Author: 1982toru0113@gmail.com

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The 5th: The Easiest Way to Add Movement to Your Bass Lines

Hi, I’m Toru Hoshino (@jazzbassisttoru), a bass instructor.

Today’s lesson is for beginners who want to build better bass lines.

“I don’t really understand the theory, but I want a bass line that at least sounds like it’s moving.”

If that’s you, there’s one note you can add that will get you there immediately. It’s the 5th.

Just add the 5th to the root note of the chord, and your bass line will instantly feel like it’s moving. Let’s look at how to use it.

A Root-Only Bass Line vs. a Bass Line With the 5th

Example 1: Adding the 5th

First, here’s a bass line played using only the root of each chord.

And here’s the same progression, but with the 5th added to the root.

Each measure uses the 5th on beat 3 — but doesn’t it feel like the bass line suddenly has some “movement” to it?

Let’s look at one more example with a different chord progression.

 

Example 2: Adding the 5th

Here’s a bass line played using only the root.

And here’s the same progression with the 5th added to the root.

Even with a different chord progression, doesn’t the bass line feel like it has more “movement” once again? This time the 5th lands on beat 2 of each measure.

The 5th is a convenient note that works in pop, rock, and jazz alike. Whenever you want a bass line that “moves” without having to think too hard about theory, just mix the 5th in with the root and you’ll get a great result.

If you’ve ever played in a band doing original material, you’ve probably done this instinctively without even realizing it. I know I did, before I ever learned the theory behind it.

And the 5th has another advantage: it’s easy to remember by its position on the fretboard.

 

Where the 5th Sits Relative to the Root

Here’s where the 5th sits relative to the root on the fretboard.

For a C note (3rd string), the relationship looks like this:

For a D note (3rd string), the relationship looks like this:

And for an F note (2nd string), the relationship looks like this:

 

That’s the shape, no matter which root you start from.

This kind of visual, position-based recognition is one more reason the 5th is so easy to work with.

 

A Little Music Theory: Understanding the 5th

While we’re at it, let’s take a quick look at the music theory behind this.

Starting from C at the 3rd fret of the 3rd string, let’s play C D E F G A B (do re mi fa sol la ti do).

 

This is what’s known as the “C major scale.”

Here, we call the first note, C, the “1st.”

From there, relative to that 1st (the note C), the other notes are labeled like this:

D is the 2nd
E is the 3rd
F is the 4th
G is the 5th
A is the 6th
B is the 7th

This way of describing notes by number is called thinking in “scale degrees.”

When you start working on chords, note choices, composing, or more complex bass lines and solos, knowing scale degrees makes it much easier to understand what’s going on.

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 →

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Why Your Solo Doesn’t Sound ‘Jazzy’ Yet — and How to Fix It

This article is written by Toru Hoshino, a bassist and instructor based in Tokyo, and it’s a column on how to build improvised solos.

Today I’ll be answering a question from one of my students.

Student: “I connect triads through scale tones and chromatic passing tones, but it still doesn’t sound very jazzy. What should I do?”

In response to that question,

Toru: Try using intervals of a 3rd for your phrases instead of whole steps or half steps.

is what I told them.

The Student’s Phrase, Explained

Let’s take a look at the actual transcribed notation.

Example 1 — The Original Question

Triads are connected chromatically, resolving to chord tones.

Pulling this off in real time already takes serious skill, but in Example 1, most of the movement is by whole steps or half steps.

Example 2 — My Suggested Revision

Here’s what I turned it into.

This is an example built using chromatic motion and intervals of a 3rd instead of whole-step or half-step motion.

Especially in the second measure, where it’s all intervals of a 3rd. Compared to Example 1, the flow of the notes is noticeably steeper, right?

If you’re deliberately going for a smoother, more gradual melodic flow, sticking to whole-step or half-step motion is perfectly fine,

but bebop and other jazzy-sounding lines are often built from intervals wider than a whole step.

Example 3 — Another Question

Same as Example 1: triads connected chromatically, resolving to chord tones.

Looking at it this way, the intervals are once again mostly whole steps or half steps.

It has a real “this is just muscle memory” kind of feel to it.

Example 4 — My Suggested Revision

Here too, I removed the whole-step and half-step motion and built the line using intervals of a 3rd plus chromaticism, with the second measure made entirely of 3rd intervals to give the line a steeper, more dramatic flow.

Just Being Aware of 3rd Intervals Can Make Your Lines Sound “Jazzy”

If you ever feel like “this doesn’t quite sound jazzy,” try consciously building your solo around intervals of a 3rd like in these examples.

Just by shifting your mindset from whole-step/half-step motion to 3rd-interval motion, lines that sound flat, repetitive, or rock-ish can instantly start to sound jazzy.

