First some background, I’ve only really gotten into Japanese music recently. My only exposure to them otherwise was through anime openings but I would usually listen to other songs by those artists and end up really liking them. I have been playing bass (electric and upright) for about 11 years now (I play some other instruments but bass is the main thing I focus on) and over the years I’ve played rock, metal, jazz, and funk. I also have experience as a professional musician playing in my college’s pep band (I graduate at the end of this year and my degree is bachelor of science in music technology).Anyways, I really like the bass in lots of J-Rock/Pop music, most of the time it feels like the bass is a lot more fun to listen to compared to most western music. Is there any way I can get my foot in the door with Japanese music? My only real idea right now is to learn some J-Rock/Pop songs and upload them to YT but are there any other avenues I can go down? I have had bands in high school and college but none of them were J-Rock/Pop and lots of people I know now are either too busy with the bands they are currently in or are retired musicians and even so they aren’t really interested in non-western music. I also have released quite a bit of my own music but it’s very different from J-Rock/Pop so I don’t know if that could help me or not. I personally feel my strength is as a bassist rather than a songwriter.
Obviously I know Tokyo would be the obvious choice to go to considering the fact that it’s the biggest city in Japan but I’ve looking more into Osaka. Is the music scene there similar or different?
P.S. I don’t know if this is relevant but I just want to say that I actually have been to Japan. I loved it. I’d recommend visiting.
by realdavidguitar