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 shares what three years of practicing upright bass in public parks taught him.

Sax and trumpet players, string players on violin, cello, or upright bass, singers doing vocal warmups — it’s pretty common to see musicians practicing outdoors in parks. These are all instruments that are simply too loud to practice at home without bothering the neighbors, and parks also save you the cost of renting a studio space.

Musicians are, generally speaking, always looking to save money. I practiced in parks myself for about three years, and whenever I see someone else out there gamely practicing in a park, I can’t help but slow down and take notice.

Picking the Right Park

Not every park works for instrument practice. Tiny neighborhood parks tend to carry sound straight into nearby houses, so they’re best avoided. Look for something large — the kind of big, open city park where you can find a spot far enough from foot traffic and houses that you won’t bother anyone. A few hours of research into large parks near you goes a long way.

Parks that are great for instrument practice tend to share a few things in common: they’re large enough to put real distance between you and nearby homes, they’re not packed with foot traffic on weekdays, and ideally they have some open lawn or tree cover where the sound won’t carry as far. Parks to avoid: ones where instruments are explicitly banned, ones that are constantly packed with crowds, or small neighborhood parks tucked right up against houses.

5 Rules for Practicing in a Park

1. Your Sheet Music Will Fly Away

Sudden gusts of wind will send your sheet music flying. Use clothespins to clip it down. For practicing after dark, a clip-on LED light for your music stand is also genuinely useful.

2. Set a Firm Time Limit

This matters most in summer and winter. Practicing in a park for too long without a clear cutoff is a fast track to catching a cold or, in summer, heatstroke. Personally, I never went past about 90 minutes — I’d set a timer on my phone and stop the moment my focus started to slip.

3. Plan Your Practice Routine at Home, Beforehand

Since you’ve made the effort to go outside, save any fiddly prep work — writing things out, sorting sheet music, and so on — for home ahead of time, so you can devote your outdoor time purely to actually playing.

4. Practice in the Shade, Near Trees, Whenever You Can

This protects you against sudden rain and heatstroke alike. If there’s a covered spot that won’t get in anyone’s way, make use of it.

5. Dress for the Weather — Properly

Spring and fall are easy, but summer and winter are no joke. Here’s what to keep in mind for each:

Summer:

• Skip sandals (mosquito bites)
• Bring bug spray
• Wear a hat

Stick to the shade as much as you can, and keep drinking water throughout.

Winter:

• Layer up — seriously
• Tights under your pants
• Two pairs of socks
• Boots
• A thermos of hot tea

No matter how many layers you put on, the cold seeps into your whole body after about an hour. If you absolutely have to practice for longer, bring hot tea in a thermos. I practiced through winters myself, eventually splurging on some genuinely expensive thermal tights just to make it bearable — and they were unbelievably warm and held up well over time.

A Few More Things to Keep in Mind

Keep Up with Instrument Maintenance

Humid months are hard on your instrument when you’re playing outdoors. Use a backup instrument if you have one, and if you only have your main one, stay on top of maintenance.

Avoid Cherry Blossom Season and Sports Events

Crowds and noise from games or festivals make it impossible to concentrate, and in summer you’ll sometimes run into people setting off fireworks nearby — distracting at best, and a little alarming if one heads your way.

Skip It When You’re Not Feeling Well

Summer and winter conditions outdoors will make you feel worse, not better. Stick to practicing at home during those times.

If Someone Heckles You, Just Stay Confident

I’ve never had a run-in with anyone genuinely dangerous, but I’ve definitely had drunk passersby comment on my way past — “what is that, a cello or something?” (it’s an upright bass, for the record). Once in a while a tourist mistakes it for a street performance and leaves a tip. Either way, the key is not to let any of it get to you. Don’t be shy about practicing in public, even as a beginner — there’s something genuinely great about the feeling of your sound resonating outdoors. Enjoy it.

Even with all the outdoor practice in the world, the thing that’s genuinely hard to catch on your own is what your playing actually sounds like to someone else listening — which is exactly where a teacher comes in.

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 from one of his jazz students about how to read note names.

Here’s a question I got from one of my jazz students, along with my answer:

“Should I think of notes by solfège — do-re-mi-fa-sol — or by letter names — C-D-E-F-G?”