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 →

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Organizing Sheet Music Made Easy With CamScanner

This article is written by Toru Hoshino, a bassist and instructor based in Tokyo, who plays both upright and electric bass.

Sheet music piles up fast, and keeping it organized can be a real hassle.

That’s where an iPad app called “CamScanner” becomes incredibly handy for managing your charts.

Managing Sheet Music with CamScanner

CamScanner is a free app for managing your sheet music.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/camscanner-document-scanner/id388627783?mt=8
Take a photo of your sheet music, and

it scans it automatically.

Then just save it under a name.

That’s all there is to it.

No Wi-Fi Needed to Manage Your Charts

Cloud services like iCloud or Dropbox make saving easy, but they require Wi-Fi. That can be inconvenient at times if you’re on a SIM-only device.

CamScanner, on the other hand, is handy because you can open your files even without an internet connection.

If you stay in the same group for a long time, your sheet music really piles up,

so it’s worth making good use of a convenient app like this.

I hope this helps with your daily practice.

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 →

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A 10-Minute Daily Metronome Exercise for Bass: The Simple but Surprisingly Tricky Chromatic Scale

This article is written by Toru Hoshino, a bassist and instructor based in Tokyo.

This is an explainer for people who are just getting started on bass.

It’s a basic exercise that helps stabilize your rhythm — chromatic scale practice.

It varies from person to person, but

if you keep doing this chromatic scale exercise for 10 minutes a day, your rhythm will stabilize within 1 to 3 months.

As shown in the example, it’s an exercise where you move one fret at a time, using all four fingers from your index to your pinky.

How to Practice the Chromatic Scale

Here’s the breakdown, explained with text and diagrams.

First, place your index finger on the 1st fret of the 1st string.

Set your metronome to 60 BPM, and move one note for every click.

Here’s how it goes — make sure you’re using all four fingers properly to fret each note.

Then come back.

Once you’re back, move on to starting from the 2nd fret.

Then come back.

Next, go from the 3rd fret and come back. That’s one full set.

What You’ll Need

· A metronome
· A bass
· An amp

You also want to be mindful of evening out your note attacks (smoothing out the volume differences caused by your fingers or pick), so practice plugged into an amp whenever you can.

If playing through an amp isn’t practical, a headphone amp simulator that lets you hear your tone through earphones is a handy option.

How to Practice at Home

Do this exercise at home for 10 minutes a day.

Go from the 1st fret and come back
Go from the 2nd fret and come back
Go from the 3rd fret and come back

This whole sequence takes under 2 minutes at a tempo of 60.

Ten minutes is plenty — that’s about 4 to 5 sets.

But during those 10 minutes, focus completely.

Turn off the music, turn off the TV, move to a different room from your family, and if you can, switch your phone off too.

And when the 10 minutes are up, stop — even if you didn’t get through everything. Don’t let it drag on. Cut it off right there.

Keep this up for one to three months, and your fundamentals will improve.

Why 10 Minutes Is Enough

If you actually time yourself doing this, you’ll see just how long 10 minutes really is.

Unlike playing along with a recording, metronome practice has no backing track to hide behind, so your weaknesses — in picking, form, sustain, and so on — become obvious.

And the more seriously you approach it, the more it tests your focus.

You might not even make it 3 minutes at first — but give the full 10 minutes a try anyway!

Things to Watch Out for With the Chromatic Scale

Note Length (Sustain)

Focus on making each note ring out evenly — boooom, boooom, boooom — with the same sustain each time.

If it comes out like booooooom, bo, boooom, that’s not even.

Note Strength (Picking)

Focus on keeping each note at the same volume — boooom, boooom, boooom.

If it comes out like boooom, BOOOOM, boom, boooom, that’s not even.

Don’t Drift From the Metronome

Focus on playing each note at a perfectly steady interval.

If Fretting With Your Pinky Feels Tough

If fretting with your pinky feels like a strain, try tucking your elbow in toward your body as you fret.

It’s something I cover in more detail in a separate guide on pinky-finger technique.

The Chromatic Scale Isn’t Exactly Fun, But…

Chromatic scale practice isn’t a song, so it’s not exactly fun. And despite how simple it looks, it’s surprisingly hard to play it cleanly.

With no backing track, it’s actually much harder than playing a normal tune.

So don’t get discouraged if you can’t nail it right away.

That said, it packs in all the essential fundamentals — picking, sustain, rhythm, fingering — into one compact exercise.

I still do this myself before every practice session, even now.

It’s a training method I’d genuinely recommend for stabilizing your rhythm. Give it a try.

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 →

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My Impressions After a Week on Flatwound Strings, As a Bassist Who Used Only Roundwound for 10+ Years

This article is written by Toru Hoshino, an upright bassist, electric bassist, and instructor based in Tokyo. I originally wrote it back in 2016.

A while back, I put a set of flatwound strings on my main P-bass for the first time.

