i’m sure i’m not the only one but I don’t see it mentioned much. my problem is keeping my L thumb pressure down to a reasonable level. meaning i’m crushing the back of the neck with my thumb. which causes it to 1. slide up from the center of the neck towards the top and 2. get really fricking tired causing my palm to collapse up against the back of the neck. I don’t know what it is, no matter how much I concentrate on not doing it I do it. muscle memory that needs to be taught I guess.
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You could, for the purpose of exercising this, imagine you had NO thumb on your fretting hand… what would you do if you wanted to play bass anyway??
You’ll find that you can apply a little bit of pressure with your lower arm (of the plucking side) on the body of the bass, thus counteracting the force of your fretting fingers on the fretboard (you could imagine a point around the upper horn of a typcially shaped bass touching your chest - this would be pivoting point (fulcrum)).
Try it for a bit… slow, deliberate fretting and NO thumb at all! If you do that regularly, I would guess, the pressure of your thumb will lighten when you (eventually) put it back onto the neck.
Don’t expect to play “fancy” or fast lines… use it for very deliberate fretting… and see how it goes before increasing speed.
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That’s a good idea. I tried playing with no thumb on the neck which didn’t work cuz I was just pushing the neck back away from my fingers.
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Yes, you need some counter-action… but, really, very little is required!
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That’s not a big deal! Totally normal to have trouble finding the spots to fret without looking, early on. And even later on, sometimes! Memorizing the riff is a good solution!
Lots of pinky barring without a break, it makes sense you’d get tired! It’ll get easier. 
Try reversing the pressure with your plucking arm, either the arm resting on the bass, or with your thumb anchor.
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I’m struggling with a weak and misshapen pinky finger on my fretting hand. (Broken in an accident years ago.) Dollar for scale. The bass will be some new kind of therapy for me. Module 1 lesson 4 was a challenge for me, but I was able to get pretty close to the end of the fret with a lot of careful effort. I plan to revisit this lesson periodically or as a warm up before I start each session
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Meh. You got this.
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I knew Django’s story, the others I didn’t know.
I figured people out there with smaller hands than mine can play bass, so one effectively shortened digit shouldn’t hold me back too much. My finger has three screws in it. After I broke it, the surgeon told me if they didn’t go in it would be deformed and would not have full range of motion. I got the surgery and you can see the results.
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True, but, unfortunately for us, the pinky is way more busy (for many shapes and boxes on the fretboard) than the ring or the middle finger… so, this makes it a tougher challenge for us!
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I’m sure you’ve got this either way but you could consider trying short-scale maybe? It’s fun and was good enough for Paul McCartney etc.
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If the pinky is a major blocker physically then you could just not use it or may even switch hands. Those might not be practical or ideal though. Just throwing stuff out there.
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I’m sure they will be fine with a full scale. This little hombre is doing fine on this 34" double-buck:
Lots of bass players don’t use their pinkies much anyway
That however is an excellent reason to try a shortie.
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Interestingly, I started this journey on a Kala U-Bass, but knew I would want a big bass.
I tried a short scale and it was easier, but they’re not as easily available at pawn shops, so I’m determined to play long scale. I picked up a scarcely played but dusty Affinity PJ for cheap at the pawn nearest my office. I know it’s not the greatest bass, but it’s mine and I love it. The relief checked out, so I’m in the process of adjusting the saddles for action and intonation. I want to get flatwound strings for it, at which point I will set it up again.
Serial indicates 2017 production at Cor-tek Indonesia. Probably a starter pack bass.
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Currently struggling with playing/excercising and make progress in the course at all. Have not played for two weeks at least. 
- My ordered amp is still not here and it’s frustrating to play on a cheap bad sounding guitar amp.
- Not finding time at all for my hobbies at the moment, real frustrating.
I hope I can get back to it soon.
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Seconded here with a loud holler of frustration and sympathy, bud.
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Yeah, waiting for gear is frustrating, no doubt about it! There are some interim solutions, most notably perhaps the Vox Amplug
Haha, yes… my wife (half-jokingly complained and) said I used to bake more bread (at least during the weekends) and now the bass has taken up all my spare time. I guess we all only have finite/limited time, so one advice is to cut as much meaningless stuff as you can (TV perhaps…) and focus on what is rewarding 
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Struggling with the slap bass module - it’s hard to go back to so completely sucking!
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Haha - I felt the same way. I’m so new I watched and tried, but moved through this module quickly. I still have enough to learn just to pluck, slapping and popping will wait.
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