Kundalini and the Collective Consciousness, Again

[From a YouTube video : Hi,  I’m Leo Volont.  Here today I will be reading a editorial rewrite of a Blog I wrote a bit more than a year ago: Kundalini and the Collective Consciousness    Here, let me begin ]

In the spiritual community we often hear the cliché about a general Kundalini Awakening being the Next Great Evolutionary Leap for Humanity.  But the details are vague regarding ‘how so?’  after decades of thinking about it, I have an idea about just what it might consist of.  Perhaps the Kundalini can be used to Link into the Collective Consciousness.   Well, how did I arrive at that hunch, or perhaps the more appropriate question for now would be why would I want to think so?

Back decades ago I had a few personal experiences which go a long way in explaining why I would want to think there is an actual existential Collective Consciousness that we could tap into, particularly two very Big Dreams I had.   In the first dream, back when I was still a young man and not very philosophically sophisticated, I came upon the grave of one of Europe’s Greatest Thinkers and it had been defaced with graffiti saying that “______ would not live beyond the grave”, but instantly I had muttered that “everybody lives beyond the grave”.   But whatever Higher Wisdom that had been directing that Dream was not to allow me to get away with such an unfounded assertion without some kind of a challenge and so suddenly a large oak tree on the crest of a nearby knoll erupted in flames of multicolored lights, and out of it billowed a Voice that said “Not all men will live beyond the grave… but ______ will”.   Oh, I need to mention some details that indicate just how significant that Fiery Tree and Voice must have been in the context of this Dream.  The instant the Tree ‘Lit Up’ my legs gave way out from beneath me and I came crashing down on my knee caps, on what seemed like hard granite, but I felt no pain.   Also, tears sprayed from my eyes, but I felt no emotion, which puzzled me even at the time.   Now, one would suppose that I would have been speechless in awe, but, since I felt no overwhelming emotions, I was intellectually quite curious about the Mortality Issue that the ‘Tree’ had brought forward and so without any hesitation I asked “Well, then, what about me?  Will I live beyond the grave?”   Well, the Tree did not immediately give me an answer, seemingly wishing that I should have a little time to contemplate just how possibly disturbing certain answers to that question might be for me, and the Tree’s apparent point was not lost upon me, and I got really nervous really fast.     But finally the Tree spoke and said “Yes, you too will live beyond the grave, but remember one thing: Birth is but an Illusion and Christ is the Life in All Things”.  Now even at the time I did not see the allusion to ‘Christ’ as being in reference to any historical individual, but rather to some kind of All-embracing Spiritual Status – some disembodied Cosmic Christ.   And of course the notion of “Life in All Things” speaks of a Collective Consciousness with no need for further elaboration.

Then there was the second Big Dream not many years after the first.  I appeared to be in a sparse landscape, that seemed as dry as some areas in North Africa, the Near East or the American Southwest, but still there were some clumps of grass, some bushes and a tree here and there.  I seemed to have just arrived on the Dream Scene when suddenly this young man appeared just in front of me, so close within my personal space that it made me feel a bit uncomfortable.  But what instantly caught my attention was the young man’s boundless smile – it quite radiated what seemed a fathomless joy.   The Young Man, as a person though, was not very impressive.  He was thin to the point of emaciation, dark but one would say more ‘brown’ than ‘black’, with a narrow face and a thin nose, and for a beard he had just a slight tuft of curly hairs.  But I could not help but be moved by his perfect joyfulness.  In this Dream I seemed to have been rendered ‘speechless’.   Well, since I had nothing to say, the young man turned and began walking off, but before he was 20 meters away, the same voice as in the other dream spoke up and said from out of the blue, “He went out into the wilderness and became One”.   With that the Young Man developed a silver blue aura.  Then, what was more remarkable was that the nearby grasses and bushes began picking up that same silver blue aura, and then I noticed that even the trees out in the distance began to shine silver blue.  It became clear that everything that was alive had the same aura and that it was connected and centered on him.  I had a hunch at the time that he was experiencing all of that as part of himself – that he felt the Oneness.   Maybe that is what made him so happy, or was it being so happy that made him One with everything? 

Also, I might add that that dream is suggestive of what we hear about some traditions of Shamanism whereby it is reported that some Shamans can transform into crows or cats or coyotes or whatever, but what I suspect is probably really happening is only that a Shaman can opportunistically reach his or her consciousness out and partake of the perceptions of crows, cats or coyotes or whatever else is already out there and part of the landscape which the Shaman is concerned with knowing about. 

Now, I mention these Dreams and these assertions from the Shamanistic Traditions to point out that Spirituality may have an External and Objective application.  But most of the Spirituality we hear about today is directed inward towards subjective Mystical Experiences.  Now, of course, Mystical Experiences are interesting in that people who have had Mystical Experiences claim that in their moment of excitement that they Knew Everything and that All Truth had been Revealed.  However, the problem arises that they can provide few details after the fact.  The literature of Mysticism gives this problem a name – Ineffability.  William James, a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, in his classic “Varieties of Religious Experience”, circa 1905, talks a great deal about Ineffability.  The consequence of Ineffability is that it turns the Mystical Experience essentially into a purely aesthetic, even sensual experience – a Super High Buzz, but which in practical terms is good for nothing, or even damaging, in the sense that Mystics may become addicted to the purely Sensual Experience while ignoring their Social Duties and Obligations, like students getting high instead of doing their homework.

There is also the issue regarding the various, different and often contradictory reports given by those exceptional few who purport to bring back some form of “eternal wisdom” from their mystical experiences.  Such wide variance would incline us to believe such ‘Truths’ to be subjective rather than objective, and if these Enlightened Truths are only subjective, well, that only means that it was ‘true’ in the sense that an individual really had the experience, and didn’t just make up a story (which I fear happens more times than not within the New Age Community).  But the broader definition of Truth is that a thing is plainly known to exist or its existence can be objectively confirmed only by means of a group consensus.  Subjectivity, frankly, can be delusional, even if it does provide the individual with important personal insights.   But not all Subjectivity should be thrown out as objectively dubious, because in some cases even Subjectivity can have a Consensus, when such subjective impressions are very widely shared (or what we would call “archetypical”).  For instance, the commonly occurring Dream Motifs (snake dreams, horse dreams, being naked in public dreams), these motifs are common across cultures, can be considered Archetypical and their Meaning in a way Psychologically ‘Objective’.  But in regards to many Religious and Mystical Experiences, we do not yet have this broad confirmation.  Again I refer to James’ “Varieties of Religious Experience” where you can see just how bazaar and off the beaten path some ‘enlightened’ realizations can be.  If they were only weird, that would not be the problem.  The problem is lack of Objective Consensus.  My point here is that we cannot claim to have a Collective Consciousness until we can demonstrate an Objective Shared Consensus.