I’d like to share my impressions after playing on flatwounds for a week.

Before that, though, let’s go over the difference between roundwound and flatwound strings.

The Difference Between Roundwound and Flatwound Strings

This is the kind of thing you’d see explained in a bass magazine.

It comes down to a difference in string construction. Here’s a sketch I made to illustrate it.

Standard Roundwound

Roundwound strings are made by winding a thin, round wire around a core, and they’re the type used most widely on bass and guitar. They have a textured, slightly rough feel to the touch. They’re known for great sustain, with a bright tone and a fast attack. Whether it’s the punchy attack of a slap thumb, a snappy pull, or finger-style and pick playing, you get a sound rich in harmonic overtones. It’s fair to say that the vast majority of electric bass tone you hear comes from roundwound strings.

Flatwound, With Character

Flatwound strings, on the other hand, use a flat winding wire wrapped around the core, giving them a smooth surface with no texture. The tone is rounder, with the highs rolled off and a thicker midrange and low end. Rather than a modern, bright sound, it leans toward a vintage ’60s-’70s tone — the kind associated with funk and Motown-era recordings. Some players string up flatwounds specifically to chase that sound.

Which one you use really comes down to personal preference, but the vast majority of strings on the market today are roundwound. I didn’t even know flatwound strings existed until I started playing jazz.

Why I Switched From Round to Flat

It was the squeak.

It’s not an issue when I’m playing walking bass or a bass solo within an ensemble, but since I also do solo bass playing, that finger-squeak noise started bothering me.

When shifting position with the fretting hand, the texture of roundwound strings creates friction between the ridges of the winding and your finger, which is what causes that squeaking sound.

Alright, now for what you’ve been waiting for — my impressions.

My Impressions After a Week, As a Bassist Who’d Used Nothing but Roundwound for Over 10 Years

No Slide

Since the surface is coated and smooth, I figured it would slide easily under the fingers — but it’s actually the opposite. It barely slides at all. I was tempted to reach for some Finger Ease just to get around. It’s taking me a while to get used to it (and honestly, I still haven’t).

Slower Attack

Compared to roundwound, it’s a subtle difference, but through an amp, where a roundwound string gives that immediate “boi-i-i-ng” resonance the instant you touch it, the attack on flatwound feels more settled and composed. It feels like the rough edges and the excess overtones have been smoothed away.

Those are my two main impressions. Not particularly positive, not particularly negative — more of a “good and bad, both at once” kind of feeling.

The Flatwound Strings I Used

I went with D’Addario Chromes, the lightest gauge they make — 40-60-75-95.

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 →

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A Handy Wheeled Cart for Transporting Your Upright Bass: The Bass Buggie

This article is written by Toru Hoshino, an upright bassist and instructor based in Tokyo. In it, I want to introduce a handy wheeled cart for transporting an upright bass — the Bass Buggie.

A Handy Set of Wheels for Transporting Your Upright Bass: The Bass Buggie

An upright bass is heavy, and hauling it around can be a real pain. This is a way to strap a set of wheels directly onto the bass so you can roll it instead of carrying it.

How to Attach the Bass Buggie

Attaching it is simple.

Take the loop on the Bass Buggie itself (the red circle on the left in the photo) and slip it over the endpin.

The triangular bracket fits onto the endpin,

and the strap wraps around the neck of the bass like this.

And that’s it — you’re done.

It really is that simple.

I took it for a walk to try it out.

The wheels don’t rattle much, and they feel sturdy — like they’re properly supporting the weight of a heavy upright bass.

It’s a Bass Buggie-style cart, and similar wheeled attachments for upright bass are available from various retailers if you search for “bass buggy” or “double bass wheels.”

It’s a great item if you want to move your upright bass around without the usual hassle.

Do Cheap Carry Carts Lose Their Wheels?

Before I started using the Bass Buggie, I was using an ordinary carry cart like the one below.

Example image

I was using a cheap one that cost around $15, and one day while I was walking, a wheel popped right off and went rolling away. I guess it just couldn’t handle the weight of the bass.

That was the moment it hit me: it’s not just the instrument itself that needs to be solid — the case and accessories matter too.

If you’re picking up the upright bass for the first time this season, having a good cart is well worth it.

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 →

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The II-V-I, Tonic, Dominant, and Subdominant Explained for Bassists

This article is written by Toru Hoshino, an upright and electric bassist and instructor based in Tokyo, for bassists who want to understand

the II-V-I

and

Tonic, Dominant, and Subdominant

Understanding what these mean and how they work will make analyzing a tune much faster.

I covered how to analyze a tune in this article, and getting faster at analysis means you can look at a chart and put together a bass line or an improvised solo more quickly too, which is especially useful if you’re:

• A bassist who composes

• A bassist who improvises

• A bassist studying music theory

• A bassist who wants to level up

• A bassist who plays in jam sessions

Tonic, Dominant, and Subdominant, Explained

Let’s try playing a bass line over a progression like this.

