What song are you currently/next "working on"?

I’m learning this. It’s ridiculously fun to play. I heartily recommend it.
I’m playing fingerstyle but the original is with a pick. So for all you lovers of small pieces of plastic…..have fun with it!

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That’s interesting to hear. I thought that it would be an issue to switch between different bass sizes, so I never considered having a short scale. Is it easier to play a short scale (in terms of reaching the frets)?

Yes, especially closer to the headstock. When playing something with minor scales, it less of a jump/stretch, and it makes some things faster.

Still, the neck of my Squier is more comfortable to play, though it is a long scale. So, which one you would like more would depend on the type of bass, width and radius of the neck. If possible it would be great to test it before buying.

I like both my basses and play with both regularly. I choose which one depending on what I want to play. It is great to have options. :blush: Even when having only 2 bass guitars, I feel I have plenty of options, because they’re so different.

I wouldn’t like to choose between them, if I could only have one. It is great to have both.

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Today I have planned to go to the local music store anyway, and if they have a short scale, I will take a closer look at it. Thanks for the insights. :blush:

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Working on Witchita Lineman with a friends recording.

It’s tricky because he changes timing! In some spots I lag or speed up as I anticipate his changes. I can play the song through without notation, and with the actual recording I can get a good recording, it’s just with my friends recording i have trouble.

We’re hoping to do an open mic with this song so hopefully after some in-person practice with him we’ll nail it.

Featuring my new Martin!

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Blackalicious - Alphabet aerobics

Tone Lōc - Funky Cold Medina

Muse - Supermassive Blackhole

I don’t know if this is the right thread to post this as it’s not about a specific song. Now that I’m working on ear training, shapes and improvisation, I have found this channel which has really beautiful bassless backing tracks with chords indicated, and those are really fun to practice with. Maybe that’s interesting for one or the other.

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I am SURELY not the first one mentioning it in here… But I’m from QUEBEC, so I probably don’t have to tell you what I’m listening right now… I’m dying for Josh or anyone here with enough skills to teach me the fretting hand at like 30% speed how to play the groove of FABIENK from you know who (on Songsterr it starts at line 73). Thanksssss in advance :red_triangle_pointed_up:

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Oh cool, this is a great link thanks for sharing! He has around 200 bassless backing tracks in this playlist!

I should do more “working on” this kind of thing, for sure!

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Starting tackling Jackson 5 “I Want You Back” a couple days ago. It feels like a milestone realizing both how much I’ve retained from the course and how much I’ve grown as a player. Progress! It’s a good feeling that I hope y’all get to enjoy too!

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I’ve been working on this for the past few days. I can play through it, not cleanly enough to record it yet, but I can get all the way through. The issue I have with it is that it makes the flying fingers come back out somethin’ fierce. The verses are played with mostly the index and pinky fingers, but there’s a lot of movement. My middle and ring fingers end up in an odd position while I’m playing it. I’m not sure if I should work on correcting it, or just accept that some basslines are going to do that.

Edit: It’s a cool bassline.

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I always have lots of songs I’m working on, and lately have been working on Billy Idol’s Hot in The City. Parts of it are very easy. It has some fast parts with a little hammer on that I still can’t get to speed, but it is fun to practice.

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I’ve been working on two songs this week. The first is Yungblud & Smashing Pumpkins - Zombie, pretty easy except for one little fill. The second is is Smash Mouth - All Star. It’s a lot easier than I remembered it when I first encountered it in one of the lessons!

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This is my current project. I’ve been listening to this album since the early 90s so I know the song really well but it’s still a lot to get my fingers around, to say the least. I’m making progress though.

Aside from that I’ve been dipping into Pod by The Breeders and Surfer Rosa by Pixies. Most of the songs are fairly easy but they’re just really fun to play. Always loved Steve Albini’s production on these albums, the bass and drums are right at the forefront and just sound amazing.

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I really feel like giving Gangsters by The Specials a go. It sounds like it’s super fun to play but until I see the tab I reserve the right to become overwhelmed and run away

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Kind of a stupid question, but what is your process when you’re learning songs? Pull up the tab and just go to town? I find I get kind of overwhelmed when I don’t have Josh telling me what to do :joy: I’ve started to play around with some songs but I have a hard time with it sometimes.

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Yes, absolutely give it a whirl. You may not get it down right now though. I’ve been working on a few songs since I finished B2B 2 years ago and still can’t play them to my satisfaction. Think of it like a real world version of the Billie Jean lesson.

In that realm, you could also try a few Clash songs like Bankrobber and Guns of Brixton. Bankrobber was one of the first covers that I recorded. They’re a bit easier and it gets your hands working in the right direction to get you to the Specials.

Once you get into more complex stuff, I’d suggest breaking the songs down in to sections and tackling each part (intro / verse / chorus / solo / outro for example) until you can put the song together. If you’re struggling to get playing full songs, find some simpler songs that are mostly just chugging with a few note changes. The U2 song from Josh’s lesson is a real good one to get under your fingers.

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I like to look for videos of songs I like on YouTube, bass covers with tabs and notation. I watch a few videos and see which one has tabs that seem closest to the music (some are better than others).

Then I watch the video a couple of times, then I pause it and play slowly the notes from the tabs, until I get it. I practice playing at my own speed, pause, play, watch, pause again and practice. Then I change the video speed from the settings and practice playing it while watching it slowly.

Depending on the song, I don’t need to slow it down. Some are easier than others. Some have some difficulty parts that take me a lot of practice until I can play them in the normal tempo.

I often like to watch the videos, then pause and play on my own, a lot of times. Some bars at the time. I practice the difficult parts more often, and then later put them together.

I crave novelty, so I always start practicing a new song before I have practiced others long enough. But I get back to them later.

Videos with tabs and notations are great, because we can see the tabs and play at the same time. Sometimes I want to play a song but can’t find any video with tabs, so I watch cover videos without tabs, and try to figure out how the person is playing. I might watch the video at a very slow speed several times if necessary. In those cases I also search for tabs from the Internet. Then I practice playing from the tabs, without the music. That takes more time than practicing with videos containing tabs.

Songsterr sometimes has good tabs, but sometimes they aren’t correct, and when I know the music well, I can tell. It is really annoying when one can’t find tabs for a song.

The easiest way to go is to start with easy songs from one of your favourite bands, preferably something you have listened to for so many years, that when you start practicing it, you notice when you make a mistake. From there you can gradually try more difficult songs. It takes a lot of time and patience.

I find that for me, having to struggle a little with a song can distract me from things that cause me stress. When I’m stressed or anxious about something, I practice something difficult. I have to put all my attention into playing, and that clears my mind from stress.

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Thank you, @faydout and @andrea-sld! This is helpful.

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