That is in fact my scientific method to get to the core/truth of things while having fun!
Interesting idea! Never been into dance at all probably because it never came naturally. I have really solid fine-slow motor skills (think soldering SMT, watchmaking, etc) but when it comes to sequencing movements in time I’ve just never had a natural aptitude; it’s very much something I have to learn.
I’ve already noticed verbalizing a rhythm helps a lot when trying to figure out how to get my fingers to play it. Even just saying “DUH dun ditditdit duh” patterns as I hear it has helped me figure out how to time triplets.
Mostly want to play metal so I guess it’s time to get in a mosh pit for the first time in 20 years 
Realistically though I might look at learning some basic hip-hop moves, always thought b-boys were cool.
It’s also great when you are in public sitting down and bopping to the beat… Extra points if the bass face comes out in public without an actual or air bass in your hands.
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Yep. Just need to learn and practice. Lots of people are intimidated by dance, but fundamentally it is based on natural movements that you already do with your body. It’s just training how to do those natural movements in new ways.
Hip hop dances are awesome and a GREAT place to start dancing. They can seem intimidating, because we think of crazy acrobatic braking moves, but the basic stuff is just getting a rhythmic pulse going through your body. Literally moves you can bust while playing bass, and would look at home doing on a metal stage.
An Hip Hop is awesome because it’s a whole culture built around music and art. And they love bass.
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At the moment I feel like I’m struggling with the real fundamentals of fretting and plucking. I’m a couple of months into learning to play the bass (currently working my way through Module 4), and feel like I’ve got to a point where the combination of my (lack of) fretting and plucking technique is potentially hindering my further progress through the course.
Does anyone out there have any tips and/or exercises to help improve the basics?
Phil
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The majority of Buzzers new to the instrument experience exactly what you describe.
The stock answer to this (and any future playing issues) is to slow down. Way down. So slow you think it’s pointless.
How can this help?
When you break it down, you are asking each hand to perform completely different actions. But on top of that, you’re asking your brain to not only learn how to manage those actions but also to coordinate their happening in time, in tune, and cleanly. All of these disparate actions are a lot to juggle.
So the key is to slow the entire process down so your brain has enough time to manage each physical action your hands/fingers must perform.
Interestingly, the bass master Marcus Miller — he of the signature slapping technique at blazing speed — has said that before each performance he very deliberately plucks each string — individually — for a few minutes, at a snail-slow tempo. He said that doing so reminds him that the fundamentals are the most important aspect of being able to play well. The point is: if Marcus Miller finds it essential to slow down in order to calibrate his brain before playing, so should we all.
Lastly, try going back through the first lessons of B2B. Don’t rush through because they seem easy, but take the time to do each thing Josh teaches, slowly, deliberately. You will likely find it very worthwhile. Good luck.
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Thanks for the advice @MikeC 
I hadn’t thought that I’d rushed through the early lessons, but in hindsight perhaps I was “muddling through” and saving up technique problems to a point. Going back through the lessons from the start is a great idea - it’ll be interesting to see how I get on with them now, and if I can spot where errors are creeping in and fix them 
Phil
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Working on my fretting hand technique. I keep my wrist relaxed. My thumb on the back of the neck. A gap between my palm and the neck. I don’t press the frets too hard. I don’t have the see-saw problem, and my flying fingers are somewhat under control. Despite this, the joint on my ring finger collapses when I try pressing my pinky down (or my pinky gets stuck when I curl my ring finger into the “correct position”). I can’t find any good finger independence workouts for fretting. All I’ve been able to learn is that the ring and pinky fingers share a tendon, so it takes time and conditioning to get them to move independently. But what’s missing is how I practice this. A squeeze tool? Resistance bands? Insane 1 finger per fret exercises? Pls help
This exercise is how to gain control of your fretting hand. Just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it doesn’t take effort, because it does. But it can s SO worth it. Just do it and see its effect.
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A bit slow on the reply… but how I deal with gnarly parts of songs ( runs / 16ths etc … ) is to isolate them in Songsterr ( provided there is a tab ) … set a loop over the problem area… crank the speed WAY DOWN… and start working it into muscle memory. Slowly raising the speed … Only increase speed as you nail it per tempo.
Hope this helps.
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Practice different rhythm combinations of quarter notes, but with just one pitch (example, use C, 3rd fret, A string) instead of also trying to vary pitch on multiple strings. Rhythm can be hard and needs to be practiced on its own sometimes. If that’s too boring, try just root notes for a while.
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This is how I’ve started learning songs, figure out the rhythm just plucking the root and then after I can run the rhythmic pattern learn the fretting. I don’t have enough experience yet to do both at the same time on the fly.
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Perfect! I was surprised how hard rhythm can be.
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Rhythm is by far my hardest challenge now that I have some degree of basic bassist dexterity, and plucking along on a single string def helps me feel the groove.
I am a bit concerned that I’m getting an intuition for some rhythms but not really understanding them or even being able to consciously process them (feeling the groove is powerful mojo), but I kind of suspect I have to build that intuition to get to the point that I can do it more consciously. Right now everything still largely blurs together in time and I can just tell you a snare happened in a bar but not where in terms of beat number, I’m just not fast enough to decode anything more than “event happened”.
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Techno is awesome because it’s a whole culture built around music and art. And they love bass … and still most can’t dance!
Here is a simple tutorial how NOT to dance 
It’s simple, so maybe a good start?
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The thizz face at 0:55
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The Chiller move made me think of this from Spaced (1:42) - one of my all-time fav TV series and such a good clubbing scene
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Don’t be concerned. That’s normal. Not just normal, but good.
You shouldn’t be consciously processing rhythm. It should be about intuition and feel. The more intuition you build, the less conscious it becomes. Processing it consciously is about ANALYZING music, not playing it.
The trick and challenge to watch out for is that we often find ourselves finding comfortable patterns that we keep coming back to. This is where you need to switch back to looking at things consciously and thinking more about beat numbers and such - to force yourself out of your comfort zone in order to ingrain new patterns and techniques.
(Note: This experience comes from decades as a dancer, not a bass player. But the same things should be applicable.)
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