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 a few quick basic drills for players who are self-taught and short on practice time.
A complaint I hear constantly from students is “I just can’t find the time to practice.” If you’re taking lessons, I can suggest something tailored to your specific situation — but if you’re teaching yourself, staying motivated when time is tight is genuinely tough. Here are a handful of short, focused drills worth keeping in your back pocket for exactly those days — especially useful if you’ve been playing less than a year.
Contents
Left-Hand Warm-Up (4 Minutes)
A drill that touches every part of the fretboard, from the lowest positions up to the highest. Great as a pre-practice warm-up, and it also helps build a wider stretch in your left hand over time.
Right-Hand Warm-Up (5 Minutes)
A drill that runs from slow to fast tempos, helping you check that your picking hand is making solid, consistent contact with the strings rather than getting tangled up.
A Drill for Keeping Your Pinky From Popping Up (3 Minutes)
It’s extremely common for the left-hand pinky to pop straight up awkwardly — especially early on. This drill gradually trains your pinky to stay relaxed and “lying down” instead.
Scale Practice (5 Minutes)
A drill that works on fretboard note names, rhythm, and fretting accuracy all at once — a great all-around way to build your fundamentals.
A Drill for Memorizing Fretboard Note Names
A drill where you play specified notes evenly across all four strings. If you’re struggling to memorize where each note name lives on the fretboard, this one’s worth working into your routine.
Putting in even a small amount of practice every day means that when you do find a big chunk of free time, you’ll be able to dive into deeper practice that much more smoothly.
Hopefully these are useful additions to your daily routine.
Short daily drills like these build the fundamentals — but knowing whether your specific habits and form are actually solid is exactly the kind of thing a teacher can confirm fast.
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.