It's the advent of YouTube musicians. A lot of people are learning note for note from there. I lose a lot of students because I teach practical theory. The ones who get it become monsters. They are learning Nashville Number System first lesson and are playing (without fills) the first lesson. They are trained to use their ear and apply the things that they learn in every lessons.
Their friends may learn songs, but within 3 months, my guys are playing circles around the other teachers students... and they actually tend to stick with the instrument.
I assume that this is within a bass lesson?
So my experience....I am mostly a guitar player. I "learned" off the internet....pre-youtube (1993?) and I never took lessons until later. I would get the progression and have at it and sing on top of it. I learned a lot of cool hammer ons and stuff I could do to spice up open chords. In many ways, I was unhappy with what I was doing.
But, I never really learned songs. I never learned theory. I knew all the chords, but I didn't really know the notes. I didn't know inversions. I didn't really understand that the D and G string are just the same notes two frets down. That's why power chords work so well.
While I'd probably played a million I IV V songs or throw in a ii in there, I never knew what that meant. G C D, let it rip!!! The flat 3rd is what makes a minor? Really?
So as a mature(?) adult, I'm trying to unlearn stuff from the past and
focus. I took some guitar lessons from a theory guy and played bass in a terrible band. It was a great experience. They had no idea what they were doing and I could root five it until I was comfortable throwing in the 3rd and flat 3rds. I looked like a genius.
I'm still on my journey...I quit that band (twice actually - came back on guitar) and play in other things. I play in a blues jam regularly. I sing, so I bring some prepared stuff and say "it's 16 bars, Cm, turn around is like Thrill is Gone....let's go") and we go.
BUT, I could likely not hang at the jam across the street with is like what the OP describes. It's pick a key and go for it... yikes. Maybe I will turn up but who know.
As far a learning
songs, I think its in some way the same as dissecting a frog, you need to see where all the parts are. Why does this run work with this chord, etc. etc. Now, with the you tube musicians....the band I quit had a guy like that. He would demo a song we'd never listened and say "theres a walk down there, bass player, play that..." Da fuq? I couldn't take it...since it was his approach that was bad. I've seen dude show up to jams and play their well rehearsed piece and when the next song they didn't know what called, they'd bug out. I'm scratching for an inversion....But I will say that after every jam, I'm figuring that at least one of the guys I played with is logging into a forum somewhere and complaining about me.
I think what you describe is hard for many people....or many people without experience. I wish I knew what I know now about theory when I was younger. I put it all aside for a while due to my knowledge gaps. I'm back with a vengeance now.
