Skill set required to become a pro bassist.
hiroakimaekawa...
Hiroaki Maekawa, better known as Hiro, is a passionate musician, composer and educator based in Singapore.
As a musician, Hiro has performed and collaborated with artists from all over the world such as Sonny Turner and the platters (USA), Rick Sheppard and the drifters (USA), Jayesslee (Australia), Takahiro Miyazaki (Japan), Eugene Hideaway Bridges (USA), Michelle Johnson (USA), Sachiyo Nakagaki (Japan), Donny Ray Evins (USA), Zainal Abidin (Malaysia), Tamagoh (Singapore), Michael Veerapen (Malaysia), Aya Sekine (Japan), Natasha Patamapongs (Thailand), Lewis Pragasam (Malaysia), Kamaya (Indonesia), Louis Soliano (Singapore), Diego Morato (Mexico), Rodrigo Villanueva Conroy (Mexico), Alina Ramirez (Mexico), Nantha Kumar (Singapore), Jack and Rai (Singapore), Mandy Gaines (USA), Sham Kamikaze (Malaysia), John Kaizan Neptune (USA/Japan), Shareef Clayton(USA), Norman Paul Edwards Jr. (USA), Charanee Wade (USA), Marques Young (USA), Gabriel Evens (USA), Juwita Suwito (Malaysia), Pablo Calzado (Cuba), Andrew Lim (Singapore), David Gomez (Malaysia), Darryl Ervin (USA), Oliver Von Essen (Germany), Junji Delfino (Malaysia), Marco Alonso(Cuba), Atilia (Malaysia), Maya Nova (Bulgaria), Farid Ali (Malaysia), Mario Serio (USA), Erik Hargrove (USA), Zee Avi (Malaysia), Weixiang Tan (Singapore), Eddie Layman (USA), Joanna Dong (Singapore), Greg Lyons (UK), John Thomas (Malaysia), Nicole Duffel (Australia), Chris Stalk (France), Kerong Chok (Singapore), Darren Moore (Australia), Jeremy Tordjman (France), Indra Ismail (Singapore), Corey Manders (Canada) and many more.
Hiro has also performed at numerous International jazz/arts festivals such as Penang island jazz festival (Malaysia), Rock the world (Malaysia), Genting international jazz festival (Malaysia), Gumi jazz festival (Korea), Sunrise jazz festival (Malaysia), Sunburst festival (Malaysia), Dig it all festival (Malaysia), Johor Bahru jazz festival (Malaysia), Jarasum jazz festival (Korea), Jazz goes to campus jazz festival (Indonesia), Mosaic music festival (Singapore), YMCA festival (Hong Kong), Borneo jazz festival (Malaysia), Koh Samui jazz festival (Thailand), Jazz me festival (Taiwan), Kathmandu jazz festival (Nepal), Alcheringa music festival (India), Singapore jazz festival (Singapore) and Phuket UNESCO international jazz day (Thailand) besides other bar/club performances and concerts.
As an artist, Hiro has produced and released 2 albums consisting of all original compositions with his progressive jazz rock band, Tokyo Blue.
As an educator, Hiro is currently teaching Guitar, Bass, Ukulele, Drums and CCAs at Tanglin Trust International School, Nexus International School, Dulwich College International School, and Cristofori Music School. Hiro’s qualifications include Bachelor of Music with Honours (Wolverhampton University), Acoustic Guitar grade 8 (London College of Music), Electric Bass grade 8 (Rockschool), Electric Guitar grade 8 (Trinity Rock&Pop) and Drums grade 8 (Rockschool).