As the world continues to recover from the Coronavirus, we're all finding ourselves in unfamiliar territory given the subsequent lockdown that is keeping us off of stages and confined to our homes. Luckily, there's comfort in the fact that we're all in this together, and that there are still many outlets for us musicians to keep us active and sane throughout this quarantine. We're checking in with bass players from all over the world to see what they're doing to stay entertained, healthy, productive, and safe during this trying time. Bass Player: Michael Manring Bands & Artists: Michael Hedges, Will Ackerman, John Gorka, Yo Miles, Solo artist Home: Oakland, California How have you been passing time during the lockdown? I've been very fortunate in several ways, and my heart goes out to those who are suffering during this crisis. My family and I are completely healthy so far, and we’ve been enjoying this time together. I’m trying to remember when was the last time I’ve been in one place this long. I think it’s been 30 years! I'm also lucky in that, although all gigs are canceled, my work schedule is completely full. As soon as the lockdown began many people contacted me about playing on their recording projects and it’s been wonderful to work on a wide variety of music. Many people have also contacted me for remote lessons and that’s been a pleasure, too. When students ask about a particular subject, it gives me a chance to think about it in depth and I always find that inspiring. I have a long list of ideas to work through! I've also released a new solo recording, Small Moments, and many people have gotten in touch me to ask about it and the accompanying mini documentary my friend Andrew Westhoff made called, “Sound Visions.” I’m grateful folks are interested in it! What have you been working on in terms of your bass practice routine? I’ve had to reduce my personal practice time these days because there have been so many recording projects to work on. I do, however, make a little time every day just for my own personal musical development, and in that time I work through the sets of exercises I’ve created over the years to focus on technique, tonality, rhythm, intonation, and harmony. I also try to save some time to go over solo repertoire, and every day I do ear training, solfege, sargam, and konnakol. What music, songs, recordings, artists, bass players have you been listening to as a source of comfort and inspiration that you can recommend? I occasionally study with the amazing William Allaudin Mathieu, and I’ve been enjoying listening and studying his first string quartet, his guitar piece “Lattice Work,” and his solo piano composition, “The Magic Clavier.” Some other folks who’ve been on my playlist lately are Mysore Manjunath, Malcolm Braff, Morton Feldman, Easley Blackwood, Terry Riley, Gyan Riley, Ted Greene, Jojo Mayer, Dusan Bogdanovic, Douglas Alonso, Kaushiki Chakrabarty, Bill Withers, Raj