Playing Instructions for the BASS BOX...
The notes on the bass box left to right are tuned FCGDAEB, as viewed from the sitting position above the keyboard looking down. You will notice the center four GDAE are tuned exactly like a standup bass or the last four strings of a guitar.
The usual bass pattern is to hit the root note of a chord on the first beat and the fifth note of the chord on the third beat of a measure. You will notice that if you pick any chord, the root is the name of the chord and the fifth of that chord is the next blade to the right. Example- to play with a D chord; alternate the root D with the blade directly to the right in this case the fifth of the D chord -A.
Also you will notice that the blade directly to the left of the root chord is the IV chord and the blade directly to the right of the root chord is the V chord of the key you are playing in. So if you start on the right note the "fingering" is the same for all keys- ie. the I, IV, V chords are all in the same relationship to each other.
Feel free to try different tunings- you may change the C to Low C, sometimes I change the B to a high D when playing fiddle tunes. If I was playing a lot of Cajun music in C and F I would like to have a Bb note, etc.
I use the pad of my finger and slide off the note. It is possible to "double slap" the notes, and sometimes I "double slap" the face of the box with my thumb to give more percussion and rhythm.
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