We all have our own individual bass journey, my goal will be different to the next person, and the next person. As a consequence, our frustration and our impediments to improvement are likely to be different.
For me, the goal was / is to play in a band. I wanted to get proficient enough to do that, to hold my own and not feel like a complete imposter. The journey towards this has been underpinned, first by B2B, then secondly, by the 2 per week cover schedule I have set myself. Learn to play shedloads of songs and build confidence… relatively simple songs, I can now quickly master in an hour or two, slightly harder ones take a day or two. By doing this, I have got high degree of comfort with the songs on our set list, and I’m not phased when we discuss new stuff, providing it’s not too complex.
However, the schedule I’ve set myself does have its limitations. While I know many of the notes at the usual end of the fretboard, I don’t focus on theory, scales or practicing the basics. Equally, if a song is too complicated, I’ll move on. Regarding the first point, I’m not overly phased by this, I (currently) don’t have an objective to get better in the theory space. But the second, does make me think. I would like to approach more complex material, but enjoy the dopamine hit from getting a new song down and recorded … quickly. There’s a conflict there. I know the answer, clearly I do, but … I need that hit!