??
Is somebody arguing that they are not?
Agree, 100%
No, but the thought has been said that maybe they should move on and I’m no, we need you here.
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100% agree with you. 
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Work is crazy busy at the minute @eric.kiser but when I get some time this weekend I’d be happy to pull together my list of simple but fun beginner tunes with the appropriate links.
Also side note for @Lanny, I’ve recently registered ‘Keep On Thumpin’!!’ as an international trademark. You’re able to keep on using it but need to have a licensing agreement in place.
I’ll get my lawyer to forward you the contract.
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That would be really cool. Thanks Barney.
I was just learning. I signed up for B2B in December of 2020, at the time I had been playing bass for about nine months. I did the course and started observing a little here in the forum. I didn’t make my first post until January of 2022. I made so much progress in 2022. I was learning so much from positive feedback I was getting on my covers and from what I was seeing others do.
I think a lot of the beauty of this forum is that we all considered ourselves beginners or at least wanted to learn the basics from the course and we’ve learned from those that were here before us.
When I started playing bass and I would watch a cover video on YouTube I would wonder if that was possible for me to achieve that level of playing and sometimes it would be discouraging because a lot of those guys you see on YouTube have been playing for a long long time. When you watch a cover on this forum you can ask them how long they’ve been playing for and you can say, “okay, if I keep at this I can be somewhere around that level after one, two, or three years” and I find that to be very inspiring.
So anyway, as for the main point of the thread, I think it’s a great idea to have a list of fun beginner songs to share with the folks that are new to bass. And for the secondary thoughts of this thread, I think it’s important for those that have advanced a little more to stick around and keep doing their thing. I have come across several threads and posts that I would read up on but have no idea what they are talking about but then I’ll come back to them after a while and it’s just what I’m looking for.
And finally, I have no desire to go over to talking bass. the YouTube channel is great, but I did not care for the tone of the forum. I like it here.
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I have tried to “leave” this forum already twice, I think. Main reasons were that I felt I had contributed what I could, that the topics were starting to repeat themselves too often, and that, occasionally, some people tended to become quite dominant and, in that context, pushed their own views and opinions on, e.g., what equipment to use and what gear to buy, and I found that was becoming a bit narrow-minded.
But… I can’t get away from it. And, mostly, because my “reasons” above weren’t really very good reasons. Even if I am a bit more “experienced” now, I can still learn so much from the people here (long-time members and new ones alike). The collected know-how is both deep and spanning a wide gamut. It’s not only about the playing (which is probably linked the closest to experience), but also about gear, electronics, how to fix things, how to mod… And it doesn’t even end with the “bass stuff” - you can also get recipes for pizza here or pointers for wood working etc. 
And, also, people I considered “pushy” and borderline “obnoxious” have turned out very, very helpful and supportive (for the largest part). In general, as others have said, whether you are an old-timer or a newcomer, you can get very solid and sincere advice here. Sure, we pull each others’ legs every once in a while (and goof around), but it’s not the corrosive “humor” of TalkBass, where every slightly haphazardly formulated noob question gets answered with “get a P bass” 
In the end, I can see why this forum can be “intimidating” to a certain extent for newcomers, and I wholeheartedly applaud @eric.kiser for taking a stab at making this an even better place. But, I also think, we need seasoned veterans here, for continuity, and for providing a common memory of things discussed and solutions found.
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Transcribing is getting higher and higher on my list of things to learn…
But practice time is borderline negligible at the moment, basically just plucking speed, as it doesn’t require thinking much, or at all. Life, I guess.
But a list of songs that are easy not only to play but to transcribe as well? That would be great motivation to try harder to find some time and energy. If afterward, I would find the time to post a well-presented, readable tab on the forum is however dubious…
All this to say that I find the idea proposed quite valid.
Some easy songs to play are already included in the B2B package. The more, the better, sure. However learning to transcribe at least half-decently would open the doors to so much more music… but imho pretty hard to start, unlike just playing along to some tabs.
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Damn @Barney…. I knew something like this might happen…… was gonna register it a few years ago but being an old dude with an extremely bad memory, I totally…… forgot……
Since I’m on a fixed retired income and cannot afford to pay any license agreement, I’ve decided to start using my other sign off……
“Keep On…. Wha…. Huh… Hmm… Duh…??” Instead…
Keep On ……. Keepin’ On!!…
Lanny
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Thank you all for this discussion! And especially thanks @eric.kiser for initiating, and the the tremendous care you put into this forum. You da man!
What do y’all think about adding a “Beginners” sub-forum? It wouldn’t change anything fundamentally - every is still welcome to post anywhere - but it would be intended as an EXTRA inviting place to ask super-noob questions that people might be a little embarassed or hesitant to ask otherwise.