Example 1

That doesn’t really feel like it “ends,” does it? It feels like the tune is going to keep going.

Example 2

Now what about this one — doesn’t this feel like it actually comes to a rest?

Example 1 has that unresolved, hanging feeling — like something’s left unfinished.

Example 2 has a settled, resolved feeling — like things have wrapped up cleanly.

Looking at it in terms of chords:

Ending on the chord G7 creates that unresolved feeling (Example 1).

And arriving at the chord C△7 creates that resolved, settled feeling (Example 2).

The role that G7 plays here — creating that unresolved, hanging feeling — is called the “dominant.”

The role that C△7 plays — creating that resolved feeling — is called the “tonic.”

And then there’s a third role: a chord that’s neither as unresolved as the dominant nor as settled as the tonic — somewhere in between. That’s called the “subdominant,” and here that’s the Dm7 chord.

The last 3 bars of this example move:

subdominant ▸ dominant ▸ tonic

and this particular motion is widely considered very pleasant to the ear, and gets used constantly in jazz and pop music.

Since saying “subdominant, dominant, tonic” every time is a mouthful, this motion gets a shorthand name: the “II-V-I.”

What Is a II-V-I?

This builds directly on the diatonic chord chart.

Key I△7 IIm7 IIIm7 IV△7 V7 VIm7 VIIm7(♭5) Key Signature
C C△7 Dm7 Em7 F△7 G7 Am7 Bm7(♭5) None
G G△7 Am7 Bm7 C△7 D7 Em7 F♯m7(♭5) 1 sharp
D D△7 Em7 F♯m7 G△7 A7 Bm7 C♯m7(♭5) 2 sharps
A A△7 Bm7 C♯m7 D△7 E7 F♯m7 G♯m7(♭5) 3 sharps
E E△7 F♯m7 G♯m7 A△7 B7 C♯m7 D♯m7(♭5) 4 sharps
B B△7 C♯m7 D♯m7 E△7 F♯7 G♯m7 A♯m7(♭5) 5 sharps
F♯ F♯△7 G♯m7 A♯m7 B△7 C♯7 D♯m7 E♯m7(♭5) 6 sharps
C♯ C♯△7 D♯m7 E♯m7 F♯△7 G♯7 A♯m7 B♯m7(♭5) 7 sharps
F F△7 Gm7 Am7 B♭△7 C7 Dm7 Em7(♭5) 1 flat
B♭ B♭△7 Cm7 Dm7 E♭△7 F7 Gm7 Am7(♭5) 2 flats
E♭ E♭△7 Fm7 Gm7 A♭△7 B♭7 Cm7 Dm7(♭5) 3 flats
A♭ A♭△7 B♭m7 Cm7 D♭△7 E♭7 Fm7 Gm7(♭5) 4 flats
D♭ D♭△7 E♭m7 Fm7 G♭△7 A♭7 B♭m7 Cm7(♭5) 5 flats
G♭ G♭△7 A♭m7 B♭m7 C♭△7 D♭7 E♭m7 Fm7(♭5) 6 flats
C♭ C♭△7 D♭m7 E♭m7 F♭△7 G♭7 A♭m7 B♭m7(♭5) 7 flats

Going back to that subdominant ▸ dominant ▸ tonic motion, and applying it to the diatonic chords:

The 2nd chord is the subdominant
The 5th chord is the dominant
The 1st chord is the tonic

So:

The motion subdominant ▸ dominant ▸ tonic is what’s called a 2-5-1, or “II-V-I.”

That said, when you change key, the tonic and dominant chords change along with it, as shown below.

Key 1st (Tonic) 2nd (Subdominant) 5th (Dominant)
C C△7 Dm7 G7
G G△7 Am7 D7
D D△7 Em7 A7
A A△7 Bm7 E7
E E△7 F♯m7 B7
B B△7 C♯m7 F♯7
F♯ F♯△7 G♯m7 C♯7
C♯ C♯△7 D♯m7 G♯7
F F△7 Gm7 C7
B♭ B♭△7 Cm7 F7
E♭ E♭△7 Fm7 B♭7
A♭ A♭△7 B♭m7 E♭7
D♭ D♭△7 E♭m7 A♭7
G♭ G♭△7 A♭m7 D♭7
C♭ C♭△7 D♭m7 G♭7

Looking at the table above:

In the key of F, Gm7 is the 2nd chord, C7 is the 5th chord, and F△7 is the 1st chord

In the key of G, Am7 is the 2nd chord, D7 is the 5th chord, and G△7 is the 1st chord

An Easier Way to Think About the II-V-I

The II-V-I is a lot easier to grasp if you think about it visually, on the bass neck.

