Something I heard recently about: Trifocal lenses. Which are transplanted directly in your eyes. Out with the old, hardened lense that can’t focus near any more, in with the new lenses. OP takes 10 min per eye.
I get terrible Dead Space 2 vibes from thinking about such an OP, but maybe lauter in my life I might think about it.
Lenses are from Zeiss, and I am kinda mad that they didn’t use the Zeiss Ikon brand for those.
Total missed opportunity
I was working on speed exercises last night by running Ionian - Locrian scale patterns from 100bpm - 180bpm (180 is where I got sloppy), but I was doing quarter notes.
Some finger ease on the back of the neck really helps tame the gloss. So does a green scotch pad but I’m assuming you don’t want to do that
A glove also solves the problem of gloss
It’s infuriating because I can’t feel myself dragging - it feels like I am on the beat - but then when I finish recording I’m about a quarter note too long after about four measures.
It’s not recording latency either, I start right on time.
My theory is the string jumps are taking a little too long. It gets better when I play it up and down the scale on the same string.
Yeah, I’m forcing myself to just get used to it. I have had Gloss Aversion for too long now.
Definitely done that before - in fact I just did it to another bass a couple months ago. But absolutely not to this bass.
The conventional wisdom is to slow it down 5-10% so you can get it down, and work your way up to faster then normal, but you know all this. Just typing away, feel free to ignore me.
Haha no worries, and of course this is what I am doing. I can play it a bit slower just fine, and it’s definitely a bassline in a style very much in my wheelhouse.
You can hear the hallmarks of it being a bassline right at my speed limit in the clip I posted in the “What are you working on” topic - uneven dynamics, some missed notes, etc. Though I do love the string noise and slight fret buzz dirtiness as I dig in with the pick and how the amp sim (Kuassa Cerberus, my favorite) was overdriving and amplified them a bit - it’s got a nice Ampeg-like quality to it.
Same with me (without the gloss neck issue). The parts of the song that are at 160 and 170 BPM are okay. The half the song that is at 190 BPM is not so ok. I can almost hang on for a few bars, but then it starts falling apart.
At the moment, I’m on Module 9, and I honestly can’t believe how much I’ve learned. I’m not a badass yet, but without Josh and his incredible course, I think badassery would feel way farther off than it does right now! Grooving past the halfway point now, I’m actually more motivated than ever. For the first time, I can really imagine playing with others—and way sooner than I ever expected. Crazy, right?
Right now, I’m focusing a lot on hand strength. Still getting quite a bit of buzz on my ring and pinky fingers. To help with that, I’ve started using Josh’s “Top 5 Technique Fails…Practice THIS Daily (10 Min Fix)” routine as my warm-up. I’m sticking to his advice of mastering one level at a time before moving on. I’m confident it’ll make a big difference.
Microshifting has been another challenge. I miss the fret - a lot. I’m 6’1" with hands that match, but I haven’t built up the stretch just yet. Still, Josh emphasizes the value of microshifting, so it’s definitely on my list of things to work on.
All in all, I’m just a n00b doing what n00bs do - putting in the work and experiencing the results. Just a few weeks ago, I couldn’t play anything. Now? Module 9, baby!
Thanks for reading about my journey - and for sharing yours. This community rocks!
Barracuda, Interstate love song, and getting all these dang bridges worked out to play in less than 2 weeks and oh yea I’m supposed to start a new job Monday. 
Barracuda is a tough one for sure but if you break it down into chunks it’s actually not SO bad. I mainly play finger style so hitting all those notes quickly was my biggest issue
Yea I started with 3 finger style for the triplets but then I decided to just sack up and go at it with a pick. We are doing don’t bring me down too so it’s triplet palooza.
I tried getting a finer point pick but it REALLY thins out the tone too much.
Sorry - not sure if this is the right place for this question but. . …from an old man.beginner . . .
I have difficulty with alternate plucking - I just forget and get lazy.
I found this song and thought it would be a good alternate plucking exercise. Should I be able to play this with alternate plucking or is it just meant to be a pick song?
try again.
You can totally do this with alternate plucking. I did.
ETA: This was when I had only been playing for just under three months.
Nice. Thanks. BTW you’re prolly 3 decades younger than me but I can still move my fretting fingers pretty good.
Right there with you. Expecting to get DOGE’d in the new FY.
I think my favorite part of learning music is fantasizing about quitting my job.
I really feel for you guys, sorry you’re going through this.
Finding the stretch and string changes challenging on Mod 9, Lesson 5 - Diatonic Chord Progression. I can do the slow workout with about 80% accuracy, but I just keep plucking the wrong string or misfretting (new word alert). I decided to do an extended slow workout with the backtrack. Maybe tomorrow after I do the 10 Min Fix, I’ll start with the backtrack and run it a few times. I’ll give it another day or so, then move on. 