Welcome to TB.
No, you probably do not suck. It is sometimes hard to pick out the bass from a song, particularly if it is buried way down in the mix. There's a reason why lead guitar players have big egos! The bassist almost always gets pushed down in the mix.
Anyway, a lot of people here will tell you it's better to learn how to read music than to tab your songs. Learning to read is helpful, but learning tab is much easier. I feel you should know how to read music, and if you want to use tabs, use tabs. One of the biggest problems with most tabs out there is that they are usually wrong.
But, back to your question. It will make it much easier for you to tab songs and hear the bass if you get a
Tascam Bass Trainer (either the CD or MP3 versiob) or use software like
Amazing Slow Downer. They allow you to slow down the song and boost different parts, including the bass. You can practically silence all the other instruments and just have the bass prominent. This will make it much easier to pick out notes and chords.
At first you will suck at it. But keep trying. Eventually it will become much easier to pick out the notes. Just listen carefully. It helps to sing the note as well as trying to play it. Sing it and then try to match it on your bass.
Good luck.
