later on because he wasn’t able to adapt to more popular styles.
This is great advice. Before you can work on using your hands together, you need to be good at using them independently. Work on plucking/muting an open string first, then multiple open strings, then fretting on one string, then fretting multiple strings. When you play a song, find which fingers you’re going to use on each string/fret and then always play it the same way.
Then when you’re good at that, you’ll probably discover that you need to change things when you have a lot of open strings and you’re need to find a new way to do that 
For plucking practice, I use a drum loop app on my phone. Pick a track and set the desired tempo. This is how I warm up every practice.
I have Android, I use the Loopz app.
Lots of comparable options if you use iPhone.
I started out at like 60bpm. Crank up the tempo a little bit each practice session. Think I did it by 4bpm each day until I hit about 100bpm, then do 2bpm increases. (Although I drop back down for practicing my slap/pluck.)
I have a series of rhythms I try to hit, but also make a point of mixing things up a little bit.
Order I used to do might look like:
- Quarter Notes (1 2 3 4)
- Eighths on beats, with eighth rests in between (1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x) / staccato Eighths
- Straight Eighth note chugging (1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &)
- Quarters with one set of Eighth notes; shift eighths back one count every 2 or 4 bars (1 & 2 3 4) … (1 2 & 3 4) … (1 2 3 & 4)… etc
- Eights on 1 and 3, with quarters on 2 and 4
- Quarters on 1 and 3, with Eights on 2 and 4
- Triplets with quarters (1 2 Tri-Puh-Let) … (Tri-Puh-Let 3 4)
Increase the speed and complexity of later patterns as you get more comfortable. I add in a lot of rests. I do 2-bar patterns. I practice syncopated eighths (x & x & x & x &), but those start to fall apart above about 124bpm. I practice ghost notes where I chug eighths with and without muting.
I also adjust my plucking by moving my plucking spot back and forth between the bridge and neck. I try to mix up my plucking angle and attack intensity.
I’ve found a good method of forcing alternate finger plucking is to practice something like scales or this: Practice THIS Daily (10 Mins)
And look at your plucking hand (not your fretting hand).
These patterns are fairly easy to memorize so you can spend the whole exercise looking at your plucking hand, which really helps to reinforce the alternating.