This article is written by Toru Hoshino, a jazz bassist and instructor based in Japan who teaches online lessons to students worldwide. In this article, he recommends six items that make practicing and managing your gear easier.
Here are some genuinely useful items I’ve personally used a lot for practicing bass and keeping my gear organized.
Contents
An Add-On Backpack for Your Gig Bag
My favorite find of the year: “BAG ON BAG,” an add-on bag that clips right onto a gig bag. Genuinely useful when you’ve got a lot of extra stuff to carry along with your bass or guitar — even a bandmate of mine said “maybe I should get one of these too” after seeing it.
A Wall Mount for Your Bass
Another find from this year. It installs with just a couple of small stapler-style pins, so even in a rental apartment, you can mount your bass on the wall. I’ve got three of these set up at home. The pin holes are tiny enough that they’re not an issue even when you move out.
iReal Pro
I’ve used this one for over ten years now. iReal Pro is an app that plays backing tracks for commonly played jazz tunes, and it’s incredibly useful for practicing walking bass and improvised solos. It’s paid, but it’s a one-time purchase you’ll use forever.
Fret Wraps
Another long-time staple of mine. It’s like a wristband you wrap around the nut area of an electric bass. It cuts down on open-string sustain, which is genuinely useful if you play a lot of walking bass that relies on open strings.
A Music Stand Tray
An attachment for your music stand that gives you a small surface to set things on — your phone, a metronome, a pen, all the small stuff.
Compressed Air Duster
Not a music-specific item, but a standard compressed air duster. A quick spray clears dust off your pickups, which makes it a genuinely handy thing to have around.
That’s six recommended items for making your bass practice and gear management easier.
Good gear takes care of the small annoyances — but the thing that actually moves your playing forward is someone checking your progress regularly, which is exactly what a teacher provides.
Want Personalized Feedback on Your Playing?
This is exactly the kind of thing that’s hard to fix alone — and where having a teacher makes all the difference.
At Line on Bass, I offer an online lesson service where you send me a video of your playing, and I give you specific, detailed feedback — every single day if you want.
Students from around the world are using this to fix exactly these kinds of issues and steadily improve their jazz bass skills.