Author: 1982toru0113@gmail.com

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 answers a common question: should you practice scale fingerings in all 12 keys?

I get this question a lot: “Should I be practicing scale fingerings in all 12 keys?”

It genuinely matters a lot. But trying to cover all 12 keys is endless, so my usual advice is:

Focus intensively on the scales actually used in whatever tune you’re currently working on.

Should You Practice Scale Fingerings in All 12 Keys?

Take the C major scale, for example:

C D E F G A B C C D E F G A B C…

You’d play C major starting from the C at the 3rd fret of the 3rd string, all the way up to the C at the 17th fret of the 1st string, then back down. Then move on to D♭ major:

D♭ E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C D♭ D♭ E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C D♭…

D E F♯ G A B C♯ D D E F♯ G A B C♯ D…

And so on, repeating the same process all the way through B major — the question is whether you actually need to grind through all 12 keys like that.

It’d be great if you could, sure, but it’s genuinely endless. So my advice is:

Focus intensively on the scales that actually show up in the tune you’re working on right now.

Why Focusing on the Scales a Tune Actually Uses Makes More Sense

It’s Not Just Major Scales

Scales aren’t limited to major scale patterns — there are minor scale patterns too. And within minor, there are several different types: half-diminished, diminished, melodic minor, harmonic minor, Dorian, Phrygian… the list goes on endlessly.

You’d Also Need to Cover Every Possible Tempo

There are countless tempos to consider. And if you start factoring in playing on the beat versus behind it, triplet feels, and other subtle timing choices, that multiplies out infinitely too.

There Are Endless Possible Fingering Routes Too

Even just a low-position C major scale has countless possible ways to finger your way up the neck, like these:

It really is endless. Practicing every combination of tempo and key would require an enormous amount of time you don’t have.

So again: focus intensively on the scales that actually show up in the tune you’re working on.

Focus on the Scales the Actual Tune Uses

Scale practice is dry and easy to get bored of, but it’s still genuinely important. That’s exactly why I tell students:

“Start by practicing the fingering for the scale your current tune actually calls for.”

Take “Autumn Leaves,” for example — it’s in the key of G minor. Using the diatonic scale, you’ll mostly be working with the notes G, A, B♭, C, D, E♭, and F.

Even within just that one progression, there’s a wide range of possible movement:

Knowing a range of fingering variations and progression styles like this pays off both when soloing and when building walking bass lines.

My Own Failed Attempt at 12-Key Practice

When I was in the US, I had some free time, so I tried practicing major 7th and natural minor scales in all 12 keys every day, from tempo 60 up to 240, working out different fingering routes along the way. I gave up almost immediately.

Like I keep saying — it’s genuinely endless. And on top of that, scale practice isn’t the only thing you need to work on.

Jazz theory, rhythm training, solo analysis, and applying everything to real tunes — each of these deserves serious, focused practice time in its own right.

There’s a lot to work on, but you’ve also got a life, a job, family, and friends. Rather than cramming everything in, I think it’s more important to keep asking: “given the time I actually have — 10 minutes, an hour, whatever it is — what can I realistically get done?”

Working out which scales actually matter for your current repertoire, and getting honest feedback on your fingering choices, is exactly the kind of thing a teacher helps cut through.

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.

Check Out the Lesson Service →

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 3 things he wishes he’d known back in his rock band days.

It’s been about 10 years since I quit playing in rock bands, and looking back, here are 3 things I wish I’d known at the time.

This one’s especially for anyone currently in a rock band wondering, “is there some new approach I could be taking?” — hopefully it gives you something useful.

3 Things I Wish I’d Known Back in My Rock Band Days

I Wish I’d Played in an Acoustic Band

In a loud band, everything around you is loud too, so — for better or worse — the bass tends to get buried in the mix, and you can get away with a lot of sloppy playing.

Acoustic and jazz bands are different: the bass is way more exposed, so you get a much clearer, more visceral sense of what your actual role is.

In fact, I distinctly remember that after spending some time in acoustic and jazz bands and then going back to a rock band, my own bass tone suddenly felt a lot more three-dimensional.

Back then I was completely consumed by my own band, but I wish I’d had the bandwidth to peek into genres outside of rock.

I Wish I’d Worked on 16th-Note Feel

Once you can really feel the smaller subdivisions, your phrasing vocabulary opens up, and your sense of sustain sharpens too.

I wasn’t exactly playing slap-funk back then, but I wish I’d spent even a little time training a 16th-note feel and brought it into my rock playing at the time.

I Wish I’d Understood What Melody Was Riding on Top of the Chords

Back in my band days, I’d come up with a melody humming to myself on a walk and just slap power chords underneath it. I wish I’d thought more about things like:

Is the melody riding on top of the chord a chord tone?

Or is it a tension note?

And exactly what scale degree is it, relative to the chord?

If I’d been thinking about that while writing, I think I could’ve written deeper songs.

No point dwelling on regrets, and honestly, “all gas, no overthinking” is a perfectly valid way to be in your 20s as a band member. But skills like this are also exactly the kind of thing that makes you easy to pick up by another band if yours ever breaks up.

