R L Using the Cipher — Bass Guitar Demonstrations         Working with the Cipher System is a matter of transferring the Cipher number-formula to the fretboard using the Five Degree Calculation Line and resulting counting-grids. Ultimately, this is done with reference to the larger set of landmarks provided by the fretboard’s built-in (but invisible) Pattern of Unisons and Octaves. These initial small-area demonstration examples are meant to get our feet wet and will be shown again later in relation to that larger  context. Demonstration examples — preliminaries To demonstrate how the Five Degree Calculation Line and the Cipher System as a whole are used we’ll begin with small examples and gradually build until the big picture is seen and understood. That is, the big picture of how the Cipher System works, and consequently the big picture of how the fretboard works. Fretboard area used in the first demonstration Only strings one, two, and three, are used in the first demonstration. Other than that, the area is nonspecific and movable. The patterns could be aligned/rooted anywhere on the neck, i.e. on  any fret-line, any tonic/root (providing there’s enough room above and below the calculation line for what you want to see or do). Things to note (Figure 1): Only the first three strings will be used for our first examples Consequently, only three places (points) of the Five Degree Calculation Line are needed Examples are limited to the bounds of one octave (12 half-steps or semitones of pitch) For reference purposes, an large area of the fretboard has been gridded with counting numbers — above and below the calculation line. However, individual examples (upcoming) do not exceed four frets per example.       Figure 1       The musical materials (formula) included in this first demonstration are as shown in Figure 2. Note the Cipher formula at the far right.       Figure 2       Demonstration examples: Common musical materials: interval, scale, chord, progression root movement This plate shows the first examples of Cipher formula plotted on the bass fretboard         Different string-sets — Major scale and triad Additional areas of the fretboard are explored in the second 2-part plate. These examples are organized by string-sets of three strings each. The string-sets travel across the fretboard, eventually exercising every string and all points of the greater Five Degree Calculation Line. All patterns on any string-set are always movable up and down the neck.                     On bass, all patterns, intervals, scales, chords, etc.,  on string-sets (1, 2, 3) and (2, 3, 4) are essentially identical. Remember, all of these patterns and shapes are natural to the bass fretboard. The Cipher System isn’t creating them, just illuminating them.   All intervals — two octaves of intervals on the fretboard The third and final 2-part plate of examples is an example of plotting all intervals, large and small, on the bass fretboard from a single root tone on String-One. Two octaves of interval fingerings are shown. The two tones of any harmonic interval are meant to be played simultaneously, like a small chord, so their fingerings may be different from their counterpart melodic intervals. i.e. interval tones played in succession — one after the other or scale-wise.                         Blank fretboard grids — to print out There’s an 8 page  PDF of assorted sizes of blank 4 string fretboard grids on the Free page. Use them to practice plotting Five Degree Calculation Lines and counting grids from any point on the fretboard.       What’s next? These demonstration examples were limited to small (3 string) areas of the bass fretboard. As we enlarger the area to include all four strings at once, the complete Five Degree Calculation Line, full fretboard patterns, and all available octaves of tones, many points of interest, each wanting attention, will arise simultaneously. Establishing priority among them and finding the best sequence to present them is not an easy task. There are hundreds of possibilities. One thing, however, will emerge in reappear in every future illustration or example, a common thread, regardless of the topic or sequence of presentation, that must be addressed before we go any further. That is; portions of the fretboard's large but invisible pattern of octave tones and unisons. We can't go much further in explaining how the fretboard works without bumping into the Pattern of the Unisons and Octaves. So that’s our next stop. Index of The Cipher for Bass Guitar: 3 Minute Introduction for Bass Commonsense String Numbers for Bass Five Degree Calculation Line for Bass Demonstrations for Bass Pattern of Unisons and Octaves for Bass Triads on Bass Guitar fretboard (four pages) Scales, Major and minor, in parallel, on the Bass Guitar fretboard Notes of the Bass fretboard spelled Blank 4 string fretboard grid paper in PDF Number-formula translation tables   Up to Top of page