Charting out and understanding the structure of a song is super important to making learning it easiet, and music theory helps a lot here in understanding song structure as well. Most songs are actually composed of a small number of repeating elements, with transitions between them.
Indeed. Making music in any way a competition with others is a common but unfortunate thing and I refuse to do it.
As for competing with oneself - I think that is an unfortunate phrasing for simply challenging yourself (which is critical). The problem is, words and semantics matter, and I think there is a valuable distinction between challenge and competition.
In non-music life I am a very, maybe overly competitive person.The last thing I need is to bring THAT energy in to my sole artistic outlet 
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My #1 - don’t know, otherwise I probably would have donen something about it.
Things I think probably have not helped:
- Not playing enough actual music, whether that be my own or learning songs. Probably should have at least learnt a few songs along the way, but other than little snippets here and there, I haven’t.
- Possibly divided focus - I started with guitar and still play that more than bass. I also dabbled in finger drumming.
- Option paralysis - got too many sources of decisions. These might be what plugin to use, which instrument to play as well as which course and/or YouTube video to watch.
- Running out of steam with work and family and then not having the resolve or drive to get in a decent practice session.
- Sometimes putting music before getting stuff done around the house which creates tension. I can then end up regretting playing.
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I’m pretty happy with my progress. It’s slow going and I still struggle with even fairly basic things the first time I try them but I don’t have any particular goals in mind other than being a bedroom bassist and having fun so it’s all good.
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Fear of failure.
I am dyslexic, this not about reading and writing, its about sequencing. For example, I play trumpet and once I leanrned which button/s to push for which dot on the staff the rest was just embouchre and practice.
Learning Bass the sequencing is different, the sequence on paper doesnt match the sequence of finger and hand movements. Say you fret and play a G on the E string, then go UP to Bb to realise the third of Gmin triad. Mentaly your brain says UP, but the physical movement to the A string is DOWN one string and DOWN towards the head stock one fret (semitone). For me to learn this task can take up 5 times longer than someone without the neurodiversity that I have.
In addition, there is a gradient that individuals work through when undertaking a task, based upon stress-pressure/ effectiveness ie failure and success… Basically some people can mange pressure and stress better than others. my failure.rate to do a task is severely affected by UNDUE external pressures.
Remove some of those pressures and my success rises exponentially.
In Module 7 lesson 1 Josh teaches a crazy bass line. Which I have great difficulty in the sequencing i,e. following the notes and reading the tab., OK so maybe everyone finds the difficult. Josh makes no secret of it being difficult and goves plenty of ebncouragement… However, for me, reducing the speed of the video to half reduces the stress and makes learning the sequencing easier to learn. Not to mention laughing my head off because Josh actually sounds drunk at this speed. That also reduces stress, laughing while learning.
The point here is that, yes stress is the enemy of learning but everyone struggles in different ways for different reasons. Thats how we find ourselves with no confidence and fearful of learning as we are scared of critiscism and stop the task of learning.
Hope thats not too mixed up and muddy just my two cents worth. And no, have got M7L1 under my fingers yet but I will get ther. It s going to make one part of my practice routine here on in.
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this is huge for me.
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me too
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Lurker here for a few years…my issue is i cannot stand still…lol i go from Bass to piano to electric guitar than to classical guitar. Therefore i go nowhere! But it’s fun and keeps me out of trouble. lol!
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I’d say it’s not being able to turn it into having fun and setting wrong expectations. As MANY have said, there are so many things I could/should be doing better. As someone in their late 40’s now, having tried and succeeded and failed MANY MANY times in various things I’ve wanted to learn, I found - if it’s not FUN for me, I won’t learn it. So the goal for me is to keep it fun - keep it where some days, I don’t ‘progress’ at all, but I just repeat a B2B lesson or play a tune that I feel in my gruv-bone and just tune-out-to-rock-out.
As an aspiring (but never succeeding) golfer, I used to go to the range and hit 200 balls on the clubs I sucked at, just to get better. But I learned, that’s no fun! So now, I just go hit some good clubs, then some poor clubs, but I try so hard to remind myself, if it’s not fun - walk away. And I’ve gotten slowly better. I won’t learn if it’s not fun - period.
As a perfectionist, this has been the most difficult and most rewarding growth for me in learning the bass. Yeah, it might take me 7 years, but 7 years in a lifetime - no big deal!
Keep on having fun everyone! I love how this forum encourages me so much! such a great community!
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That’s really the best way to look at it - a great example of how it’s not a race or a competition.
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Personally, after three months on your accelerated course I believe I’m doing pretty darn good for where I’m at. Maybe it has to do with playing violin and upright string bass when I was a kid. Or it could be the “P” word. When you enjoy practicing it strengthens muscle memory and builds new neural pathways. Hence you get better at playing an instrument. It takes dedication and desire. If practice seems like a chore then odds are the journey could be an arduous one. As long as I can rattle the foundation with Dazed and Confused I am a happy man and will continue to push myself to learn new material!