But we may be able to address this problem of Shared Objective Reality within our mystical experiences by determining whether we use our Kundalini to look Inwards, into ourselves, or Outwards, into the World and Society.   Looking Inwards has been the typical direction.  Most popular thinking these days seems fully on board with the notion that all wisdom comes from within, no matter how foolishly we see people actually behaving who act solely according to their own guidance.   We need to ask ourselves what we can learn from ourselves that we do not already know?  We get nothing new by watching old reruns over and over again.  Self-Inquiry is a labyrinth that can only circle the same old ground over and over again.  If we want to put the Kundalini to any positive use, we must point it Outwards and Experience where we have never Experienced before.    

True Civilization could become an achievable possibility if Humanity could be unified by a tangible shared Collective Consciousness.  Looking Outwards to Others beyond ourselves will take us in that direction.  Looking inwards is like looking backwards.  We can’t take that next great evolutionary step forwards by always backtracking over our failures and shortfalls.   The Ancient Wisdoms, quite frankly, got us into the mess where we are today.  With this surge in Kundalini Awakenings, we need to configure a new path forwards.  Looking Outwards is the way to go.  Looking inwards will only show us who the Devils in the Way.

Universal Free Income and Fighting Climate Change

[Excluding the mistakes I made in reading my monitor, this is the text of the Video I recorded on December 19th, 2018]  

Sometimes, without having to be very bright, one simply thinks of a logical connection out there that one hasn’t already read about some place or heard about on YouTube.   What am I talking about?  Well, you see, I had been thinking a lot lately about the necessity for a program that would give everybody Universal Free Income, because it is inevitable that most working and salaried people will lose their jobs and careers to Robotics and other Artificial Intelligence Information and Analyses Technologies.  

So, there I was scratching my head over it and along the way up popped a picture in my mind’s eye of a World full of people sitting at home waiting for their Free Money Check to arrive in the mail (well, yes, it would be electronic transfer, but my imagination is still largely populated with imagery from the 20^th Century… if not before, … you know,  I still use metaphors that refer to ‘horses’… remember horses, anyone? Beautiful animals, and their poop doesn’t stink… more than you can say for people, right?).

 Well, back to substance -- there I was, seeing all of these people sitting at home when it occurred to me, that this would be the end of Morning and Evening Rush Hours.  Then I realized that people would no longer need cars explicitly to get to Work.   You know, anybody who has ever held a job KNOWS that being chronically late is perhaps the number one reason why people are sacked (or if the bosses hate you and need an excuse, then popping in late one day would be all the documentation they need to get HR to issue you a Card Board Box, a Pink Slip, two paychecks and a Road Map).

  So, anyway, effectively the working public was forced by a kind of institutional duress into shelling out money for cars… new and reliable cars.

 But given a Universal Free Income, nobody would have to report to Work, and without that ‘gun’ of duress being held up to our heads, well, we could all get around with less reliable public transportation for whatever screwing around we still wanted to do (not that it is necessary that public transportation be unreliable, but that is what working people fear… nobody wants to get fired for the bus driver screwing up and being late.  They want to get fired for their own screwing up and being late).   But, yes, when it comes to just getting about town for ordinary appointments and shopping, then certainly the requirement to be so precisely on time will no longer carry the same pitch of anxiety as it does now under this present Regime of Capitalist Tyranny.  So,  Public Transportation scheduling could afford to be a bit blurry without it being the worst problem Humanity will face in battling for the Survival of the Planet and for the Establishment of a the first True Civilization in Human History.   Also, one of the greatest lessons learned in the 20^th Century is that Nations can pay far too high a price to “have the trains run on time” (you know, the stated justification for the inception of European Fascism prior to The Great War Part Two. )

 Well, let me sum all of this up:  what this all comes down to is that IF we are all replaced by Robots, and IF we are all put out to pasture with Universal Free Income, THEN two of the largest causes for Carbon Emissions will be squashed – all that Commuter Driving, and then all that Manufacturing Process that goes into making commuter cars.

 Oh, and certainly City Planners will no longer have to agonize over expanding highways and parking lots.  Without so many cars and so much driving, it would be significantly easier for the World to Go Green, don’t you think?   Also, now that I think about it (and this was not on the Video I released), demographic population concentrations have been following Job Opportunities, and miserably overcrowded Urban Areas, with Jobs, are experiencing even more growth, making conditions worse, while Areas that have experienced business closures, while being otherwise idyllic, are being abandoned, with the last remaining economic activity involving the Opioid Epidemic.  

Comment To Vanessa Ooms' "What is Vibration and Frequency"

[Dec 18 2018  Comment to Vanessa Ooms’ YouTube video  “What is Vibration and Frequency”]

Hi Vanessa,

Oh, before I get started on the Spiritual Stuff, I’d like to refer to your Chart and make some Real World observations.  You know how between 50 Hz and 75 Hz is Apathy approaching Grief.  Well, for some reason the line power in our homes, which set the ‘flicker rate’ of our lighting and the noise hum from our appliances, well that is right in the middle at 60 Hz (if you can find an oscilloscope, just dig the probe into your finger a little bit and you will see that your Electric Field is running at Line Frequency, that is, its picking up the Room Hum).  In Europe the line power is set right at Apathy (50hz).  BUT the military in its aircraft, tanks and other weapons systems jack up the line frequency to 400 – Reason.  Interesting, huh?  

Now, about Frequency and Spirituality.  Vanessa, in addition to Frequency, there is also the idea of Resonance, that is Natural Frequency of a Thing.  Think of a Tuning Fork.  When you strike it, it will ring at its Resonant Frequency and no other.  Then there is Power. When we are involving Things of variable mass where the mechanism of Resonance is not so deterministic, then the Frequency that has the Most Power will tend to set the Dominant Frequency, which will impose a dynamic resonance into the Things in the effected vicinity.  Also, there is the Idea of Harmonics, and that is simple Multiplication.  In Music we call them octaves.  Now, what High Frequencies can do is set up Harmonic Sympathetic Vibrations in those ‘Things’ that are Octaves below.  For instance, a Frequency of 100 can set up 5 harmonic spaces along a Thing that resonates at 20.  I looked again at your Chart and didn’t see much that would indicate a Harmonic Relationship between the Categories.

