Page   1   2    3   4     Pattern of Unisons and Octaves for Bass Guitar (page 2)     The pattern in depth (continued) We'll begin with a conceptually ideal complete Pattern of Unisons and Octaves, one that is not split, divided, or fragmented.  Figure 3.     Figure 3       The Pattern of Unisons and Octaves requires a twelve fret area to express itself once and begin to repeat. Recall, the number twelve is the octave number. e.g. twelve chromatic scale steps, twelve frets, etc. Presence of both Unisons and Octaves There are four tones in any twelve-fret pattern, one tone on every string. Only two or three of those four tones (depending on how you split or visualize the initial pattern) are truly different in pitch, however. That is, they are different octaves of the given unnamed tone. The remaining tones are unison with them. That is, they are redundant duplicates, alternates that give his options. We'll address the specifics of which are octaves, which are unisons, and why, when we merge the Five Degree Calculation Line with the Pattern of Unisons and Octaves, in a few minutes. For now, I hope you'll be content with a quick demonstration of proof that the pattern does indeed contain both unisons and octaves of any given tone. In Figure 4 the pattern is shown rooted at fret-seven = B (I used fret seven so that you could see the repeats in the pattern begining to occure above and below the rooting-center on string one). Every tone in the pattern is a  B note. Figure 4 (middle of) Unisons shows patterns within the greater pattern, encircled tones, where unison B notes can be found. Figure 4 (far right) Octaves, show's other patterns within the greater pattern where, depending and direction of movement, one will find progressively higher or lower pitch octaves of a B note. [The groupings/routes shown here are not exhaustive. Numerous others could be shown, and none is more correct than another.] Pick up your guitar and play the groups of tones encircled within this illustration. You should be able to hear the difference between the unisons and octaves of this single tone B. The unisons are basically identical to each other, while the octaves sound higher or lower in pitch.     Figure 4       Six Pattern parts or fragments Any complete Bass Pattern of Unisons and Octaves as can be broken down into, or constructed from, six smaller elements or fragments of pattern. That is, every complete Bass Pattern of Unisons and Octaves consists of six one-octave intervals of two tones each. See Figure 5. Each one-octave interval is a small pattern unto itself. In the end, while the complete Pattern of Unisons and Octaves is indispensable to one's understanding of the whole fretboard, i.e. the big picture, the smaller elements of pattern are more important to our everyday tool-set.     Figure 5       Figure 6 isolates the six one-octave interval shapes and arranges them in a matter better suited to examination and study. That is, not aligned to the same single lettered tone, but in a straight line moving across the fretboard. The intervals are rendered using numbers rather than diamonds, with zero and twelve degrees marking each interval’s two relevant tones. To make sure that you see and understand that each (and all) of these intervals span twelve half-steps of pitch, a Five Degree Calculation Line is interposed within each interval. Notice another unique trait of the bass’s (verses the keyboard’s) scheme of available tones. That is, the existence of multiple (optional) identically-pitched octave intervals. Most of the individual interval shapes in Figure 6 can be paired together with one or two of the others. For example, there are three optional shapes and ways to finger a one-octave interval rooted on string-one (E string), see far left in Figure 6. These optional interval shapes and fingerings produce the same sound, the same pitched one-octave interval. This redundancy doesn’t diminish the value and need of any of the instruments  one-octave interval fingerings. They're all equally important and should all be memorized. The fact that some of them can be paired off, because they create the same thing, should be taken as a bonus, a bonus pattern, that will help us later to conceptualize and link the parts of the whole fretboard together. These redundant octave intervals are a consequence of the Unison tones and intervals present on the fretboard (but not on keyboard) These are the same Unison intervals refered to in the name of this greater pattern — The Pattern of Unisons and Octaves. We will focus more on Unisons as we go.     Figure 6             Once you know these six fingerings you’ll be able to put your finger anywhere on the fretboard and instantly know the location(s) of similar tones one octave higher or lower in pitch. You could, for example, take any known chord voicing or fingering and create alternate fingerings and inversions of it. That is, by moving any desired tone(s) to a different octave (hence a different location). This is, in fact, how inverted chord voicings are created. Understanding and modifying chord voicings then, is dependent in large part upon your knowledge of these six one-octave interval fingerings. From this moment on, you’ll never truly be done with octave intervals, because you’ll be using them so frequently. For now, we’re going to return to the larger full-fretboard context and the complete (twelve fret) Pattern of Unisons and Octaves. The Rooting Center There is one point within the Pattern of Unisons and Octaves that functions as a beginning, an end-point, and a repeat point. It is called the Rooting-Center. It is located where a tone of the pattern falls on string-one. That  tone, on string-one, is the rooting-center. The entire pattern is said to be rooted, centered, or based on that tone because it is the lowest pitched octave (version or incarnation) of the given tone that can be found on the bass fretboard, standard tuning assumed. All other tones within the pattern will be either unison with it, (i.e. identical, same exact pitch/same octave), or higher pitched octaves of it — higher by one or two octaves. [On rare occasions three octaves (36°). For instance if you play an open E note on string one, or an F on the first fret of string one, you could find a note three octaves higher on the fourth string 21 frets up the neck, provideing your instrument has that many frets]. The Pattern of Unisons and Octaves, like all fretboard patterns, can be moved up or down the neck to serve any of twelve different tones. That is, the rooting-center can be aligned/rooted on any the guitars first twelve frets. e.g. fret-one = tone F, fret-two = tone F#/Gb. Relative to the tones that are available solely within the first twelve frets, the pattern will present itself intact, rooting-center through rooting-center (as per Figure 3, in only one or two instances. That is, when positioned for tones E or F. In the majority of cases, the pattern will occur