My Answer: Get Comfortable Reading by Letter Names (C-D-E-F-G)

In popular music — rock, pop, jazz, and so on — you’re constantly thinking in terms of chords, so I recommend getting comfortable reading notes as letter names rather than solfège.

One big reason: when you’re writing your own phrases or analyzing a chord progression, thinking in letters links up much more intuitively with the chord symbols you’re already reading.

How to Build the Habit

To get comfortable with letter names, the key is to consciously say the note names to yourself while playing slowly during scale practice and other basics.

For example, while playing a major scale, say “C… D… E… F… G…” in your head as you go. This steadily strengthens the connection between your fingers and the note names.

It’s Fine If You Can’t Keep Up at Faster Tempos

That said, once the tempo picks up, it gets genuinely hard to consciously think “C-D-E-F-G” in your head. This happens to everyone — don’t worry about it.

I still find it hard to consciously track note names once things get fast enough myself.

Even so, practicing with letter names in mind at slower tempos strengthens the connection between phrases and chords over time, which ultimately improves how well you remember and understand phrases.

Early On, the Effort to Stay Conscious of It Matters

When you’re just starting out, consciously tracking note names while also moving your fingers can feel like a lot to juggle.

But building this habit early means that, eventually, the note name will just pop into your head the instant you look at the fretboard.

You don’t need to get there right away. Take it slow and steady.

Building a habit like this on your own can feel slow — but a teacher can usually tell you exactly which exercises will get you there fastest.

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 breaks down a chord symbol that confuses a lot of newer jazz players: the half-diminished “ø.”

This one’s aimed at jazz beginners or anyone who’s just started studying music theory.

One of the most common questions I get in lessons is about this symbol:

This chord — the circle with a diagonal slash through it — is read as “A minor seven flat five.”

The name’s a mouthful, but it’s also just shorthand for “Am7(♭5).”

What Is a Minor Seven Flat Five?

A minor seven flat five chord is defined by one thing: the 5th of the minor seven chord is flattened.

For example, the chord tones (root, 3rd, 5th, 7th) of Am7 are:

A (root)
C (minor 3rd)
E (5th)
G (minor 7th)

But for Am7(♭5), the chord tones are:

A (root)
C (minor 3rd)
E♭ (diminished 5th)
G (minor 7th)

So the 5th — E versus E♭ — is the difference.

This means if you want to build an eighth-note walking bass line over Am7(♭5) that uses the 5th, you need to move like this:

and not this:

Where Half-Diminished Chords Show Up in Jazz

This part gets a little more theoretical, and some unfamiliar terms may come up, but bear with me.

A very common jazz progression is the “ii-V-I”:

Bm7 → E7 → A△7

That final chord, A△7, functions as the “tonic” — the chord that creates a sense of resolution and stability.

Sometimes, depending on the tune, the tonic ends up being a minor chord instead:

Bm7 → E7 → Am7

In this case, to make the harmonic motion flow more smoothly, it’s common to flatten the 5th of that first minor chord, Bm7:

Bm7♭5 → E7 → Am7

This creates a more atmospheric, evocative minor sound, and it’s exactly the progression used in the jazz standard “Summertime,” by George Gershwin.

Theory like this clicks a lot faster when someone can point out exactly where it shows up in a tune you’re already working on — which is exactly what a teacher is for.

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 explains why slash chords exist in the first place — and what they actually do for your bass line.

Let’s talk about why slash chords even exist.

A slash chord is something like “C/E” — a chord with a slash in it. It means “play a C chord, but make the lowest note an E.”

So why bother with that? The biggest reason is to make the bass motion smoother.

Say the progression is “C → G.” The bass note jumps a full 5th, from C up to G. Depending on the song, that big a leap can sound a little abrupt — like there’s a hard cut in the line.

If you insert C/E in between, so it becomes “C → C/E → G,” the bass note instead climbs in 3rds — C, then E, then G — which flows a lot more smoothly.

The difference is bigger than it sounds: jumping straight from C to G gives you a strong, punchy sound, while climbing through C → E → G feels natural and beautiful. This is especially noticeable on ballads and slower, more atmospheric tunes — just adding that C/E in the middle can make the whole progression feel far more connected.

Understanding slash chords on paper is one thing — actually hearing where to use them in your own bass lines is exactly the kind of ear-training a teacher can speed up.

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 →