Take Dm7 ▸ G7 ▸ C△7. That motion looks like this on the neck…

  or like this…

Take Gm7 ▸ C7 ▸ F△7, and that motion looks like this…

…or like this.

Take Am7 ▸ D7 ▸ G△7, and that motion looks like this…

…or like this.

Once you see it this way, it’s a lot easier to recognize and react to on the fretboard.

What’s the Point of Knowing About the II-V-I?

You might be thinking: “Okay, I get the theory behind the II-V-I, but what do I actually do with it?”

Once you recognize a progression as a II-V-I, you can reuse material you’ve already worked out.

This is especially useful if you’re someone who struggles to come up with a bass line or a solo on the spot just by looking at the chord symbols.

Reusing a Bass Line

Say you worked out a bass line like this over a progression like this one.

A bass line used in tunes like “But Not for Me”

The chord motion used here — Fm7 → B♭7 → E♭△7 — shows up constantly in jazz tunes.

So I took this exact same bass line and dropped it directly into a different tune.

A bass line used in tunes like “It Could Happen to You”

In theory, this same bass line works over this tune’s progression too.

You’ll still want to actually play it and check whether it fits the feel of the tune, but once you can reuse material like this, you can work through tunes more efficiently and react a lot faster.

So that’s the rundown on tonic, dominant, subdominant, and the 2-5-1, aimed at bassists.

I hope it’s useful for your daily practice.

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 →

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How to Analyze a Tune for Easier Improvising, Using Diatonic Chord Theory

This article is written by Toru Hoshino, an upright and electric bassist and instructor based in Tokyo.

✅ You want to get into jazz but aren’t sure where to start

✅ You’re a bassist who wants to try improvising

✅ You sort of understand diatonic chords, but you’re not sure what to actually do with them

✅ You bought a music theory book, gave up around page 3, and it’s been gathering dust in a closet ever since

This article is for you.

I’m going to walk through how to use diatonic chord theory to analyze a tune, and how that analysis feeds directly into your improvising.

• This is written with bassists in mind, but the ideas apply to any instrument.

A Quick Refresher on Diatonic Chords

I covered diatonic chords in detail in another article.

If anything here doesn’t quite click, or you find yourself wondering “wait, why is that?”, it’s worth circling back to that article and then coming back to this one.

• Why knowing your diatonic chords actually matters — the basics, explained

Why Bother Analyzing a Tune?

Say you’re in the key of C and you run into a progression like this. How would you think about improvising over it?

A typical first instinct: “Okay… it’s Am7, so I can use A. Then Dm7, so I can use D… but once you throw a ‘7’ on there, I’m not totally sure what’s safe anymore.”

That’s a completely normal way to feel. Since improvising happens in real time, wouldn’t it help to already have a rough sense of which notes work, ahead of time, before you even start playing?

Here’s the thing: in this particular 4-bar example, regardless of the chord changes, you can build everything entirely out of the plain major scale (do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti).

• Example of a phrase built entirely from the major scale

Notice how natural and easy that sounds on the ear, even though it’s that simple? Once you can see several bars at a time and know which notes work across all of them as a group, improvising gets a lot more approachable.

So with that in mind, let’s actually walk through how to analyze a tune to make improvising easier.

This time we’ll use a slightly altered version of the first 16 bars of a progression like the one used in “Fly Me to the Moon” as our example.

Steps for Analyzing a Tune

Here’s the process I use:

1. Figure out the key of the tune

2. Identify the diatonic chords and work out which notes are available

3. Identify the non-diatonic chords and work out which notes are available

Let’s go through this using a diatonic chord chart and a key signature chart as reference.

Diatonic Chord Chart

Key I△7 IIm7 IIIm7 IV△7 V7 VIm7 VIIm7(♭5) Key Signature
C C△7 Dm7 Em7 F△7 G7 Am7 Bm7(♭5) None
G G△7 Am7 Bm7 C△7 D7 Em7 F♯m7(♭5) 1 sharp
D D△7 Em7 F♯m7 G△7 A7 Bm7 C♯m7(♭5) 2 sharps
A A△7 Bm7 C♯m7 D△7 E7 F♯m7 G♯m7(♭5) 3 sharps
E E△7 F♯m7 G♯m7 A△7 B7 C♯m7 D♯m7(♭5) 4 sharps
B B△7 C♯m7 D♯m7 E△7 F♯7 G♯m7 A♯m7(♭5) 5 sharps
F♯ F♯△7 G♯m7 A♯m7 B△7 C♯7 D♯m7 E♯m7(♭5) 6 sharps
C♯ C♯△7 D♯m7 E♯m7 F♯△7 G♯7 A♯m7 B♯m7(♭5) 7 sharps
F F△7 Gm7 Am7 B♭△7 C7 Dm7 Em7(♭5) 1 flat
B♭ B♭△7 Cm7 Dm7 E♭△7 F7 Gm7 Am7(♭5) 2 flats
E♭ E♭△7 Fm7 Gm7 A♭△7 B♭7 Cm7 Dm7(♭5) 3 flats
A♭ A♭△7 B♭m7 Cm7 D♭△7 E♭7 Fm7 Gm7(♭5) 4 flats
D♭ D♭△7 E♭m7 Fm7 G♭△7 A♭7 B♭m7 Cm7(♭5) 5 flats
G♭ G♭△7 A♭m7 B♭m7 C♭△7 D♭7 E♭m7 Fm7(♭5) 6 flats
C♭ C♭△7 D♭m7 E♭m7 F♭△7 G♭7 A♭m7 B♭m7(♭5) 7 flats

