You could do the chugging exercises on open strings Josh lines out here in the beginning of his Hysteria video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW5Xdo26HK4
Unless you don’t like that song, then just don’t do it.
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Muse is one of my favorite bands ever. Of course I’d play Hysteria 
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Iconic bassline 
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I’m struggling with the fact that it’s October 
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I know. It’s crazy. 2020 was a relentless slog. 2021 blew by.
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Trying to learn a song that has chords for the first time, and really struggling to not mute the G string with the pinky. I’ve always been using my fretting fingers to mute the higher strings, but now I’d have to do the exact opposite, and avoid muting. I can do it after half a minute of arranging my fingers into the correct angles, but absolutely no chance while playing the song.
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You may have said that while first picking up a bass, having to focus on what you were plucking and what you were fretting at the same time. After a while it will become automatic, just like with forming the shapes for different chord shapes.
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I have been at my first physio today. And the therapist actually asked if I do a lot of exercises at home. I said that’s probably me trying to play Bass. Still, elbow is absolute mess and the physio was kind of “without these exercises daily you will lose 40% of elbow mobility”. Will be fun…. But Bass getting better every day, and I will probably post “my first bass-line after months” later today.
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I was gifted a bass to help with my anxiety. It is a low-end Glarry, but since it was a gift from my husband and he was SO excited about it I have to keep it. I do want to look at short scales though since I struggle with small hands and short fingers. So far I am doing ok in the B2B lessons, but get discouraged when I Google beginner tabs and they are WAY to advanced for me. Basically, I guess I am just discouraged that I will ever be able to play any bass lines. I CAN play Tracy Chapman’s Give Me One Reason, so I guess there is that.
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Welcome to the forum. I would recommend to also introduce yourself in the Introduction thread. Don’t be ddiscurged. After a few weeks you will engrave some moves and shapes to your brain, so with a little bit of ability to follow a beat you will be able to create some basslines. Will it be something incredible? Probably bot, but trust me … you will simply get better with time, practice really works. Don’t be discouraged!
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Glarry is fine and much better than the price suggests. A good set-up and you’ll be set.
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Be patient, learning an instrument takes time. Having larger hands and longer fingers is an advantage, but small hands are absolutely not a deal breaker. There are tons of great bassists out there playing long scale basses with small hands. Give yourself time. Just make sure your bass is set up properly, that’s more important than size.
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I keep hearing about “setup”, but how do you know if it is not ok? My strings are not too far above the pickups and I can play the frets just fine - I just can’t stretch my little Hobbit hands LOL.
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By “good setup” we (or at least I) mean “string height as low as possible without getting fret buzz”. The lower the string height the easier it is to fret the strings, and for beginners like us that can make a huge difference.
The safest option is to take it to a professional, tell them that you are a beginner, and ask them to set it up as low as possible. But you can do it yourself too, it only takes 10-15 minutes maybe. There’s lots of videos showing how to do this on YouTube, search for Marcelo Feldman’s videos for example.
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You are on a journey, it all takes time.
Don’t fret (no pun intended) the journey, enjoy the little advancements instead.
If you are wanting to play simple songs but they are too complex, try looking to play simple riffs (a few bars that are recognizable from the song) instead. Bite size nuggests. This is how I started. A full song end to end will take some time.
There is a very wide, wonderful, opinionated world of how to do a setup.
Like @akos said, take it to a luthier around you (preferably not at Guitar Center or other big box store) and explain you are new and is the setup ok. He will be able to tell you if its a problem or not.
Along with Marcelo’s video, Sadowski (Roger) has a very easy to follow one so you understand what a setup is and if you think you could do it yourself or not. This way at least you know what goes into it when you talk to a luthier.
For short scale…try some out before determining you need one, plenty of people prefer them, but also plenty of people with small hands and arms prefer regular 34" scale. You can find many videos of crazy talented kids playing full size basses. But if the long scale seems to be prohibiting you in some way, then, well, you are on your way to your second bass 
.
Don’t give up, and don’t get discouraged. I did not do my first full song cover for over a year after I was playing.
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I am seriously struggling with hand position in both hands.
I think I am working so hard at ‘correcting it’ that i am actually making both worse, and, feelilng some soreness as well. I keep re-watching Adam Neely’s excellent videos and keep screwing it up.
I watched my last cover in amazement of what I thought was good hand position and it is really really bad.
Anyone find a way to help self correct this?
Anyone else struggle here?
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Just realized that I didn’t actually answer your question… A “not ok” string height (for me at least) would be anything over 3 mm. My current bass is set up for 1.6-1.8 mm at the 12th fret.
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What is the issue exactly and how are you trying to correct it?
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Welcome to the forum.
Don’t get discouraged, you can overcome small hands but it does take practice. A short scale may help
But you can do it. Check out Mina, who is all of 155cm. Bass is bigger than she is, but she a recording artist.
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Bass has one huge advantage. Even the ability to handle four notes at will and order is enough to create a killer bassline. Try the B2B course, it can be really useful, it doesn’t work that much for me, but I am a complete minority, and try to create little basslines with every little increment of your ability. You will stick playing the same riff for tens of minutes with natural bass face, and you will enjoy it and in meantime, you are creating muscle memory useful in many occasions. And this forum is full of people ready to help and encourage you along the way.
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