Okay, so what does all that mean?  First, if we are spiritually substantial, then we will have a Resonant Frequency which can’t be easily pulled either up or down.  For instance, some people do not get upset or flustered during political discussions.  One reads that people like Napoleon Bonaparte and Horatio Nelson wouldn’t even fluster with shot and shell raining about them.  Then there is Power.  If you have a lot of Power, then your Vibe will tend to set the Tone for the general ambiance.   This is why people with what they call Gravitas are great at defusing tense situations and quieting arguments.  It’s their Power that sets the general Vibe Rate.  Vanessa, you’re sensitive.  You know it as soon as a person with Gravitas walks into a room, don’t you.  Oh, Head Bouncers at Big Clubs usually have Gravitas (they get there by their Work History or the Managers just FEEL that these guys can quiet down trouble just be being there).   And then there is the Ascendency of High Freq over Low Freq.  Hi Freqs can set up sympathetic harmonic responses in Low Things, but it doesn’t work the other way around. Hi can reach down but Lo can’t reach up.  In History we have the example of how the Better Civilizations exert more attraction than the Lesser Civilizations.  In situations where High Civilization were overwhelmed at their frontiers and conquered by Barbarians, well, the general pattern would be that the Barbarians, within a few generations, would be ‘subverted’ towards the Civilization they thought they had defeated (though the phenomenon is not absolute.  One of the problems of European History, with all of its invasions, was that there was always some lag in the assimilation of its Barbarians, and so Europe really never did become wholly Civilized).

So, yes, Vanessa, I really do believe you are over doing it with  counseling social and political cowardice (that’s 100 on your chart).  Now, yes, if one is rocked and overwhelmed by the ambient Vibrations in one’s life, then I guess that retreat and isolation is in order.  However, any Spiritually established person with any degree of Power should have the Gravitas to be able to maintain his or her own Resonant Frequency, whatever the situation.

Then there is also the issue of whether we are to be Individuals (Bodies sheltering Egos) or Part of the Greater Life.  If we are part of the Greater Life, then we should be Integral to Society.  To become Active Socially and Politically may appear to be emotionally disturbing, and our thoughts might be constant when contemplating certain issues or when involved in certain encounters (the Mind not Resting until it has evaluated every conceivable possibility and gotten a Plan A, B and C for Everything).  That may seem uncomfortable at times, BUT, isn’t that Life?  Yes, there are spiritual traditions, too many of them I believe, that advise retreat and isolation, and the contemplation of one’s navel. That means that  Spiritualists largely leave it to the Lesser Beings to Run the World and decide the Path of Civilization (but how can Civilization be entrusted to those who aren’t Spiritual?)   Vanessa, we need to remember about the Ascendency of the High over the Low.  The Lotus grows in Swamp Water, but its Beauty is pristine.  The Low can’t touch us.  

Youtuber

Hi Leo, Is all of this talk about Frequencies and Vibrations real, or just a spiritual metaphor?

Leo Volont

Hi Scott, Well, there was one time that I had a dream -- a Lucid Dream -- in which I had an encounter with the White Light, and it was immediately proceeded by the entire dream taking on a violet colored hue, which indicated that the fabric of the dream was undergoing an upward frequency shift. What happened in the dream was that when I became Lucid, I tucked up into what passes as a lotus position among Westerners and began intoning an AUM. that is when I noticed everything turning violet (reminiscent of psychedelic trips I had read about) and then in front of me the air, or perhaps I should say the 'space' in front of me began to ripple in waves and then a circle opened up about 15 or 20 feet in front of me, like the space itself opened up, providing a passage to another dimension, and it was full of a very intense shimmering White Light. I remembered that in chemistry class years before we had burned magnesium, which burns at a pure whiteness. Well, that White Light in that Circle Opening looked to me like Magnesium being burnt in front of a mirror (its what I thought at the time... "Jeepers, that looks like magnesium being burnt in front of a mirror"). Then the White Light formed up into a Paramahansa Swan ( the Paramahansa Swan was a symbol Yogananda used, but Ramakrishna (1836-1886) used it before him, and the main thing Yogananda is famous for is his economic success, but Ramakrishna for his moral and spiritual influence. Oh, and the Swan did not pretend to be a real living Swan. It was obviously a very ornate representation of a Swan, but stiff and two dimensional like a swan stamped on a coin), and after it lingered at the threshold of the Circle for a moment to two, it shot forward and pierced into my Agna Chakra (yes, the sizes don't seem to fit -- it was Big when it was out there 20 feet away, but then small enough to fit into my forehead... go wonder), and then another Swan formed up and shot into my head, and then another, BUT, because the repetitions were speeding up, the Swan became simpler at every reformation, until the 'Swan' was simply a kind of a "V" bird that children draw, accept that it was formed of that magnesium white light. But towards the end the line of White Light V Swans did seem to have the character of aliveness.

But in other instances, I've noticed Silver Blue to have been the aura of a character who in a dream represented a Being who had become "one with all things". Then in other dreams it seems that the importance of the dream, or its level of spiritual importance seemed to have been indicated simply by the Brightest of Color, and not necessarily the spectral position or 'name' of the particular color.

So, yes, I believe that the idea of Frequency and Vibration isn't purely metaphorical here. But, that Chart that Vanessa trotted out. Well, anything that precisely delineated should come with some kind of footnote regarding the source study from which it was derived. But I don't believe there was a study. How could they buzz Research Subjects with a precise vibration and then so precisely discern their exact emotional reaction. and if 700 and above is Enlightenment, then I would suppose there would be a huge market for an Enlightenment Machine, that could simply give that same 700 Hz buzz as was delivered during the experiment to clients or purchasers of the "Enlightenment Box". No more having to meditate on top of a Himalayan Mountain for 40 years... just shove one probe up one's butt and paste an electrode pad on the top of one's head, or whatever, and get Zapped into Enlightened Cosmic Consciousness Oneness, and be able to tell everybody that for that moment you 'Knew All things', but a shame you have such a poor memory in regards to the details. But, Wow! Who wouldn't give a week's wages for an experience like that? Heck, the patent on that Thing would be more valuable then the Copyright on those "Course of Miracles" books, or even the whole Carlos Castaneda series. The entire New Age Community would poop themselves with envy. So, no, I'm surprised that Vanessa passes that kind of stuff along. If it were true, it would have resulted in more than a rainbow colored diagram, wouldn't it?

A Word on the Advisability of Relationships

[ There is a young woman on YouTube who had a Kundalini Awakening a few years back, Soulful Toz, and I’ve been following her story.  Today she published a video “How to Communicate During an Argument” and it wasn’t about how to quarrel with one’s Uber Driver or the Pizza Delivery Guy, but about fighting with one’s Relationship ‘Partner’.  Well, yes, it should be obvious that one should not be in relationships with people that one has to argue with, but, since apparently this is NOT obvious, I felt I should explain it to her -- LV].     

Hi Soulful.  Do you ever wonder that Relationships are soul killing?  Look at it this way, that we start with two Perfect Souls, each with their own special Purpose in Life and direction to their own Ultimate Goal.  Now you put them together, and certainly their directions and spiritual velocities can’t possibly be the same, and that yoked together they will come to some combined Vector Sum that will be heading off to either Here nor There.  Nobody will be happy.  Both will be mislead and effectively aimless in their lives.    