Key Signature Chart

Key Signature Key (Major) Key (Relative Minor)
♭ None C Am
1 F Dm
2 B♭ Gm
3 E♭ Cm
4 A♭ Fm
5 D♭ B♭m
♯ 1 G Em
2 D Bm
3 A F♯m
4 E C♯m
5 B G♯m
6 F♯ D♯m

1. Figure Out the Key of the Tune

The key is determined by the key signature at the start of the tune — how many sharps or flats are written there.

Checking against the chart above, this tune has no sharps or flats in its key signature, so the key is C.

2. Identify the Diatonic Chords and Work Out Which Notes Are Available

Once you know the key, go back to the diatonic chord chart and find the row for that key.

For the key of C, the diatonic chords are the ones in this row of the chart:

C△7 – Dm7 – Em7 – F△7 – G7 – Am7 – Bm7(♭5)

Now let’s mark every chord in our progression that matches one of those — those are our diatonic chords, highlighted below in magenta:

Regardless of which bar you’re in, anywhere you see a magenta highlight, you can use the diatonic scale for this key (here, the notes C–D–E–F–G–A–B) and it’ll sound “right at home.”

3. Identify the Non-Diatonic Chords and Work Out Which Notes Are Available

A chord that isn’t diatonic to the key is called a non-diatonic chord.

In this tune, the chords marked in cyan are the non-diatonic ones:

There are several ways to think about which scales work over non-diatonic chords, but for now, the simplest approach is: you can always use the notes of the chord’s own triad — the 1st, 3rd, and 5th.

For E7: E (root), G♯ (3rd), B (5th)
For A7: A (root), C♯ (3rd), E (5th)

Here’s the Key Point: The Note Choice Over Non-Diatonic Chords

Over the magenta diatonic chords: the notes C–D–E–F–G–A–B

Over the cyan non-diatonic chords: E (root)–G♯ (3rd)–B (5th) for E7, and A (root)–C♯ (3rd)–E (5th) for A7

What’s worth paying attention to here is that over the cyan chords, you’re reaching for notes that are different from the diatonic scale.

Specifically, the 3rd of E7, G♯, and the 3rd of A7, C♯.

By deliberately stepping outside the diatonic scale at these spots, you create a moment that stands out a bit from the rest of the progression.

And with that, we’ve got our analysis.

Now let’s actually improvise over it.

Improvising After the Analysis

Listen for how the note choice shifts over the non-diatonic chords.

Pattern 1 — Improvising Over the First 8 Bars

From 0:00–0:12, the phrase is built entirely from the plain major scale.

Around 0:13, I lean into the note G♯ (the 3rd of E7) for a moment — can you hear how that creates a little bit of contrast?

Pattern 2 — Improvising Over the Second 8 Bars

Around 0:06, I lean into C♯ (the 3rd of A7) for a moment — same idea, creating a bit of contrast.

Outside of that one spot, this phrase is also built almost entirely from the plain major scale.

So that’s the basic approach to analyzing a tune using diatonic chord theory.

I hope it’s useful for your own practice going forward.

On Church Modes

Once you’ve got a handle on diatonic chords and can make these rough note choices on the fly, the next step is to get more specific about exactly which notes work over each individual bar.

I go into “scales” and the church modes in detail in this article:

• The Church Modes, Explained With as Little Jargon as Possible

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 →

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Going to New York to Play Jazz: What I Got Out of Studying Music Abroad

Hi, everyone.

I’m Toru Hoshino, an upright and electric bassist and instructor based in Tokyo.

From January 2012 to January 2013, I spent a year in New York on what I’d call a jazz training pilgrimage.

Even now, I still get students mentioning they read my old blog about that year of struggling through New York. So this is a column written while looking back on that time.

How Was Studying in New York?

If you ask me how it went, I’d say it was great. I had all kinds of experiences there.

In my case, I went over not as a music student, but technically as a language student. At the time, I hadn’t saved up nearly enough money to go to a music school — especially a jazz program — and actually live there.

