Yesterday nailed modules 2 and 3. Two modules in one day - yes, that’s true. Not perfect, but I’m not a perfectionist (Even in middle and high school I was not obsessed with grades and in the end graduated from high school with all As and Bs (our Ukrainian equivalents of those of course)).
Now I’m about to start the Module 4 with that legendary “mini-boss” named Billie Jean in the end.
What I’m sorta struggling with is that sometimes I’m overplucking. More of a tendency to pluck hard leading to those overpluckings - especially when focusing heavily on fretting. Need to eliminate this and my plucking hand will work almost perfectly as for now.
You might try increasing your amp volume. You may be subconsciously plucking harder to hear it better/more clearly. Let the amp do its job. If you put it to where it’s too loud with your current plucking, forcing you to pluck lighter to lower the volume, you’ll naturally start to get used to it and pluck lighter.
I practice in my earphones (just because have time after the work and those are evenings) so it has nothing to do with amp volume or gain. So maybe need to force myself plucking lighter. And by the way - that’s much easier when I’m not concentrated on right hand.
I’ve just reached Module 5 - the string crossing had just started in module 4. The thing is - maybe I just need a bit of time to digest plucking pattern in exact moments of changing strings because right now I’m too concentrated on right hand in that moments - and with that sometimes mistakes are there.
By the way - on medium and full speed workouts I’m somehow less prong to mistakes just because my mind has no time to worry about like “Attention, here is the string change! Attention - fingers reset, don’t mess and miss anything” and so on. I just play focusing on fretting and right hand just dos it’s job automatically (still not perfectly). But on the slow workouts easily can be mess with right hand…
And also on slow workouts I’m prone to speed up a bit - I mean sometimes pluck a bit before the count or a bit faster that click beats.
I’ve had the same experience in several lessons. Expect it to happen again. In a couple of the intro or slow workout videos Josh even says it will be easier in the faster ones.
This is all natural and it’s still early in your learning process. I think someone mentioned further up the thread that the brain can only focus on an area or two at a time. If you think about, you’re already split between watching the video and processing what is being said, looking at your instrument and orienting your body to it, right hand movements (which strings to pluck, how hard to pluck, where to pluck, muting), left hand movement (which strings to fret and where, how hard to press, muting, etc), and anything else that could be happening. It’s a LOT more than you think. As each bit becomes more learned and natural you’ll be able to shift that focus to other aspects. Start with the bigger macro skills and the finer micro skills follow.
Getting my switches in Portait of Tracy to be fast enough and making a few of the harmonies ring out cleanly enough. (Let’s not talk about the last harmony, like ever, at all!)
Looks like finally grasped the string crossing. Just followed the recomendation of some Buzzer, that gave it me here (thanks for that, Man) to wright everything on paper.
First - write plucking sequence on paper and work through it untill it will be in the fingers (and than gradually raise the speed untill reching the full speed). Like that (in brackets i write string to pluck untill next change - sorta like accidentals on the staff):
Same with fretting - write the notes on the paper - work through changes of frets without plucking - that add plucking and gradually raise speed untill reaching desired one.
P.S. I know - my handwriting sucks (and that’s in all languages I know - my native Ukrainian, English, Polish and German)
You might try just opening the track for that song in the course extras (M8L5) and just listen for a while to the background track and how the bass fits into it. You’ll start to hear the changes and “get” it. You’ll be able to feel where the pattern is and where the song is at in that pattern. Careful, though. It’s a pretty standard 12 bar blues and you’ll start to pick it out on SO MANY SONGS on the radio and such. Especially if you listen to a blues station.
Apparently, I’m struggling with timing on a song I thought I was ready to record. I’ve done two takes on it–one yesterday, one today–and in both takes, I’m rushing in several places, and dragging in some places. I don’t hear it when I’m playing the song, but it is pretty obvious when I listen to the recording. It isn’t a consistent place or amount of timing being off. At one point I was at least a beat and a half fast for about half a measure. It’s an 11 minute song, so if it was just one little place I’d just punch in a better take, but it’s in multiple places.
It’s just frustrating that I can’t hear it while I’m actually playing. I’d think there was a problem with the recording itself (and not my playing), if it didn’t lock in for chunks.
That’s what to begin with - I know what 12 bar blues is and this makes things way more easier.
Even that M5L5 workout, with which I’ve struggled, now looks pretty easy, if knowing that Bar 1 and 3 are the A minor (And thanks to Rich Brown’s lessons I already know the minor triad shape on varuious positions on fretboard) and that’s make things way more easier.
Not struggling, but rather what’s bothering me - is my fretting hand position correct?
Made pictures two times (sorry for quality - tried my best). The problem is - sometimes I feel some discomfort (can’t even call it tension - too light for that) in my wrist and also in the thumb joint, where it connects to wrist. And constantly worriing about that my wrist seems to be bent too much…
It’s kind of difficult to tell in the pics, but it seems like you might be putting a fair bit of pressure into the thumb onto the neck. Are you? Try to keep a light touch with the thumb, even trying to maybe practice a bit without your thumb even touching. You basically just want enough touch to keep your fingers from pushing the neck back towards you.
The last two images are a lot further back than I would do. I generally agree with Adam Neely on this one, just make a natural U shape with your hand and drop the neck in to it.
It is also more natural sometimes to be more guitar style with your thumb pointing more towards the headstock or along the top.
Aim for comfortable relaxed positioning, not absolute rigor
U mean - try to put the left elbow a bit forward? Seems reasonable - because maybe for me it means to put the bass more to the right. It is on my right side, but seems that I need to try to put it more to the right.
Seems that I need to play bit without a strap - just to find the most comfortable position of the bass - and that to try to maintain it with the strap.
