Welcome to our oasis…. If you’re doing fine in the B2B course I have good news, first your hands are big enough and second that you’re playing riffs of songs already and the further you go the more song’s riffs you’ll encounter… googling for tabs can be hit or miss unless you want something specific, and even then…. the course brings 50 songs separated by easy-Med-hard so if you want to do a full song you could pick one of the easy ones, But probably playing riffs alone would be as fun and rewarding during the first weeks (there are several videos with beginner riffs out there) some of the lessons’ exercises are pretty cool and you can play to the track included in the course over and over, just set it to repeat and have fun when you get to one that like
Today I’m struggling with patience. The new bass is on the truck and out for delivery, but the waiting is the hardest part
This is the first time I’m posting in this thread and I haven’t taken the time to read through it so I’m not sure if my struggle has been mentioned by anyone else or not.
I’m struggling with sticking with this endeavor. I’m struggling with forcing myself to take my lessons each day. It’s not that I don’t have the time, I’m retired and so I can’t use that as an excuse. It’s just I’ve heard so many times here that this is supposed to be fun, and to me, it’s more of a chore. I spend maybe 5 minutes a couple of times a day practicing but that’s as far as it goes for me. Am I completely alone in feeling this way?
I can assure you that you are NOT alone in this, @NipperDog . . . 
Lots of times, things come up and can distract you, or you might not feel well, or problems may rise up with family and friends . . . . OR you just need to take a break for awhile!
Speaking just for myself, all these things have happened to me, but I’ll put money on it that I’m not the only one either 
Go ahead, relax, take some time off the bass, then come back to it later. You may be surprised to find that you’ve actually improved!
Cheers
Joe
Sometimes even on days off where i have nothing else to do but watch YT, it’s really tough to get started but once i’m going, i have no trouble playing for a while. Part of it is that I know i’m going to have to work hard at stuff i’m not good at yet and i’ll have to “fail” a whole lot and i really dont feel like it So on those days I sometimes work on some theory, play scales, play my fretless bass or i’ll take a few days off to just play guitar.
I saw a good bit of advice a while back: “anything worth doing is worth doing poorly” which is to say that not everything has to be perfect; sometimes just putting in 5 or 10 mins is better than nothing. In the big scheme of things, it’s slow and steady that wins the race… if you dont play for a few days now and then, it’s not going to matter that much. If you force yourself to do stuff that you don’t enjoy, you’re not going to do it for long.
I played guitar on and off for 3 years, i never really loved it that much and i eventually determined it’s just not my “thing”; bass i love! Sometimes you just wont love something just because you want it to be so.
That’s what I’m talking about, @sshoihet . . .
But your approach is also good . . . a few minutes a day is totally better than doing absolutely nothing.
There is no magic answer that will fit everyone, every time.
Thanks for your input,
Joe
Right now i mostly play Yousician during the week. Gets me lots of time just playing and i dont need to think too much about it; it’s kind of like going to the gym to train on the treadmill.
I stopped fairly soon after B2B finished for months (and focused on sax). When I had the start of some dental surgery issues and couldn’t play sax for a while I grabbed a bass and dug in full tilt. Now, having a hard time getting back into sax. It comes and goes. Give a little push every so often to check yourself.
I really appreciate your input and suggestions. Although it feels like a chore to me, I love the idea of learning to play the bass and if I force myself to stick with it, it’s bound to pay off one of these days and who know, maybe it will even become ‘fun’ someday. 
Sounds like you need a groupie.
I’m sure there’s a subreddit for that 
OMG, I think you nailed it!! 
That’s what’s been missing all this time! 