Of course it has always been this way and people realized the problem and they did implement what they felt were solutions to the difficulties.   In most cases they set up either paternalist institutions or maternalistic ones.   We are more familiar with the Paternalistic Solution to the question, and that is where the young maiden leaves her own family’s home and joins up with that of her chosen husband, and while he gets to keep 100% on his Life Trajectory, it is she who has to do all of the adapting and changing (but if she was raised to it, then being a good dutiful daughter in one family will be very much like being a good dutiful daughter in another family).   Oh, remember that the Nuclear Family is only a very recent thing, unless it was the result of poverty.  You see, up until a while ago, any established Family with any land to call their own, lived in an Extended Family Model, that is, several generations living together.   A situation of just a man and a woman with their offspring being isolated off by themselves, well, that would be only in regards to displaced poverty stricken people.    Isn’t it ironic that the Prevalent Social Unit today is one that up until a while ago was predicated on poverty and displacement?  Go Capitalism! 

Of course, there are Islands in the Pacific where it is the males who are the ones to go to the Woman’s home and take on the role of being the subservient one, though, it is obviously different in the sense that while Women are inherently nurturing and useful, men are inherently selfish and lazy.   If you want somebody who can drinks, smoke cigarettes, and toss dice, then a Man will be your go to guy every time.  But, yes, with their propensity towards aggression, men can make excellent ‘guard dogs’ if they are trained well, and that is typically the most that is ever expected of them, and the rest is tolerated.

Okay, that was how they used to deal with Relationships.  Well, certainly you don’t want THAT, do you?  For one person to just give up their Life Direction for the other, that should be unheard of (but who honestly wouldn’t want their own devoted slave?).    But now the Preferred Model for Relationships is Mutual Accommodation and the couple ‘working’ to make their Relationship ‘work’.   You know, all that ‘work’ can’t be much fun.   Also, really, the Combined Vector of the Two, really doesn’t lead to either one of their Ultimate Goals of Life, and two lives, not just one, are wasted without achieving the Purpose their Soul was brought into Existence for.

Now, maybe in a few years, when Super Computing Networked Auto Learning Artificial Intelligence Systems take over almost everything, then we could have situations where the System could pair up Perfect Matches (if each person grows up with a System Companion (like a little machine pet Dog or Cat to which one confides everything, or it just hears and sees everything one says or does) then the System will really know everything about you… better than you know yourself, in fact), and there could be a near certainty that both People would be going into a similar direction their entire lives.  But that isn’t now, and chances are the people you get into relationships with are darn close to just being random selections.  Really, to get into a Relationship, one simply has to assume that one is very lucky.  But if it is not good advice to tell people to play the lottery, then how can we ever advise anybody to get into a Relationship?  

Dems took Congress So Now What

(you can watch me read this on YouTube)

Well, the Dems just won Congress.   And so the important thing now is that they use this opportunity to effectively rebrand the Democratic Party, to make it the kind of Party that young people full of idealism and energy will volunteer to work for.  Indeed, after the Pledge to take no Corporate Money, what accounts most for the success of the Progressive in the Polls is their ability to attract Grass Roots Volunteers who have proven to have a huge multiplier effect in Getting Out The Vote.

The Dems could also profitably use their time in demonizing the Republican Party and in burning off the fog of all that cumulative FOX News Propaganda.  Americans need to be told that compared to what we got now, any form of Democratic Socialism would indeed be a “Socialist Paradise”.   And we have the Future to contend with.  If one looks around the Globe at the advances in Artificial Intelligence Robotics, that is, what the Proprietary Corporate Developers are willing now to admit to, we can infer that the ‘Singularity’ is just a few years off, and then, after that, replacing all Wage and Salaried Positions with Robotics would be just a matter of how long it would take the Robotic Production Lines to reproduce themselves everywhere… and they won’t be asking for Overtime.   Now, it is easy to imagine the differences between a Socialist Response to Mass Unemployment, and a Republican Response to Mass Unemployment.  The Progressive Dems would assure that the new Technologies of AI Robotics would provide a Distribution of Wealth for everybody in the form of Guaranteed Incomes sufficiently abundant so that nobody would think of using the word “austere” to describe them.  Humanity would finally be set free from the Chains of Wage Slavery: our Time would finally be our own, and we could do whatever we want, but mostly we would be dancing in the streets.  But what would the Republicans do.  If the Republicans could be pressured at all into instituting a ‘Guaranteed Income’, when I think they would prefer finding a pretext to just kill us all off as Terrorists, the same way they already deal with Leftists in Central America, but if they were stymied into allotting a Basic Income, well, we can guess they would call it a Guaranteed “Basic” Income, and then stigmatize it by equating it to ‘Welfare’, and it would be a miserable bare bottom Subsistence pittance, insufficient for Housing or even Food, and we would all be forced to live in Tent Cities, fed whatever was in Federally Surplus (cheese and Soy Beans) and our allotted possessions would be only what we could fit in a single duffle bag. Loudspeakers would blare to a rap beat that we’re all lucky not to be dead, bum bump bum bump.  Our Basic Income could keep us in cigarettes.  I know, you say you don’t smoke. But you will then.  

Also, we know that the Capitalists will endlessly drag their feet on any of the Emergency Measure that would be necessary to mitigate the Catastrophe of  Climate Change. We know from their present Business Models and Economic Behaviors that until the very End the Capitalists will find ways to make a Special Interest out of Crisis, Death, Plague and Famine; and then as always with the Republicans, they will go along with any Special Interest that pads their pockets.  So, yes, Socialism is our only Hope, and Progressives give us our only Hope for Socialism.

Okay, that was the Dem’s Big Picture Vision of the Political Landscape extending into the Future, which every American needs to be aware of.  But, when Congress goes into session, what can we expect the Dems in the House to actually DO?  Yes, we know that as it stands, the Democratic Control of Congress is really sort of legislatively useless – because to pass anything would require the go-aheads of a Right-Wing Senate and the Fascist White House, and that’d never happen.   But, what the Dems could do is use the House as a giant podium.  The Dems could put forward Bill after Bill after Bill that, if passed, could give Americans everything they ever wanted, dreamed and hoped for.  We could be a Democratic Party like they never seen before.  You know, Roosevelt, back in the Great Depression had his “New Deal”.  This could be the Progressives “New Leaf” – you know, as in “the Dems turn a New Leaf” – The Dems as you never thought you’d see them, helping the People and not just helping themselves as from time immemorial. It could reanimate the Idea of “the Pursuit of Happiness”, but not just as envisioned by the Founding Father Slave Owners of 200 years ago -- a ‘happiness’ reserved for an aristocracy of Property Owners, but a ‘Happiness’ we could all enjoy.  Let the people know that if they vote Democratic, that it will be a New Leaf, a New Promise, a New Dawn and a New Day.

