Okay, when you’re rockin out, it is important to know some things about the bass frets.

When plucking a single thread, follow these rules:

Do not fuck around with #1 and 2 to the bone [open or 0] unless you know you’re going there. Frets 1 and 2 are close to the open bar, but not on it, and will twist against that open rhythm unpleasantly unless they’re backed up by something proper. Especially #1. You can do 2-3 and such. 3 is a good spot. They even mark it with a dot. I call this the ¼ note, per string. The 5/12 is somehow the next step up, then the 7/12, then the 9 which is the ¾ note. The 12 sounds super sweet and will fix most any jam you’re in on the string. Above the 12 is not to be used in conjunction with any of the lower notes.

The 0-12 is whole, and that wholeness must be respected or you'll wipe out. You can jam around the 12, but pick one side to jam on. Don’t jam 11-12-13, that’s not right. That’s wiping out the bar incorrectly. You can jam 11-12, or 12-13.

Plus you can jam one note and then go straight up to the next string on the same number. That is a fine progression. You'll find an acoutsic chordlike quality in this that gives the note some depth. You can spread the rhythm here on a different plane without leaving it. You won't generate much newness if you stay on one fret among two strings, but it's a kind of active waiting for a new note to come along if you need a second, or have an extra one.

You can also jam 5-6. That is in the neighborhood. It's often nice to freak out on a neighborhood of notes and just go from one to the next as best as you can. If you've got a sharp ear you can pull some cool rhythms out of a little soloing there. If you break up a song with a solo or two, or solo on a neighborhood it can make secondary rhythms with the rest of the song, producing fun.

Plus you can seperate odds and evens on the frets. Circles and squares. Don't mix circles and squares if you're sticking to one set, or a square in a line of circles will get you negative points.

Whatever you do, do something and stick to it until you do something else. If you mess up, don't overreact. Try to slip it in quiet like. React, but less than you'd call a panic away from a perceived failure. Then switch it up later.

Sometimes the speed at which you play the notes in relation to one another is at least as important as the tone of the notes themselves. You could play a song in beats and not care about the hz of each note, but be counting the hz of the noteS. The trick to playing a good song is to play a lot of nice songs that sound good *together*. Even on the same instrument. Especially in the same band.

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The strings are ABCD, from smallest to grandest. I know they’ve already got names for notes, but I am reworking the scale myself, by local gemoetrics. This seems regionally unpopular, but I dig it. I have also just discovered a lot about music and how it works through my own method, where conventional science has failed me for years.

If you dig the continental stuff, fine. But I do ABCD, and the frets are numbers up the letter.

It’s super pro to play the A9+B7 together. They sound fantastic! Then Give it a second stroke, flip up the open strings,

It is a great 2-note bass chord to hit the Ax and Bx-2. That always produces a huge boner.

Try A9 B7 at the same time. Flip it open and then try just B7, then B5, then pull A7 B5. Then pull a B3, open again, then go up the A string from A3 to A5 or A7. Then pull it back to A7 + B5, or A5 B3, based on whichever A you used first.

Now you've warmed up the entire odd [square] frequency on strings A and B. You've established a song. They are yours to make magic with. They're wide open. It's a complete circuit, keep it going, and tweak it now and then. Keep the frequency and you can solo on those notes switching up between doubles and singles until you get tired of the tone.

Also if you've got the knuckles for it, do an A8 B5. Bass notes are wide so you better be too. If you have that you can play bass all day.

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Don’t try to incorporate 5-6-8 or something into a circle or square arrangement. That sounds like 3 blind mice, but when you had circle/square before, you now have circle+square, and people will get confused. You cross a rhythm there. 2-4-6-8 are okay together [circle]. But if you’re plucking evens and you hit and odd it’ll be sour. And if you’re plucking dots and you hit a space, it’ll be odd.

You’re jamming along the string in quarters [dots], evens, odds, or neighborhoods. Don’t cross any of these categories unless you’re flirting them together like an ambassador. And when you’re doing odds, the open fret doesn’t count among them until you get past the 3.

Open is an important note. I like to skip to the open as a half-tempo between many or most of my playings. 5’05 is a fine strum. Five-oh-five. So is 5'07'0. [The - ‘ - indicates half tempo on the space between the notes it demarcates.]

As important is the 5-0. The 5 on one string is the same note as open on the next up, if you tune them right. This can produce some synergy. This also means that stepping straight over one thread is fine for almost any combo. This can give you a broader difference between your tweaks and make them sound more dynamic, instead of reaching all the way down to the 12 or so. Plus it’s already -5- apart just by the string that is automatic 5/12 resonance. A7-B5 is automatic 7/12 resonance. This effect is really stellar around the 12 area of the string.

You can also pull on the string you're holding to produce unches. The note will sway up a little bit, producing lots of tiny fractional similarities and a cool whine. You should probably look for 1/2 "12" up the note. That is one half of a single 12-0 note. Aka, going from 1 to 1-1/2. That will produce 24ths, and set a groove for multiples of 12 as high as you can figure. That is the technical definition of the twang going up the note.

This is music.