What are you struggling with?

So glad to know I’m not the only one!! It also makes me happy to know you’ve finished the course!! It gives me hope!

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I read - need to relax, this will come in time all on its own.

Be one with the bass grasshopper.

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Muting. I’ve noticed on my SR300 that any time I use a pinky to stretch to a low string, the bottom of my pinky presses down on the G string. I don’t have as much of an issue with this on my Fender Precision weirdly. I’m not a large guy so I don’t have a ton of finger reach. I would have thought on the thinner neck of the Ibanez that wouldn’t be as much of an issue. I find better reach using my ring finger. Muting in general is a big of an issue, I fight with.

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Which position is your thumb at when you reach? I had a similar problem using “death grip” fretting with my SR300. Had my thumb over the E string so much, I could even fret or mute with it. But that got resolved with OFPF.

It might help to practice fretting hand muting in genera. When you release pressure on the string you’re fretting you’re bound to have even less pressure on the upper strings.

This is unless you fret with your fingers like a lever.

Another issue could be too low action on the G string, I recently set up mine again, went for 2mm on the 8th fret

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I finally got through that last lesson in Mod 4. I never even got through the first measure. Playing with the microshifting, while not making my wrists contort… and repositioning the guitar a little more vertical, less horizontal… Practice. I made it through lesson 2 of the 5th module feeling much better about myself. Whew. Thanks for all the help and support!!

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I feel like Josh covered this somewhere but can’t seem to find it. I’m having percussion issues when playing fingerstyle more uptempo primarily on my E String where it sounds like I’m playing slap with fingerstyle. I initially thought it was the string hitting off the frets because the action was too low but it’s just the attack at speed.

Other strings don’t seem to be a problem because I’m really pulling through them. ANy tips are welcome.

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Hm. Not sure if I got you correctly but it sounds like you attack the E string too hard. Have you tried to pluck the E string more softly?

And you can pull through the E string as well: just pull into your thumb which rests on the pickup, so that the plucking finger will shortly touch the thumb.

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Learn to pluck softer, or, if it just ain’t in you, raise the string height a bit til it goes away.

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I found adjusting the action on my bass made a world of difference. Went from 4mm to 2 mm on the E string.

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I just lowered the action on mine by quite a bit really, and I don’t know how and I can’t explain it but it eliminated my non-technique buzz and I’m happy. I still sound like shit though, lol.

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I too still sound like shit, so we also have that in common. :smiley:

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Embrace the Shit Sound haha. I too sound like shit, but we will never get better if we’re discouraged too soon😅

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Gotta sound shitty until you don’t.

It is the way.

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“Sucking at something is the first step towards being sorta good at something.”

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True true, I do think it’s going to be a while for me though. I don’t think I’m actually musically talented, but I think I can work hard enough to make an okay facsimile of a bass player someday hopefully lol.

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Learning to play an instrument takes time. Lots and lots of it. That’s just a fact of life.

“Badass” is a very relative term. With B2B, going from a rank beginner to knowing how to play well enough to continue learning more is pretty badass, no doubt.

But in the big picture of musicianship, the vast majority of players who ever achieve true badass status typically spend their lives in that endeavor.

When asked what they most would want
to do before they die, many legendary players only half-jokingly have said they’d like to finally learn to play their respective instruments.

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Innate talent is rare. For most, talent is usually nothing more than hard work applied over a long enough time that the hard work starts to look effortless.

In terms of musical talent, the fact you can play an instrument with any competency at all puts you leagues ahead of most people. The fact you want to keep going puts you even further out. Most don’t even try, and of those who do, so many give up when they realize how much actual work it takes.

You’re right though, it does take a while. I’ve got 7 months experience at this point, posted up nearly 20 covers so far, and I’m just barely even willing to call myself a bass player. The bassists who inspire me generally have 20+ years experience, and as a 40-something with health issues who knows if I’ll ever even approach their level. But if I don’t start walking that long road now, I surely never will.

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The good part is, you aren’t alone. I can get pretty clanky (and not in a bitchin Steve Harris way) when the tempo is fast. Keep working, you’ll get it! :sign_of_the_horns:t2:

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Not so much “struggling” as found a song that has turned out to be a great technique challenge:

“Love Song” by The Cure

Great opportunity to really dial in 1FpF technique and quiet fingers.

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I have an issue where I pull the G string off the fret board. Obviously I’m not pressing the string straight down, but I can’t exactly figure why I do it. Bad wrist or forearm position, curling my fingers weird? It’s not major or constant but it does happen, mostly above the 10th or 12th fret area, which leads me to believe it is some poor placement of my hand causing me to do this. It’s not a major bend of the string. I feel like if I had another 1/16" of fret below that string that it’d never happen. But boy do I annoy myself when it happens :sweat_smile:

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