“I’m not exactly planning on my band breaking up!” — fair, but having more tools in your kit rarely hurts. Hopefully this gives you something useful to chew on.

Hearing about these ideas is one thing — actually being able to apply them in real time on your instrument is exactly where a teacher’s feedback speeds up the process.

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.

Check Out the Lesson Service →

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 covers a beginner exercise for learning the note names across the fretboard using a simple C-major scale.

For installment #5, we’re going to play through a major scale to learn the note names across the fretboard. This is commonly called “scale practice,” and it builds several skills at once — fingering, knowing where notes live on the neck, and rhythmic timing.

The Bass Has a Scale Too

Just like a piano keyboard has note names:

The bass has note names too.

This is the C-major scale, and in the context of popular music, rock, and similar styles, it’s typically referred to by its letter names: C D E F G A B C.

Today, we’re going to learn to play this C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C scale on the bass.

Scale Pattern 1

First, the position for C: fret the 3rd fret of the 3rd string with your index finger.

Next, the position for D: play the 5th fret of the 3rd string with your pinky.

Next, the position for E: play the 2nd fret of the 2nd string with your index finger.

Following this same logic, try playing through the full pattern shown below:

Once you’re comfortable, try playing along with the audio below.

(Note: this is played at a tempo of 60, going up and back down the scale twice.)

Scale Pattern 2

The C-major scale isn’t limited to just the one fingering pattern above — there’s another shape too.

For example, D is also available as an open string on the 2nd string, and G as an open string on the 1st string, so the same scale can also be played like this:

Which one’s better depends on the tune you’re playing, but being comfortable with both will widen your playing range, so work toward learning both eventually.

Try this one too once the hand shape starts to feel natural.

Applied Practice With C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

Once you’re comfortable with the above, here’s a bit of an applied exercise. Play the scale up, and keep going past the octave into the notes above.

And here’s an efficient fingering pattern I worked out for it:

Play up through C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G, reaching the higher notes, then come back down:

G-F-E-D-C-B-A-G-F-E-D-C

back to where you started.

Playing through a fixed sequence of notes like this is what’s called “scale practice.”

Once you’re comfortable, try playing along.

Make a Point of Learning C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

You can absolutely play bass reading only tab notation. But the longer you stick with bass, the more often you’ll find yourself reading chord symbols instead.

Learning your note names as C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C will pay off down the line by making chord symbols much easier to work with — so make a habit of learning the letter names of your notes.

Connecting note names to actual fretboard positions in real time, without having to think about it, is exactly the kind of thing that’s faster to build with a teacher watching and correcting you.

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.

Check Out the Lesson Service →

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 answers a question about whether to use the ring finger in the low position on electric bass.

I recently got a question from an electric bass player that went something like this: “I found one method book that shows the low position fretted like this” —

— “using a one-finger-per-fret approach with the index, middle, ring, and pinky all spread out. But another book shows the low position fretted like this instead” —

— “using only the index, middle, and pinky, skipping the ring finger entirely. Which one should I actually trust?“

My honest answer to this: it depends on the playing style you’re going for.

Personally, I go with the second approach — skipping the ring finger and fretting the low position with just index, middle, and pinky. There are 2 reasons why:

1. Because I also play upright bass
2. Because the one-finger-per-fret approach doesn’t reach the very edge of the fret as comfortably for me

1. Because I Also Play Upright Bass

On upright bass, the low position is typically fretted using just the index, middle, and pinky fingers. Here’s what that hand shape looks like:

I used to use my ring finger in the low position on electric bass too, but once I started playing upright, my electric bass fingering naturally lined up with my upright technique instead.

2. Because the One-Finger-Per-Fret Approach Doesn’t Reach the Edge of the Fret as Well

Here’s a shot of fretting the 3rd fret on the 1st string. This is pressing down right at the edge closest to the headstock, which tends to cause fret buzz.

Whereas fretting closer to the body-side edge, like this, tends to buzz less.

Personally, I find it harder for my left-hand fingers to comfortably reach that body-side edge when I’m locked into one-finger-per-fret. So I use the index/middle/pinky approach instead, since it makes that cleaner fretting position easier to reach consistently.

That’s the reasoning behind why I personally play the low position on electric bass using just three fingers — index, middle, and pinky.

In lessons, for students who eventually want to pick up upright bass, I often recommend starting with this index/middle/pinky approach on electric bass. For students without that goal who find one-finger-per-fret more comfortable, I’m just as happy to have them stick with that instead.

Genuinely opposite opinions like this come up a lot in instrumental technique — strap length, string height (action), you name it: some swear “longer/higher is better,” others swear the exact opposite.

In the end, I think the real answer always comes down to: what style are you going for, what tone do you want, and what do the players you admire actually do? That’s usually what resolves the contradiction.

Hopefully this gives you a useful way to think it through next time you run into two pieces of conflicting advice.

Working out which approach actually fits your hand and your goals is exactly the kind of judgment call that’s easier to make with a second pair of eyes watching you play.

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.

Check Out the Lesson Service →