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 shares his honest take on whether you actually need to learn music theory.
Short answer: you can absolutely enjoy playing in a band without knowing any theory. If your hands move reasonably well and you can read tab, you can play. I was living proof of that myself.
When I first started playing, I was in punk bands, and for the first six years or so I didn’t understand any music theory at all. I still enjoyed playing live, and I even recorded and sold CDs.
But as I kept playing more seriously, I started running into the same frustrations more and more:
- My phrases never got any more varied
- My songwriting kept falling into the same patterns
- I kept hitting some vague wall I couldn’t name
“I want to get better, but I don’t know how” — that’s when I started learning theory.
I bought a theory book and worked through it slowly, but I still didn’t really get it, so I started taking lessons at a local music school. Working with a teacher who explained things carefully, the understanding gradually stuck.
Honestly, it’s not something that clicks instantly or shows up in your playing right away. But at some point, it hits you:
“Oh — so that’s why this phrase I’d been playing by feel actually works.”
That moment is genuinely exciting. It’s like the dots suddenly connecting. That’s what really got my motivation going.
Once theory clicks, you get:
- More phrase options to draw from
- More range in your own songwriting
- More credibility when explaining things to your bandmates
Naturally, how you see music changes too. To be clear — you don’t need theory to enjoy music. But if you’re feeling like “I want to get to the next level” or “I want to break through this wall I can’t quite name,” learning theory is a genuinely great way to do that.
No need to rush. One step at a time.
That feeling of hitting a wall you can’t quite name is exactly the kind of thing a teacher can usually name for you immediately.
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.