Yes, now, as I said before, nothing in this outpouring of hopeful and promising Legislative Bills will have the proverbial ‘snowballs’ chance of passing – they’d all be killed by the Republicans, but that is the point.  It would spotlight the fact that the Republicans are the Bad Guys.   With each new Bill, it would show the American People again and again that the Republicans are lined up against them. 

Dems could perhaps gain the most ground if we were to re-define the debate on Taxation.  The Republicans got the people believing that Dems would increase taxes on them and our silence in response seems to confirm everybody’s worst fears about us.  So the first New Leaf we should turn is in regard to our New Tax Policy.  Us Democrats need to vigorously campaign on completely exempting the Majority of Voters from paying any taxes at all.  Certainly the 1% that hoards 95% of the Wealth can afford to pick up the Tax Tab.  Leave it to the Republicans to defend the Idea that it is necessary to stick Poor People with the bill for everything.  You know, perhaps the reason why the Republicans have tacitly but consistently insisted that Poor People must necessarily pay Taxes, is so that the Popular Electorate will be made to hate the idea of Taxation.   Really the Republican have trained Poor People to vote NO on taxes using Condition – Response reflex. Poor People are the Republican’s Pavlov’s Dogs.  So the Dems need to break this conditioning.  Perhaps we can speak of a New Constitutional Amendment that would exempt all Wage Earners from Taxation and put the exclusive burden of Taxation on the Owners of Capital. If the Capitalists want us to have Capitalism, then they should be willing to foot the bill for it, right?  And then when the Republicans oppose such measures, it will show their “Base” that the real Tax Threat comes from their own darlings, the Republicans.

But, now it’s time to look into our own shadows.  The Republicans will not be our only problem, or may not even be our worst problem.  When it comes to actually advocating for Ordinary People against the Predatory Classes, the Dems may be their own worst enemy.  Many establishment Democrats are what we call “Corporate Democrats” who basically take money from the same donors who fill up the coffers of the Republicans.   The prime examples of this are the Clintons and Obama. You know, it’s been said that when Bill Clinton was working on his National Health Care Bill, that he opened it up into a huge bidding war between the Lobbyists For and Against his Bill, and, guess what, the Private Health Care Industry won, and so Bill pulled the plug on his National Health Care Bill.  And then look what Obama did.   With his National Health Care Plan he ‘compromised’ with the Health Care Lobbyists by handing the entire Program over to them.  It turns out that the Health Care Industry LOVES National Health Care when they can rake 12% Profits off the Top.   And then we still have the “Say No to Expensive Treatments” Bias that will never go away while Private Corporations have a fiduciary responsibility to rather see people dead before they’ll take a nickel out of the pocket of a Shareholder, who are the only Human Beings who matter. Oh, and National Health Care handed over to Private Predators wasn’t even his own idea – he took that Recipe for Evil straight from a Republican where it should have stayed. 

But, no, it may not be entirely fair to point just at the Clintons and Obama when spotlighting Democrat Corruption.  Probably at least half of our Party are Career Thieves, Hustlers, and smiling Con Artists.  So, okay, we need to accept the Facts on the Ground.  This is the Democratic Party as we found it, and we have to make due with it.  Given a Two Party System, we need to either hijack the Dems or hijack the Republicans, and, well, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have effectively made that decision for us.  It’s our job now to “Climb aboard , blast bellies, and cut throats until the Ship is ours”, figuratively speaking, of course.  Maybe along the way many of the Donor Driven Dems will See the Light and have a change of heart and mend their nefarious ways and become One with us, but if not, we can use the Primaries to either force them out, or pressure them to move so hard to the Left that whether they like it or not they will begin to walk like us and talk like us.  I bet we’ll see fifty year old white democratic politicians seeing if they can do their hair like Alexandra Ocasio Cortez.  

You know, the same thing happened to the Republicans when the Tea Baggers hijacked their Party, and then it happened again when Trump hijacked their Party.  If there is a Universal Truth in any of this it is that Establishment Politicians, Dems or Repubs, will point whichever way the wind blows.  So the Progressives only need to stir up a Breeze.

So where does that leave us.   The Progressive Democrats have two years to up the volume and re-direct the popular political discourse.  In that time we can change minds and create a whole new set of expectations… perhaps even creating  a new vision of what a Social Morality should look like.  We need to actively envision the possibility that Public Service can be seen as a High Calling – almost like a noble austerity that people would willingly suffer for,  We must take our real lives and make them ideal lives.   We should shun the dingy Heaven consigned to those whose highest moral ambition is to be forgiven of their sins, and strive for the Clear White Light Paradise earned by the truly Good and the Righteous, that is, Those who Love their Neighbors, and Neighbors from every Neighborhood, as they love Themselves.  We need to take our Politics and make it a Moral Perfection.  Let’s give God something She can smile about.

Correspondence Between Trumpist and Progressive

Trumpist:

Interestingly, now that the economy is moving beyond the service model economy (which I remember you writing about many years ago as unworkable - just to boil it down into a single word) back to more a more broadly based model (energy, manufacturing, and building with American materials and components), the economy is booming.  There are now more job openings that people to fill them (there's a lot of overtime being worked out there now).  The respective unemployment rates separately for blacks, Hispanics, and high school dropouts are at never before lows (I suspect you could get a job again using your electronics skill sets if you wanted to).  Banks are starting to make loans again.  The working class is excited (Trump won their vote by a 38% margin - that's a helluva spread).  And that was based on promises.  Now the working class has seen the results.  Trump is changing the Republican base.  We are living to see the Republican party as the party of the working class.  And Trump's support among blacks and Hispanics is growing by the day (29% among blacks - which if it carries over the election day will doom the Dems).  

During the campaign and since, he never said a bad word about unions and at meetings at steel and aluminum companies he would always invite the union reps (wearing their USW jackets) up on stage with the workers and execs.   Working guys show up at Trump's massive rallies wearing their hard hats.  It is a thing to behold.

Target, Walmart, Home Depot and Lowes are all seeing the best sales in many years.  The stock market too is going up, but there's value and earnings now to support it (not just banks parking money from the Fed in the stock market).  401Ks are exploding.  There is a nine month wait if you want to buy a big rig truck!!!  

As for a trade war, Trump is using the tariffs to move our trade partners away from their tariffs and barriers against us.  As Trump said during the campaign, the trade war happened a generation ago - and we lost.  Already the EU is coming around to Trump's idea of getting rid of tariffs and barriers.  Mexico and the US have just agreed to a great deal that will increase wages and heavy manufacture in both of our countries.  Canada is still intent on using NAFTA to pass through Chinese parts and steel as well as protecting their others sectors through tariffs and barriers.  They will lose their auto plants which will move back to the US, but they seem happy to trade that for their other protections.  Trump is willing to take that.  Getting car plants back in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana will be huge for the union and working class vote as well as for our economy.