broken or split somewhere between the nut and twelfth fret. That is, a greater or lesser part of a repeat-pattern will appear above the rooting-center. Most of the time then, part of the pattern will fall above the rooting-center and the balance will fall below it. The rooting-center is simultaneously: the beginning, the end, and the centering-point of the pattern. Given that the pattern is repeating, above the rooting-center, you never really loose any part of it — even when restricted to just the tones within the first twelve frets. It just splits in twelve slightly different places, depending upon which fret it is centered on, and of course, the pattern never actually stops at the twelfth fret. That boundary is given to make sure that you first understand the repeating nature of fretboard patterns. The pattern, in fact, continues well beyond the twelfth fret, and in many cases, far enough to complete another full pattern. The only real limiting factors are the number of frets your particular instrument has, usually between eighteen and twenty-two, and then how many of those frets are realistically usable/playable. So again, no matter where it is centered, you never loose any part of the pattern. To illustrate how the pattern splits and divides when aligned for different tones within the first twelve frets, a large repeating sample of the pattern can be used as an all-purpose or universal reference pattern. See Figure 8. From the oversized reference pattern, at the center of the illustration, isolate or bracket-out any twelve-fret section of pattern* and imagine that it represents the first twelve frets of an actual fretboard, which it very well could. In each isolated section note the following things: where the rooting-center is, (i.e. on which fret) hence which tone the pattern is aligned for and representing. See the Rooting-Centers Alignment Key Figure 7. how and where the pattern splits. This, to begin to recognize pattern fragments. Confirm that all of the pattern is indeed there somewhere above or below the rooting-center (within those first twelve frets). and finally, note how the pattern would (and will) continue, on an actual fretboard, beyond and below the twelfth fret. Refer again to the central reference pattern. The (any) pattern will begin to duplicate (repeat) itself exactly as it fell (and began) from the nut down. That is, fret-thirteen = fret-one, fret-fourteen = fret-two, etc. *To alert or remind you of what is occurring in the open strings, i.e. at the nut or fret zero, like in actual fretboard, thirteen frets-worth of pattern, including the nut, is shown in each isolation. Note the white diamonds (pattern members/tones) present in the open strings.     Figure 7           Figure 8       This illustrative device, obtaining any and all specific patterns of unisons and octaves from a single repeating sample, helps us to conceptualize all patterns of unisons and octaves as being a single thing, THE pattern. We can think of the large repeating sample as the parent pattern. It, in turn, can generate twelve offspring sections of pattern. Each twelve-fret offspring-pattern contains all of the genes, (pattern parts) of the parent-pattern. That is, all twelve complete patterns are fundamentally the same. The only difference from one offspring to the next is the relative position of the rooting-center, and that determines how much of the pattern will occur above the rooting-center and how much of it will fall below We began by showing how multiple patterns of unisons and octaves, rooted at different places, are simultaneously superimposed upon the fretboard to create large chord-voicing maps. We used the “A” Major triad as our example. Looking at that illustration again we should be able to understand more clearly what was going on. There can be no doubt that the Pattern of Unisons and Octaves is universal. It is everywhere at all times. Knowing that, you should be motivated to learn everything you can about it. We still have to learn the details about the pattern. And for that, we'll need the Cipher System. We must now further link and integrate two reference patterns: the Pattern of Unisons and Octaves and the Five Degree Calculation Line. In combination, they reveal how all tones on the fretboard are laid out. That is, where everything occurs, and why. The reason for linking these two reference patterns is to allow us to construct and overlay counting-grids on top of and around the points of any complete Pattern of Unisons and Octaves. This will help us to understand the pattern: why it's points fall where they do, what the number-values of the points are, how the points relate to each other, which are octave tones and which are unisons. In the process of identifying the number-values of just the points of any complete Pattern of Unisons and Octaves we will also and unavoidably obtain the number-values of all the in-between points. Hence, the locations and identities of all the raw material for any musical formula will also be made visible, available, and easy to understand. For the duration of this discovery session we will consider the member points of any Pattern of Unisons and Octaves to be tonics or root-tones, the first tones of any musical material or formula. Numbering  octave and unison tones Before we assign number-values to octave the unison tones on the fretboard, lets quickly review how the fretboard naturally employs and re-employes octave tones, and how the Cipher System handles the numbering and re-numbering of those tones accordingly. This, we will come to recognize, is one and the same thing. i.e. the Cipher System reflects how the fretboard truly and naturally works. In the Cipher System, the first tone, the tonic/root, of any musical material is always numbered zero degrees. The first higher octave of the tonic/root will always be found at (and numbered) twelve degrees. Additional higher octaves of the tonic/root occur at multiples of the number twelve. That is, at twenty-four degrees and then thirty-six degrees — spanning a total of three octaves, the maximum range possible on the bass fretboard. So the tonic/root, it's octaves and Unisons, all of which carry the same letter-name, will be found in any number-line or in any fretboard counting-grid at 0°, 12°, 24°, or 36° degrees. And all octaves of the tonic/root occur at and are numbered in multiples of the number twelve. [Recall, the octave designates of all octaves of zero (the tonic /root) are also encircled with a zero symbol to graphically distinguish them from all other tones and to reinforce and remind us of their shared relationship, function, and identity. They are all akin to zero.] Unison tones, being identical to each other (having the same letter-name and the same exact octave pitch) will, of course, share the same number designate. e.g. 0° and 0°, 12° and 12°, 24° and 24°, are pairs of unison tones.    ( to Page 3)           Page   1   2    3   4         Up to Top of page