There’s no shortage of places calling themselves “jazz schools,” but the unofficial ones, while cheaper, can’t issue the visa you need for a long-term stay.

From what I found, the legitimate jazz schools in New York ran anywhere from about $15,000 to $30,000 a year — and that’s before living expenses and rent.

New York’s cost of living is high, so even being frugal, you’d probably need something like $45,000 just to get by.

On top of that, I heard the workload at these schools is heavy, a part-time job would be tough to manage, and a lot of them are strict about who they even let in.

Once the numbers got that far out of reach, I gave up on the idea of going to music school entirely.

A language school was a different story, though. The visa requirements weren’t nearly as strict, and the one I ended up attending cost roughly $4,000–$5,000 a year.

So my plan was: study English, practice jazz on the side, hit jam sessions, and grind it out.

So How Was the Jazz Scene in America?

People still ask me what the New York jazz scene was actually like. Here’s a taste of what I went through.

The Time I Walked Up to Smalls and Turned Around

I went to the famous Manhattan jam session house, Smalls. But I got so nervous my legs went stiff and started shaking, and I walked right up to the door and then went home.

On the train ride back, with nobody around to even hear me, I desperately tried to convince myself it was because my stomach hurt, or my head hurt — anything but the truth.

Finally Walking Into Smalls and Joining a Session

A session at Smalls

A session at Smalls

I’d heard the weekday early-evening session at Smalls had a lower barrier to entry than the late-night one, so I finally joined in. Even so, it was on a completely different level than anything I was ready for. Usually it’s rare for the bass player to get to call a tune, but…

I told them “I’m a beginner” and basically forced my way into picking a tune myself.

Getting Scolded for Looking at iReal Pro

There was no music stand set up in front of the bass player at Smalls, so whenever a tune got called that I didn’t know, I’d set my iPhone down by my feet and sneak glances at the chart.

The host bassist caught me and told me, “You’re supposed to have the tunes memorized.”

Almost Nobody Was Reading Charts

I was shocked by how few people were actually playing off sheet music. Everyone had an insane number of tunes memorized. People would casually call for a transposition on the spot, and everyone else would just as casually deliver.

Watching everyone breeze through an instrumental version of “The Very Thought of You” in the key of A♭ without batting an eye, I remember thinking: there’s no bottom to how deep this goes.

Getting Scolded for Not Knowing Rhythm Changes in Every Key

I was floundering through a rhythm-changes tune in A♭, and got told that you’re supposed to be able to play rhythm changes in every key.

Getting Told to Go Study English Instead of Jazz

Someone called “Caravan,” but somehow I misheard it as “If I Were a Bell” and confidently started playing something completely different. The tune fell apart, and the Black trumpet player on the bandstand at the time gave me a look that said “please, never come back,” and told me…

“You should go study English instead of trying to play jazz.”

I’m not really the type to drown my sorrows in drink, but that night, I did.

The “Conception” Incident

Someone asked me, “Do you know ‘Conception’?” I said “No.”

I didn’t even realize at first that “Conception” was the name of a tune.

They started playing it with only the musicians who could play it from memory. I thought, “wow, what a cool-sounding tune,” and looked it up on iReal Pro afterward — and was floored by how brutally difficult the chord changes were.

Watching a room full of players knock out a tune like that without breaking a sweat, I seriously asked myself whether I should just go home.

That photo above was taken at Smalls around that time.

Burnout and Homesickness

For the first two months or so, every day looked like that. No friends, completely unable to keep up — I was close to breaking. (At that point I’d only been playing jazz for a little over three years.)

I got homesick and wanted to go back to Japan.

Living costs ran higher than I’d planned for, and with both my finances and my mental state running on empty, I kept spiraling into negative thinking.

The One Sentence That Changed Me

There was one comment that snapped me out of all that moping.

I was having tea with a Japanese woman who’d just become a classmate of mine at the language school. She was a singer who’d flown out to New York with almost no savings.

“First I gotta get a part-time job. Then work hard on my English, work hard on my singing…”

“If you’re doing all that, won’t you have no time to sleep?”

“Then I just won’t sleep — gotta enjoy it! I came all the way out to a city of art, after all.”

For some reason, that line really hit me. Bit by bit, my whole mindset started to shift.

I started thinking, “I came all this way — I shouldn’t narrow my world down. I should actually enjoy living here.”

Money was getting tight too, so I picked up a late-night job at a karaoke bar. Outside of that it was school, practice, and jam sessions three or four nights a week.

I barely slept — plenty of nights I’d only get an hour. My body clock and nervous system were probably a little fried from it, but even so, I sacrificed sleep to make the most of it.

Beyond the music, I picked up all kinds of experiences I’d never had before — working for money, earning tips, hanging out with people from other countries outside of any formal setting.