Often missed too is the point that tariffs paid to the treasury pay down the debt.  It's a lot of revenue coming in.  

I know we disagree on politics, but I see all this as way way better than Bush and Obama.  There's a big new walk-away movement (started by a gay hair dresser in New York!) of Dems and libs walking away from the Democrat Party.  These folks are not embracing old style Republican politics but the new Trump populism and disdain for political correctness.  In any event, I don't want a war with you -- I just wanted to share the way I am seeing it on the ground.  With love in my heart.

Progressive:  

Yes, the country has reached what is the lowest rate of unemployment that we have had in decades, however, the devil is in the details.  Let’s take a look.

 A lot of that employment is what they call “involuntary part time” where people take part time work, at the low wages we could expect from part time work, because they can’t get full time work.  Note that part time work does not come with ‘benefits’.  Oh, part time work used to be thought of as for kids and seniors, but now it is dominated by middle aged people… even in the Fast Food Joints – most ‘burger flippers’ now are adults.

 Also, there is a lot of what they call “gig” work and temporary work.  We can think of all those Uber Drivers who are working for nothing.   If they had good jobs then why would they need to do demeaning crap like that?   Again, Gig Work and Temp Work is off and on, the pay is low, and temp and gig workers do not get benefits. 

Then certainly you have heard about all those Small Businesses.  Small Businesses get tax breaks and they do not have to comply with the Benefits Policies that Big Businesses are required to adhere to.  So there are a lot of Small Businesses.  Indeed, some huge corporations make it a business to create and spin off Small Businesses.  Such Small Businesses meet all the legal requirements of being a Small Business, but they are physically in reality ‘offices’ or ‘departments’ (typically located in the same skyscraper) within the shadow Larger Corporation (for instance, I worked for Yulista, a Small Business, where all the Company Officers formerly worked for Calista, and when Yulista went belly up after losing the Contract, they probably went back to working for Calista again until they could again be placed in whatever new Small Business they spin up. Oh, when I worked for Raytheon, the Company threatened that they could ‘spin off’ the Calibration Lab into a Small Business, where we could keep our same jobs but get none of our prior benefits.  Well, since then the Economy in general as made good on that threat.     

Next, we have to wonder about the quality of the Full Time Jobs that do exist.  There is little manufacturing in America, and where there is, most production is being done by automated technologies, and then we can factor in the collapse of the Labor Unions.  Most jobs don’t pay what they used to.  But, yeah, there still are a few good jobs?  They are in Defense Work.  America’s last thriving industry is the Weapons Trade, which is a kind of Welfare, isn’t it?  The Defense Industry is just “Make Work”.   A F-35 Jet does not help anybody or make our infrastructure any better.   If we wanted to Make Work, why not plough the money into Health Care, Public Transportation, Roads, Bridges, and the Schools and Colleges.

Oh, another factor behind low wages and salaries are all of the “Do Not Compete” contracts that people have to sign in order to get a job.  People have to promise never to work for anybody else in the same industry.  Basically this establishes Slavery by Option.  A company can lay off workers with the assurance that the workers must sit and wait next to the telephone to be called back, since they can’t apply for work anywhere else.  Also the DNC contracts makes it difficult to negotiate raises.  The Boss can just say “Where else are you going to go?”     

Also, there is the issue of “discouraged Workers”, that is workers who are no longer seeking jobs.  Apparently the quality of the jobs being offered are not worth their time.  Then there are the early retirements, such as myself, of people who would rather struggle by then get a job where they still had to struggle by but work a miserable job too.

Also, if the American People were really thriving, then retail stores would be thriving, but they are not.  Malls are shutting down.  Restaurants, and Amusement Parks and Movie Theatres are not doing significantly better than they were at the bottom of the Great Recession.  Why is this avenue for discretionary spending so choked off?  People don’t have the extra money that we would expect if they were “doing well”.  Even Walmarts are shutting down in some regions because apparently people do not have money to spend. 

This is reflected in the inflation statistics.  Yes, the inflation statistics are kept artificially low (with formula corrections such as “chicken is the same as steak”, and “a Toyota Corolla is the same as a BMW 3 Series”) but we don’t see the same level of consumption that we saw back in the 1980s or we would be seeing double digit commodity inflation.  But Energy and Gas Prices are going up.  Typically it is Energy Prices that trigger Recessions.  About a decade back I used to argue that America is in a Structural Recession linked to Energy Costs (that the American Economy could only afford to operate when at the bottom of a Recession, and that any significant ‘recovery’ would trigger a fall back to the bottom), an idea that got derailed when Saudi Arabia and others decided to Pump To the Hilt before the International Community got serious about Carbon Emissions and Global Warming.  But after about 6 or 8 years of full out production, the ‘low hanging fruit’ liquid crude in accessible locations is mostly plucked out, and Gas Prices are going up again.  That has always meant a recession before, right?

Also, we can see in the Millennial Generation a kind of a litmus test for the Economy.  They are the best educated Generation ever in the History of America, and this is largely because when they get their Bachelor Degrees they can’t find work, and so they go on to get their Masters Degrees, and when they can’t find work, etc, or they go back for 2^nd degrees.  When they do get jobs, they are jobs like jerking out coffees at Starbucks. 

Student Debt is at crisis proportions because the Work is not out there that can pay for the Schooling.  Oh, in addition to Student Debt, there is also the bubble of Consumer Debt.   In lieu of good wages people are getting by on Plastic.

The inverse of the Consumer and Student Debt Crises, if the very low Savings Rate in America. It should be obvious that if people are struggling with debt in the primes of their working careers that there will be an issue down the road with retirements.  Nobody gets pensions anymore and 401K’s tend to fluctuate wildly with the Market.  Another reason why nobody saves is because, well, with the FED printing all that money at very low rates, the Banks really don’t have to offer much interest on deposit accounts.  Yes, people are talking about Trillions of dollars of both Public and Private Debt, but still a Deposit Account pays less than 2%, and so obviously the FED is paying off the Debt by creating more Debt, that is, printing money.  This is okay only until the World gets glutted with dollar, but we have spoken of this before.  Oh, but, yes, the FED would not need to print so much money if people were willing to save, but printing seems to be the way that Banks make up for the dearth in the Savings Rate.    

 Also, if everything is really going so well, then why is there still so much political dissatisfaction.  We see Populism on both the Right and the Left.  As you mentioned, Traditional Conservatism has been largely discredited (though the Politicians are still in place, and Trump has not set forth a Populous Program but signs what the Conservatives put before him and calls it a “win”), and the Left is going after Corporate Democrats.  Why?  If we were all living the American Dream, then why all the fuss? Where there is smoke there must be fire.

