That blasted Billie Jean!

21

I got past “fast”. It was not clean, and my fretting hand was sore afterwards, but I got past it. Woot, I say. Woot.

Of course that’s going to be one of my warm-up, regular practice lines from now on out.

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Hi Pammie Jo, I can only agree with all the other posters here… please don‘t be too hard on yourself because of BJ, it’s a wall that we all run into. I got my fingers into a knot when I first tried it, and when I finally had memorized the sequence my hand would go sore halfway through it. So, after a lot of frustration, I finally followed Josh’s advice and went on. Then, many lessons later, I went back and lo and behold, suddenly BJ was no longer a problem to play, even at high speed.
Trust in your ability to develop as a bass player. You WILL nail BJ, believe me. Just give yourself some time.

Here are a few things you could try to deal with difficult bass lines (they help me a lot):

  • Give your kinetic memory a chance. Your fingers can “memorize” bass lines, too - and the good thing is you won’t have to think about what you’re doing or what you have to do. The funny thing is that I play BJ best when I let my fingers do the job and allow my mind to wander.
  • I find that a lot of repetition works great for my kinetic memory: pick up the bass, try to play a bass line for a few minutes, put it away, do something else, come back after an hour, do it again, then do it again the next day and so on. Short bits instead of long units that only frustrate you.
  • singing or humming along with the bass line and “dry playing” it on your desk, the steering wheel of your car or wherever else you can :wink:
    But above all, give yourself time. We are all bass students, and we all have to learn and develop.
    All the best, Mike
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Thanks Mike, I will take that to heart! I’m glad I am not the only person who practices on their steering wheel, lol!

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Just keep in mind, Billie Jean is not a road block, it’s merely a speed bump.

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I felt the same way. I’ve learned that just practice it slow. The coordination came to me out of nowhere not long after that module. Don’t give up before the miracle happens!

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I mistyped in a previous comment on another thread on where I was…. But this is what is on my plate for tonight lessons……. ILL BE BACK

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