I kept getting more and more aggressive about it, more forward-looking. I made friends, started a band. Right before I left, I even got to play a few live shows at a local club, and the night before I flew home, we held a CD release event.

(The photo at the top of this article is from the recording studio session around that time.)

Is Studying Abroad Actually Worth It?

Honestly, I don’t know if studying abroad is automatically a good thing. I know plenty of people who went all that way and came home early because it just didn’t suit them.

You have to rebuild from zero the practice environment and the community of fellow musicians that you took for granted back home. More than anything, it takes a kind of relentless drive.

Still, even though it was a genuinely hard experience, looking back now, getting to soak in real, authentic jazz every single day was an incredibly valuable thing to go through.

My whole perspective changed too. I decided that even after coming back to Japan, I wanted to keep a global outlook and get back out into the world every year.

It’s been a little over two years since then. Last year I ran a successful tour in Vietnam.

And this year, I got an offer from a musician friend I knew back when I lived in New York — this time for a gig next door, in Korea.

Today, in fact, I’m playing a live show in a town in Korea called Gumsan.

Those moments where music lets you cross borders like that — they’re pretty special.

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 →

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Building Jazz Bass Solos with 3rds: A Practice Method Using “Fly Me to the Moon”

This article is written by Toru Hoshino, a working jazz bassist and instructor based in Tokyo who has played bass for an estimated 500+ jam sessions around the city.

It’s for you if:
· You’re not sure how to build an improvised solo
· You want some new ideas for improvising solos
· You’re a bassist who’s about to get started with jazz bass

Last time, I shared a written-out transcription of one of my own solos over “Fly Me to the Moon” and walked through how it was built. This time it’s the hands-on version: a practice method for getting there without writing anything out first.

• You can find the previous article here.

This time, let’s build an improvised solo over the 8-bar A section progression used in “Fly Me to the Moon” and many other tunes, shown below.

A Major Scale Will Sort of Work… But

“Fly Me to the Moon” is built mostly around diatonic chords in the key of C, more or less throughout.

If you take a solo over the opening 8 bars, you can get away with just playing the C major scale up and down — it’ll sound “sort of right” — but it ends up feeling pretty flat and uninteresting.

Here’s what it sounds like when you noodle through those opening 8 bars using only the major scale, without much thought:

For moments like that, I want to share a practice method that helps you capture more of each chord’s character and make your lines sound more like singing.

Here’s the roadmap we’ll follow:

1. The key is the 3rd! Get familiar with how it sounds first

2. Improvise using 1st–3rd–5th (the triad)

3. Improvise using 3rd–1st–5th (a rearranged triad)

4. Improvise using 5th–3rd–1st (another rearranged triad)

5. Mix these rearranged triads randomly into each bar as you improvise

6. Play freely while staying aware of the underlying triad

That’s the order we’ll go in.

The Key Is the 3rd! Get Familiar with How It Sounds First

The note that makes it easiest to hear a melody “riding” on top of a chord is the 3rd.

For example, let’s take the chords from those same 8 bars and play nothing but long tones on the major or minor 3rd of each chord.

Even though there are fewer notes than before, doesn’t it already sound a lot more melodic — like it’s actually singing?

Now let’s connect those 3rds using a variety of rhythms.

Something like this:

Doing this brings out even more of that singing quality.

This approach — building a solo around the 3rd — carries over to a huge number of standards, so I really encourage you to try it for yourself.

How to Practice It

First, without a metronome, go through and find the 3rd for each chord.

As mentioned above, try out a few different positions on the neck for each one.

Once you’ve got the notes down, connect them with long tones, like this:

Once you can do that, fill the space between the long tones with any note from the diatonic scale, connecting them like this:

Don’t rush — what matters most is staying aware of exactly which note you’re playing as you play it.

Once you can do this comfortably at a tempo of 120, move on to the next step.

What This 3rds Practice Is Really Aiming For

Open-ended practice like this — as opposed to copying a transcription note-for-note — can go on forever if you let it, so it helps to set yourself some rules and a clear goal.

For this exercise, the goal is tempo 120.

If you let yourself range freely up into the high frets there’s no end to it, so limit yourself to the first 5 frets (up to second position on upright) while you practice.

If You Can’t Find the 3rd Right Away

If the 3rd doesn’t come to you immediately, it’s fine to jot it down like this:

Keep practicing this and before long, you’ll find yourself instinctively associating the m3rd of Am7 with C, the m3rd of Dm7 with F, the M3rd of G7 with B, and so on, without even thinking about it.

Try Out a Few Different Positions for Each 3rd

For example, the m3rd of Am7 can be found in these two spots:

And the m3rd of Dm7 can be found in these two spots:

This isn’t about drilling your fingers to memorize one fixed position.

By not locking each note into a single position, you build up your ability to improvise on the fly.

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 →