Then we need to appreciate the factor of the Opioid Epidemic where I have the intuition that we are not looking at a lot of “drug overdoses” but really these are suicides.  In a happy economy why are middle aged white people suddenly turning to drugs and dying at their own hands?  

Also, why are so many minority people in America incarcerated for non-violent crimes and crimes that do not involve property theft and fraud and stuff like that.  They are jailed for what amounts to Life Style Crimes.  Is it cynical to suppose that putting them in jail keeps them off the Unemployment Rosters?  Also, when we look at the contraband drug trade (which is now being replaced by the legal drug trade) we can interpret that as a kind of inner city entrepreneurship phenomena, where it is perceived by many that the only way to make a living wage is through establishing a successful Street Corner Franchise. 

Oh, the Military also takes a great many people out of the Labor Force (which artificially shrinks the Rate of Unemployment), and, again, it is largely just a drain on the rest of the economy.  Really, as long as we can fight off Canada and Mexico, then shouldn’t we leave the World to its own Collective Security Arrangements.  Let the U.N. worry about policing the World.  

Oh, then there is Home Ownership.  Yes, houses are being sold, but much of the churning in the Real Estate Markets is from people who are diversifying out of Equities, that is, a lot of houses are being bought up by speculators, and rented out or just being held empty as ‘money holders’, like physical bank accounts (a lot of dollars are coming out of China that just buys up houses.  Apparently the property taxes are not high enough to discourage speculative buying).   So, where the economy is ostensibly doing so well, we have a housing crisis and a lot of homelessness.  Then there are our schools, which are primarily paid for from Property Taxes.  If Schools are not doing well, and they aren’t, then it is because the Property Taxes have dropped off which sort of indicates that houses in these districts have gone vacant.

So, yeah, the Statistics that are issued by the Government look good and a narrative can be created that tells us that we have never had it better, but once you scratch the surface… well, ‘scratch and sniff’.   You know, even if you are right, then that only means that the economy will heat up and it will trigger that “structural recession” I was talking about.  Also there are issues in regards to the economy that are close in the horizon, particularly in regards to the amount of Research and Development money being poured into Artificial Intelligence Robotics and Information Technologies.  This will place most jobs, even Professional and White Collar, at risk. Capitalism will be able to almost fully divorce from Labor.  They are already talking about Driverless Trucks.  It has already started with Information Workers, where the first rudimentary AI Systems are able to find the answers faster better cheaper than full time workers with benefits.  Oh, I just read that one Company came up with a Virtual Negotiator for business contracts and purchases.  The Thing would get on the phone and arrange deals.  Understand, that this thing is Primitive compared to what we will see in just another 18 months (kind of like Moore’s Law, that every 18 months computer speeds double, which eventually saturated and hit its wall, but in a Tech Field like AI it may begin to apply again), but this Virtual Negotiator did as well as Human Negotiators, and nobody on the taped calls indicated that they realized they were talking to a machine (which means that a Primitive AI System was able to pass the “Turing Test”… pass for human).   So, what that means that if you don’t think we are screwed now, then just wait for a few more cycles of 18 mo.   Oh, especially since we are at Full Employment.  If they can’t hire people, they will buy machines to fill the slots, won’t they?  And we know how the price of Technology drops like a rock (smart phones in this decade, laptops in the last, and PCs before that).  Employment in today’s economy is protected by low wages and salaries, but that will erode as the price of AI goes down.  We already have one harbinger of that:  the Factory in China that makes Multipurpose AI Robotics for Assembly Lines recently laid off  16,000 of its workers, replacing them with its own product.  And those were dirt cheap Chinese Workers.  So, it’s already happening.   I can’t imagine that you won’t eventually notice something.

The Piccolo Bass, 4 String, 5 String, String Setups, Update

This is an update on an old Blog.   Yes, apparently the Piccolo Bass concept is catching on.  It seems that Ibanez is making a 5-String Bass.  Yes, they string it with regular strings, but it is perfect for setting up as a Piccolo.  Here is a Review I wrote for it, followed by that Blog from years ago.

 

Ibanez GSRM25 Mikro 5-String Strung For Piccolo Duty

About 3 years ago I was doing a lot of practice with my 5 String Fender Marcus Miller (if you don’t know what that is, it is like an active Fender Jazz Bass but with a 7.25 inch radius neck), and it was a lot of fun, but I wish I had something with a higher voice.  Guitars aren’t the answer because only a Bass, with its 16.5 mm clearance between strings lets you get in between strings for some serious finger picking, where guitars have only 10mm of clearance which would keep you on the surface top of the strings you were attacking and you’d always be buzzing the other strings unintentionally.   Well, I got lucky when the sales guy at my local guitar shop, a friend of mine, gave me a heads up that there was such a thing as “piccolo” bass strings (about half the diameter of regular bass strings that are meant to be tuned an octave higher).  So I bought a fender Mustang 30 inch scale 4 string to prove in the concept.  They have “sets” of piccolo strings in round wound, but you can order single strings in flat wound.   So I went with flats.  With flats, if you oil them with olive oil, then after a few days the olive oil will congeal in the micro spacings between the winds and the strings will become almost perfectly smooth, which has a great feel, and you can slide between notes without unpleasant ‘winde screaching’ while retaining a more pure actual 'slide' between the tones.   But 4 string basses are limited, and I liked 5 String.  So I decided to convert my Signature Marcus Miller to Piccolo (the guys at the local Music Shop thought it was sacrilege) by removing the fat B and E strings, and them moving the A D and G strings to the 3 fattest slots, and for the two thin slots I bought a .032 flat chrome and a .020 plain bass string.   So that gave me a sort of “Piccolo 5 String” but it was tuned a bit low to A D G C F (on a 30 inch scale Bass the strings were already very very tight for a B E A D G tuning, which would have been impossible for a 34 inch scale, where those extra 4 inches is worth the two top frets -- a full tone lower).  The Marcus Miller Jazz Bass conversion  proved in great and I have been playing it that way for the last 3 years now.   But, yeah, that thing is heavy (scales at 11 pounds with my nice leather strap).  