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I have just met my 1st Anniversary with BassBuzz! It has been a year full of learning bass, music, and having fun!
I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute. Some of this has been easy, some more difficult. I am still very much a “beginner”. I realize I need to spend more time at it. My goal is to be able to play along with songs I like. I have no desire to play in band. I want to say “Thank You Josh” for designing this course. It has helped me tremendously!!
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My experience? All the other interesting stuff out there.
I am definitely not a perfectionist, let me grab that 80% (good enough) as efficiently as possible, and have fun with it.
I like to go down a rabbit hole now and then, but usually I’d rather go broad than deep. Just within music/music adjacent activities, there is so much to do and enjoy, let alone everything else you can conjure in your (precious little) free time…
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I struggle with fine motor skill - so when I struggle to pluck and fret in a coordinated manner it reminds me so much of 10th grade typing class. Quickly frustrated at touch typing I gave up. I was reminded everyday of my professional life.
As a 70 year beginning bass player I feel some of the same discouragement but I celebrate the gains and am enjoying it so much. I love learning new things and get excited about the things im ready for and do my best with the rest. The course gives nice structure and a lot of running on for exploration. I’m blessed to be retired and have moved beyond the many obligations of life and family. Playing my bass is a major highlight of my day.
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Yep, I am 100% the same. It needs to be fun, as soon as a hobby feels like work and requires me to HAVE to do something on something other than my own schedule, I immediately lose interest (this is why I could never be in a band. 
And also why I was only up to I think Module 10 before the course refresh happened despite owning my bass for almost two years now: I need to be in the right mood for it or it feels like work).
I’m under no illusions that I’m going to be some god-tier bassist (or my other hobbies: guitar player, drummer, miniature painter, coder), I just want to be able to have fun and record some music and do some casual jamming with friends.
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I have been thinking a lot lately about the whole “not enough time in the day” thing.
Don’t get me wrong, I say it constantly.
I also constantly say “we make time for what is important”.
When I first started playing bass, I put in a LOT of time, staying up late, loved every second. As I progressed, and got to a ‘certain point’, my time for bass started diminishing until I kepts saying ‘no time for that’.
Rubbish.
Having just bought a banjo, I am all of a sudden finding time to play/learn it. Way more than I have found for bass in previous months.
Why?
My conclusion - the challenge, the drive to excel, the desire to meet goals and progress.
So when progress slows, or appears to slow, or, when you just don’t know what to do next (and here’s the qualifier…) that will keep driving you, your interest wanes. I think a lot of us experience this first when we complete @JoshFossgreen amazing course, then some find other avenues and keep going, some don’t. Covers kept me going for a while until that wasn’t as challenging (or too challenging) (or too uniteresting). I have a brand new banjo course to trek through, and it is meeting my needs and goals, so, I put in the time. I think the lack of (or perception of lack of) time is all BS and a cop out.
The real reason is bass is not as important to us as it once was, so Mr. @JoshFossgreen - the $64,000 question is… how do we keep ourselves challenged when we get to the ‘bass nexus point’ and need proper direction to keep it going.
FYI - still playing bass, just recorded a cover and working on some more. Banjo has sparked bass oddly enough - so - must have enough time, lol.
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@John_E , I would agree. I wonder where I will go with the bass in the future. My son plays banjo and sax in a couple of school bands so he is always learning new songs for the gigs which keeps him motivated. For me at 57+, I have no aspirations of being in a band so what will I do once I feel proficient and can actually play. Hopefully boredom won’t set in. I’m really digging it so far, the music reading I actually find very interesting, but I have a long way to go.
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So true John!! Spot On!!
I play banjo (not well), but I’ve played it since my 30’s… Actually have a banjo that me and my Navy buddy built from scratch… A very “Challenging” instrument to play and master.
As for me, I added drums as a support to my bass playing. I also moved to a 5 string which was a bit of a challenge (and still is) given my arthritis. My latest challenge is the “Fretless” five… Oh, this one is a ton of fun for me right now since a new world of tones, slides, and vibratos has opened up along with the challenge of intonation and more accurate fingering on the fretboard…
So YES, a person can only do so many covers, play with so many groups - which to me was fun, but NOT challenging enough since I found that I wasn’t “growing” as a bassist and “learning” any new techniques that would “Scratch that itch” of excelling further. Yea, I know exactly where you"re coming from…
Good Luck with the Banjo!! Always loved playing “Cripple Creek”…
Here’s some pic’s of my hand crafted 5 string banjo… May not be “Perfect”, but it’s certainly a “Player”!!
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What course? Good luck!
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[quote=“John_E, post:136, topic:72443”]
the challenge, the drive to excel, the desire to meet goals and progress.
Desire and a persons personal why…
When these are strong enough every stated reason ever mentioned is no more than a obstacle to overcome like a fallen tree across the path.
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