What are you struggling with?

Clip your nails :ok_hand:

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Dude I feel you. I’m about to go get a manicure and have them push bamboo shoots under my nails or something to move them back. I cut, I file I just can’t stop the click. Someone said it was the way I’m pulling but I can’t see a way to physically do it unless I leave my nails a little longer and actually use them to pluck the strings. My nails are about as thick as a medium pick so it could be the better option :man_shrugging:

I actually like using a pick more now because of this hassle.

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I am totally in that same boat. I get frustrated and start using my thumb!

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Keep practicing. I used to have the exact same issue. It seemed like even when I had just cut my nails, they would still catch. I think it was most often the corner of my index finger.

Lately, that issues has stopped. Even allowing my nails to grow longer, they pretty much never catch now.

I’m not sure what I’ve been practicing that changed the issue. Best guess is spending more time playing soft and smooth jazzy things. Also working a lot more on actively moving my plucking position all over the place. Like shifting during crescendos into section changes.

I’ve also practiced a bit trying to actively incorporate my nails. Doing flicks and strumming with the back side.

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I’ve been struggling with flying fingers for 20+ years but I just now realized it. I watched some of your videos, and my biggest issue is my pinky. It basically wants to fly off my hand. It’s going to take work…

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Just slow everything down. It’s much easier to deal with when you do. Once you’ve practiced a deliberate, slowed down version, it’s tons easier to speed it very gradually. Ultimately, you’ll be able to play the line at speed. You got this.

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I feel ya, It’s either that or it wants to curl up and die! Lol :rofl:

Struggling with getting my speed up.
I just can’t get the fast parts in Thunderkiss’65 right.

Yeah, sure, the common trick is: slow it down, gradually increase speed.

The problem is: at something like 95% speed it all falls apart.
I think my issue is kinda this: You can’t train sprinting by walking slowly.

So maybe I need to find a way to train “bass-sprints”? Maybe first get each hand individually up to speed, and then try to put it together later?

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@joshfossgreen been watching the 12 bar blues videos, namely …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiloGr59WOg and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBUyusoZ1kk

trying to get the patterns in my head before i start actually playing them. one thing puzzles me tho. theyre really informative, and i understand them, but, if i want to play a ‘high shape I, IV, and V’, and also jazz it up with the ‘blues box’ pattern on each note, then im confined to the E string arent i?
because if i start on A string, i play my 4 notes in the pattern, move over to D string for my IV, but then i need another 2 strings across which i obviously dont have.
so am i correct in thinking that i can do that on E string only, but if my key is on any other string and i want to use the blues box, then i need to do a ‘low shape’? so im moving back over?
in fact just thinking as i type, the blues box can only ever be used on E and A cant it!
so would that mean a good rule of thumb is if its on E i can do high shape, but if its on A then i have to do low shape?
thanks :slight_smile:

How about rubbing straws with your fingers smoothly? and I recommend you to see baselines of Beverly Hills by Weezer.

Nope. You can’t.

But you definitely can learn clean technique for running a marathon at a slow pace, then train gradually to learn to run cleanly, faster.

Playing bass is a marathon, not a sprint.

Learning to play faster takes time, repetition, practice, more repetition and a hell of a lot more time. It is the way.

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The counterpart to play the whole thing slowly is to play short passages at tempo after you know how they go. For example play two notes at tempo, then add the next note, then add another note, etc until you’re playing a phrase at tempo.

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I have often been struggling to play along with a lot of songs (especially LP recordings), because I could not find the key center.

Well, getting a fretless unlocked that. Because holy crap are there a lot of songs where somewhere in the mastering process they sped them up or slowed them down slightly.

I was listening to “Tales of Brave Ulysses”, and it’s in D, but the recording is like 1/3 semitone sharp! No wonder I couldn’t figure it out on a fretted bass!

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Jack Bruce played a fretless bass.

…Nine years after ‘Disraeli Gears’ came out.

And the tuning was consistently the same interval sharp on just that song, and not the rest of the album.

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That’s true. I forgot he played a Danelectro Longhorn on Disraeli Gears. He is one of my very favorite bassists and vocalists.

I bought and played my Longhorn in a band years later. Funny, at the time I bought it, I had no specific recollection that Jack had played one. I just loved its huge tone, great neck and super-light weight. :feather:

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Originally an EB-0 for years, too, IIRC.

First time I did B2B was in August 2023. I just got back at it to find myself not able to play Billie Jean full speed again. For the past year and a half, I have been practicing every day, almost, and around 3 hours a week. I don’t play any songs yet, because when I do find one, there is always something I should master first (reading music, using a pick, understanding modes, set my flying pinky, etc. ) and I end up not learning any.

I have ups and downs, but less ups these days (except that I have a new bass). Can you show me love, and encouragement, but also realism?

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There are definitely songs you can find which you can play the whole thing… either as is, or with slight mods.

For example - Suicide Blonde by INXS is 3 notes. Technically I think there is a slide in it, but you can play it without. Thunderstruck by AC DC is played on the E string with one single exception on the A string.

Using an app like Moises you can slow a song down to play along with. It’s fine to play a song slow all the way through and work to pick up speed.

I’m only a year in and encourage you to find a song you really enjoy and learn it all the way through. It’s super motivating to play something you like and as you note, you usually pick up a new little trick (Tuff Enuff by the Thunderbirds required me to learn a hammer on). Avoid getting hung up on perfection. Play slowly until you master the fingering and technique for a song and build speed over time. For Gimme Some Lovin, I have been building from 90 BPM, up 1 BPM for the last 2 months. Still not at speed but it’s a blast to play. Perfection can be your enemy. Balance getting it perfect with accepting your skill level at this moment and patiently making progress.

Also, don’t fret the Billie Jean thing. I have to relearn it every time!!! :joy:

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Now you’ve done it. All your fault! I’ve put off buying a Longhorn for years, even though I love listening to Sarah Butler play hers. I’m glad I held off, though. I’ve never seen this color combo before. Ordered from Thomann. 699 €. Due Thursday or Friday.

Danelectro 58 Longhorn Bass Black Red

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