This article is written by Toru Hoshino, a jazz bassist and instructor based in Japan who teaches online lessons to students worldwide.
A while back, I put out a call in my newsletter asking: “Would you be willing to let me write about your daily practice routine on the blog?” I was happy to get lots of responses from people willing to share.
Most of my readers and students are working adults or students — so I thought it would be valuable to share how real, everyday people manage to fit bass practice into their lives.
So far I’ve featured five people. Today is number six — please meet So, a female bassist!
Contents
So’s Profile
Nickname:
So
Age:
34
Job:
Web-related work
Favorite genres:
Pop, City Pop, Funk, Electro Swing, R&B, Lounge
Right now she’s working on songs by Kinoko Teikoku (a Japanese indie rock band)!
How long she’s been playing bass:
7 months
Bass she plays:
Ibanez
I actually used to own an Ibanez myself — they’re really easy to play!
What got her started:
I started out teaching myself guitar and got to the point where I could play chords, but then hit a wall and couldn’t progress further. At that point I got the idea that learning bass might actually help my guitar playing improve at the same time — and that’s how I started.
What she loves about bass:
I wasn’t particularly interested in bass at first, but once I started playing, I started noticing the bass line whenever I listened to music. The more I listened, the more I thought, “bass sounds so cool” — and I got completely hooked.
Current activity:
She had a casual band going with friends, but they’re on hold due to everyone being busy.
What she’s practicing now:
Learning basic theory from her teacher and practicing from there.
A word from So:
“Little by little, I hope to keep improving going forward.”
So has been taking lessons since January 2019. She knows a lot of music I’ve never heard of — she’s always introducing me to new stuff!
So’s Practice Log for the Past Two Weeks
Day 6
Bass lesson day.
Reviewed lesson material for about 30 minutes when I got home.
Day 7
During breaks from work at home, played for about 2 hours — reviewing what I learned last lesson plus some favorite songs by chord. Got excited and ended up playing guitar for another hour too.
Day 10
After work, played for about 30 minutes during breaks from tasks at home — reviewing lesson material and playing favorite songs by chord.
Day 12
Practiced scales and played along to songs that came up on YouTube for about 2 hours.
Days 13–19
Things got hectic and I wasn’t able to practice at all…
So that was her report.
Honestly, the people who participated in this series before her tended to be pretty high-intensity practicers — some readers were surprised. But the truth is, most of my students practice at roughly this kind of pace. And that’s completely fine.
It sounds cliché, but what matters most is loving it and keeping going.
Don’t be too hard on yourself if you miss a day, or a week. Life gets busy. Keep enjoying bass at whatever pace works for you — that’s what counts.
Thank you so much, So! Let’s go get ramen again sometime!
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.