You’re welcome. I’ve been playing bass for about 11 months now, i don’t spend a lot of time playing each day but i spend quite a bit of time doing other music related things (and too much time here sometimes lol). I try to never make it feel like work Having played music when i was in school, i had a good foundation for how to learn things so from the beginning, i spent a lot of time working on the little things like efficient fretting and plucking, doing a lot of things very slowly to develop the muscle memory and good technique before speeding up to make sure i wasn’t practicing mistakes. Playing scales and arpeggios over and over and over is not very exciting so i got myself an EHX Superego+ pedal to make it more enjoyable/useful. It’s tough to do that at the beginning, especially if you’re new to music and you really want to get to playing songs and everything seems like it’s difficult and takes way more time than you want it to… which is why the B2B course is so great! but if you play the long game and just get a little better at one thing each day, in a few years you can get pretty good at anything if you spend the time wisely.
One of the things that i find important in learning something is to always start with a problem first. A lot of people want to start with the solution… they want to learn theory before they have proper context and know why. I think that working on ear training, analyzing songs that you’re familiar with and composing chord progressions and melodies early on makes learning things much easier. You might not be good at it but that doesn’t matter. That’s one of the things that makes children good at learning: they’ll continue to do things they aren’t good at until they are; adults want to wait until they’re good at something before they do it.
I find participating in discussions on the forums and answering questions for people is great for learning, it gives me a reason to use the stuff i know and often it motivates me to do some research into things I wouldn’t have looked at otherwise. Apparently, theory is something I’d rather do for other people 
I spent a bit of time going through Constantine’s YouTube Channel here…
and his vast archive of tab/scores here…
http://bassinstructor.ca/bass-notes-tab/
…and plucked out a zillion tunes that I was interested and saved them to my PC. Then I went through and found some that were my skill level back then, and started messing with them.
You may find joy in playing a tune you really like (or even a part of a tune) that YOU choose vs. Josh’s lessons. I played a lot of riffs of things for a long time.
This connection to the music you love may help.
There is also a guy on YouTube with gigantic eyebrows ( cannot remember his name, James something maybe) who does a lot of ‘riff lessons’. These are fun because they are very recognizable and very catchy. You can literally end up playing one dopey riff for hours.
Try connecting to music vs. lessons…groupies will find you.
James Eager with https://ebassguitar.com/
GIGANTIC eyebrows for sure! That’s how I knew who you were talking about.
So, don’t
What I would suggest is that you are taking it too seriously. The moment you try and force your way here, it is naturally going to kill the fun and spontaneous desire to pick up the bass.
Permit yourself to realize you’re doing this for fun. This isn’t a day job and no one is expecting you to become a professional bassist. Relax and let yourself have a good time with it, when you feel like doing it. If it takes a few days for that to happen, it’s fine.
What I would suggest is make sure there is no barrier to entry here as well. Have your bass out on a stand where you see it all the time, and is easy to pick up and play whenever you want.
And then… let yourself be okay with going a day or a week without picking it up. There have been times where I didn’t play for weeks - bass is only part of my musical hobbies, and music is only one of my hobbies. And like me, I am sure you have lots of other things that interest you, and that’s normal
Boy, I think I need to print your post.
Having to force yourself to practice is never a good thing.
If you are down in the dumps because you feel you have not progressed as much as you feel you should have by now do not go there. All it takes is Desire, Practice, and Time.
What lesson are you currently on in the B2B course?
When I have a student that says they have to force themselves to practice and we talk about it a bit it usually turns out that they are comparing themselves to how somebody else is progressing and playing. Everybody learns at a different pace and I honestly believe that as long as you have the desire to want to learn to play the Bass you can, and will, do it. Just don’t give up.
I know it’s hard with COVID but, do you have any friends that play an instrument?
If you do, then talk to them and tell them what you are struggling with maybe you could pick out a simple song and play along together.
If you don’t maybe some one on one time with an instructor would help.
If I am not mistaken, I believe @JoshFossgreen does live one on one video lessons.
I’m not sure how that works but if someone reading this knows maybe they will post something.
Being with like minded people and playing, or just talking with them, can really help boost your spirits.
And, of course, you always have your BassBuzz forum friends.
I sure hope you stick with learning the Bass and don’t let this downturn get to you too much. 
Go your own pace. Just connect with the music.