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I do sometimes cringe when someone new makes a post and gets referred to an existing thread.
The forum is very well organized, neat and tidy and it’s useful that it stays that way. It’s a gem when it comes to content indexing and finding compared to most forums.
There’s a ton of great information already posted and with a constant influx of new people it isn’t that everyone is going to have the entirely same discussion over and over again to the equivalent extent. It’s efficient and effective to link people to existing content.
The drawback is that linking to existing content or threads isn’t interactive and engaging. It’s less forum like and more reference librarian like. Someone makes a post and gets sent to the stacks. Existing threads can be hundreds (thousands) of posts and contain a good amount of non-core information and side topics. It could be a lot of work to read through something.
Is it possible that people with a certain level of forum status get the ability move and append to thread? It seems possibly more hospitable to walk someone over to the stack, put their question in a place where it will be seen and offer the first quick answer while re-triggering the post count for a thread people are already aware of.
Is there language we could use when referring someone to something that keeps engagement and doesn’t make them feel like they’ve been shuffled off? “Here’s what we’ve found to be great instruction around setup. Watch Josh’s video first because he’s summed it up the best so far. If you want to get some other descriptions for reference, these two have some solid advice. Post back if you have any questions. When you give it a try, let us know how it went!” Or?
Didn’t we have a cohort thread at one point to try to address this? For the year of starting during XXXX so they could have some encouragement as a rough class group? How did that thread go?
When I first went though, I asked all my novice technique questions in the discussion thread under each lesson online rather than the forum. Sometimes the forum answer is “just keep at it” when actually I wanted a little more detail and wanted to have confidence in the answer.
Yes, maybe a beginners sub forum is found to be more hospitable and safe.
I have no idea, just ramblings.
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I too feel the same @DaveT…… But cringe even more when I see so much emphasis put on playing exact notes with a perfect mix on a recording…… This to me is not what playing bass is all about - then again, most all of my playing is (and has been) with bands or at live jams…… Places and venues where you don’t rely on “tabs”, “notes”, “sheet music”, “mixing”, or anything else other than an “ear” and a “feel” for what’s going on around ya……
Yea, I’ve done my share of covers…. And I’ll be damned if I could play them again note for note as I did when I recorded them though because all I was doing when I learned to play them was learn someone else’s groove…. Sucks!! Music (in my opinion) is not something that you replicate given someone else’s ear or groove (feeling) at that time… Music is a living thing that can (and should) change as the person playing it makes it happen…….
Damn, I think I way off course here on this one - sorry for the rant……. Really do wanna help @eric.kiser come up with something……
Keep On Thumpin’!!
Lanny
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One idea to implement @eric.kiser’s bass line repo would be to dedicate a “User Index Page” to list them. If someone posting a cover thinks the song is beginner friendly they could create a list item of the song along with any helpful materials. Not sure if a post can have multiple editors though.
As for the general discussion on keeping the forum more beginner friendly, the fact that we actually care about this, and the depth of this discussion tells you a lot about what makes this place special. Overall I think beginners are treated very well but I do agree Posting Covers can be intimidating. The forum is super supportive but its always hard to put yourself out there. This thread has helped my own development tremendously, but in reflection I wonder if I really should be posting stuff like Rush covers here. This is just something on my mind after reading these posts. I like @JoshFossgreen’s idea of a Beginner section. I would love it if we kicked it off with a “Post Your NEWB Covers” thread where only people in their first year of playing can post.
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Absolutely. 
Beginners are, by definition, NEW to everything. To tell them to search and dig through the forum’s vast past thread database is callous, dismissive, or both.
Everyone, including beginners, takes the axiom “There are no dumb questions” seriously.
Learning/adopting a new instrument is no small feat. Beginners are desperate for help. Coming to a “friendly” forum is only one, but major, way to reach out for assistance. It’s our responsibility to help them as simply and transparently as we can, even if it means repeating much repeated helpful info.
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This^^^
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i think it is much more convivial and welcoming to answer the question from a new person, and end with a 'also see these threads for additional info"
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Yep. Not every redirect needs to be a scold. Not saying anyone is intentionally scolding.
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I would be all for that. When I first started playing I wanted to play certain songs to keep me motivated beyond what needs to be practiced per courses such as B2B.
Some you could find tabs for and others you could not & sometimes the ones you found were even incorrect.
So in some cases I had to find the music for guitar & by using that & listening to the music, I would try creating the bass for it.
It would be great if others that created bass lines could share what they learned or created.
Cheers
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