Hang tight. Although this really sucks
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The dreaded G string!
I already hate G strings in non-bass related scenarios, but this is driving me crazy now.
I am practicing two songs that want me to play G9-DG-G9 or D7-G7-D7:
So: playing the same fret but on two adjacent strings.
Talk Talk - Renée
And
Gabriels - Blame
When palying it never sounds clean. Sometimes G is muted. Sometimes they are played with a different volume, sometimes they both ring.
I s#ck!
I tried different techniques: playing both with the same finger (the “Josh method”, as taught on B2B), playing them with pinky and ring finger (which allows me to play the next note quickly with my index finger). Only when I use index finger and middle finger it sounds good. But than the “flow” is broken, eg there is a too long pause when playing the next note with my index finger.
Playing something like D7-A7-D7 is better, but not good enough.
Everything I do on the G string s#cks … at least when playing bass.
Why, oh why?
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I had completely forgotten about Talk Talk. I spent the '80s in a delightful cloud of smoke, so I built an Amazon Music playlist of their 5 studio albums to help me revisit that time. Thanks for the reminder!
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They are great - and “Renée” is a cool fretless song!
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My challenge: avoiding buzz/ringing strings! Working on left hand fingering to try to mute them.
@TheMaartian - oh, and if you like fretless: listen to the “Rain Tree Crow” allbum. That’s David Sylvian (from the band “Japan”). His (first) solo albums are also very good!
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Yeah Beautiful Trees is great.
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I prefer “Secrets of the Beehive” to “Brilliant Trees”.
Also, it has “Forbidden Colours” (with Ryuichi Sakamoto.) as a bonus track.
Ahh yeah, Brilliant, not Beautiful. Oops 
Regardless all his stuff is neat. Very different.
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Of all the weird things to be struggling with, this root fifth octave bit at the end of this measure has been kicking my butt the last few days. Like I can normally play a root-fifth-octave without an issue, but suddenly I’m failing at it. My pinkie will hit the fifth or the octave, but not both.
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You might consider trying playing the fifth and octave by rolling your ring finger from one to the other rather than employing your little finger.
Don’t know if this will work for you, but it sure does for me
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Try using ring finger and pinky. Root with index, 5th with ring, octave with pinky.
I can roll a finger easily to a higher string, but I struggle to roll to a lower string.
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This 5-question quiz (Your #1 Bass Playing Block, and how to fix it) just popped up on Scott’s Bass Lessons.
And there’s this new video lesson from Dan Hawkins, a very experienced bassist and capable teacher. Plus, he’s a really nice guy.
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Not being able to get together with the full band on a regular basis, A show in a month, about 12 new songs to learn.
I mean I think I got this but I’m going to have to scare the **** out of myself in order to overcome my ADHD and make sure I can get solid practice in each day. /rant
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my main struggles are:
I struggle to incorporate ghost notes in my slap lines.
The ideas I come up with are bland and get repetitive fast same for my licks.
I struggle with understanding music theory and creating licks from music theory.
I feel slow and sloppy playing fast licks e.g. disco ulysses, light years, dean town.
Im sure this is in a subset somewhere, but I figured I would ask anyway. I am about 60% through the course. I started off micro shifting pretty regularly, but with the complexity of the songs increasing, I am finding that I am stretching my hand more. With that thought my pinky is still pretty weak and when I am trying to keep up with the full workouts sometime my pinky hits the middle of the fret vs behind it and creates that twangy thud sound. So should I keep stretching to work on that even though it means hitting weak notes with the pinky or should I just embrace micro shifting and do that consistently?
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Do both because each serves a purpose.
It sounds like your little finger needs to build some strength and/or accuracy. You can accomplish this by working some technique exercises.
Here is an excellent exercise that builds finger independence and strength:
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Started learning “Twilight Zone” by Golden Earing. Love this song. Badass but bass line that is relatively simple… but goes for ages.
My left hand just starts to cramp up and falls apart after a while. Gotta build up some stamina or figure out a technique to keep going for that long.