Anyway, that same salesman recently spotted the Ibanez GSRM25 Mikro 5-String.  My local shop did not have one in stock, and Ibanez was currently waiting for its next production run and so my shop couldn't order one in, but the Mikro was in stock at Musician’s Friend.  So I got one.   I was curious as to what a really high voice would be like with my style of playing and so at first I strung it with regular guitar strings (had I had to run small finishing nails through the small guitar string retainer buttons because the guitar buttons were so small that they would just slip through the little bass's bridge string retainer holes.  Oh, if 'you' should decide to try out playing a Mikro with guitar strings,  remember to bend the nail into a loop and trim with wire cutters so that the gagged ends of the nails don’t scratch your shiny brand new bass).  I got the Mikro intonated and set up the truss rod adjust just right, but, well, those very thin strings are very grabby on my old calloused finger tips, and, well, the voice was too high.  Experiment over!  So I decided to string it for Piccolo duty.  I peeled off the strings from my Fender 5 String and put them on this 28.5 Scale Micro.  The only problem I had was when  I was beginning to wind the .080 “A” string (which can tune to B in the Mikro because of the much shorter scale) when the central core of the string broke (you know the core breaks because the string just buckles to a sharp angle, still hanging on by the windings).  I figured trying to wrap such big windings around the tuners had something to do with it with the break, and so because I still had enough string to connect to the tuner, I peeled down the chrome windings (you just ‘unwind’ it), and it strung on just fine).  Then I put a fresh set of strings  on my Fender MM, that is, I used a set of 4 Regular Bass Strings, Chrome Flats, and a .032 Chrome Flat so that the Bass would be tuned to E A D G C.   I have the little Ibanez tuned like a 5 String Picollo should be tuned , that is B E A D G (.080, .065, .045, 032, .020P) .   The little Ibanez is passive which sounds thin after having played an Active Marcus Miller, which is why I also bought the BOSS Equalizer GE7 Pedal, which in addition to having 7 slide pots for equalization is also a pretty good pre-amp.   Well, the package sounds great.  The Truss Rod adjust works.  It intonated along the full length of the neck.  I was able to play the songs that I had been playing with my 34 inch scale Marcus Miller and the sound quality was, well, it seemed just as good.  And it is light as a feather (7 pounds with big leather strap.  It seems less than half as heavy as a big standard 5 string which is 11 pounds which is only 4 pounds heavier, and I think that is because while 'weight' is 'weight', lifting requires 'force and work' which are 'square functions', that is, as weight doubles, the lifting effort squares to 4 times.  In that sense, we can think of the Mikro's 7 pounds as requiring 7 squared or 49 'Grunt Units' while the Standard 5 String at 11 pounds lifts up at 11 squared or 121 Grunt Units, which is just how it feels.)   Oh, by the way, I had assumed that the string spacing was standard for a Bass at 16.5mm, but when I was looking into the possibility of swapping out the saddles for a more traditional look, I actually measured the saddle widths of the Mikro and they were 16mm even (the saddles I was measuring them against were 18.5mm). You know, I thought the string gap was a little close when I was playing it, but since I wasn't catching my fingers, I thought I had been delusional.  But, as it works out the strings being half a millimeter closer caused no harm.  But perhaps the reach to the fattest string is a little bit easier now.  So maybe the none-standard bridge and string spacing is a blessing in this case.    

........

I was delighted when I learned there was such a thing as the Piccolo Bass.  I play a number of stringed instruments, especially instruments in the Guitar Family.  But the Stringed Instruments that I can Play most expressively are the Basses (… but of course there are the Violins, but I’m always afraid that I will poke somebody’s eye out with those pointy little bows…).   The primary Reason accounting for this more-than-ordinary ‘Expressiveness’ in the Basses is that they have Way More Clearance between their Stings.  One can really get one’s fingers in There without fear of bumping into the wrong strings, and this really helps with regulating the Feel and Intensity of one’s Playing – one can go from a mere whisper by just gently rubbing the side of a string to the ‘bullet shot’ of hooking a finger under the string and giving it a good hard pull, and all without touching the Volume Knob.   That kind of Expressiveness needs a bit of ‘elbow room’.   With Guitars, well, the strings are so close together that one is tempted to always use Picks, and since it’s so difficult to isolate individual strings, well, nearly all playing is done in chords and intervals, which Sounds Great… when that is what you want, but sometimes wouldn’t we rather enjoy Finger Picking out some lovely little lilting melody or some subtle and intriguing Arpeggio?   So for some Songs, some Styles and some Sounds, well, the Guitar is simply Not exactly the Right Instrument, though we must all admit that a great many Guitar Players manage to do rather well against those Limitations.    But the Bass is not exactly perfect by any means either, is it?... and it’s kind of obvious what Its Biggest Problem is – it’s simply Too Low.  What good is having an Instrument with sufficient Clearance between the Strings to be Melodically Beautiful if all the Notes come out sounding like a distant thunder? 

But, let me start my Story -- there I was, practicing the Bass, doing the best I could, but knowing that nearly everything I could do on the Bass was too darn Low from where it ought to have been.   So I kept wondering what I could do about it…

I was almost ready to buy a Seven String Guitar, so I could install just 4 Strings, leaving every other String Slot empty, and that would have given me Twice as much Clearance between Strings as any normal Electric Guitar.   But that seemed like a bit Too Much Clearance (Electric Guitar strings are spaced about 10mm apart, while Basses are 15mm or 16mm).  Then one day I got lucky when a Salesman at the local guitar shop had heard about something that he thought I would be interested in and he researched it out for me – he told me of existence of the Piccolo Bass.  Wow!... For me, the Piccolo Bass Idea represented an Instrument in the Bass & Guitar Family with close to Optimum Tonal Range AND with plenty of clearance between strings.

The only Piccolo Basses I have heard of so far are the Short Scale (30”) 4 String Piccolos.  Their Strings are the SAME Notes as the 4 thickest Strings on the Guitar – E A D G.   I would suppose that Many a Musical Sceptic would suggest that a Piccolo Bass is “Just Like a Guitar, only Two Strings Less”.  So why not just get a guitar!?  Well, that Objection is certainly True Enough, if taken solely in view of its own tightly focused Logic.  With that being the case, well, if there is any justification for the Existence of the Piccolo Bass at all, it has to be because of its more Optimum String Spacing. 

The Piccolo Basses I have heard about are converted Fender (or Squire) Mustang 4-String Basses.  They come as regular ‘Low-Note’ Basses, and so you have to swap out the strings to make the ‘Piccolo Conversion’.  D’Addario sells  a Set of Strings for the Piccolo 4 String – the Skinny G (.020) string is a Plain Wire String (sounds Great!) and the other three strings are Round Wound (.052, .042, .032)– which is not so great if you like Flat Wound.  But if you don’t mind ordering strings singly, you can get Flat Wounds in .050, .040, and .032 (Ernie Ball and D’Addario sell them) – I strung my own Mustang Piccolo with Flats (Ernie Ball .050 and .040, and a D’Addario .032) and I am quite pleased with how it worked out. 

Oh, there is a kind of a Lucky Peculiarity with the Set of Strings that D’Addario sells for the Piccolo Bass – that while the String Set is designed to have the correct Tension on a 30 inch Scale (to be tuned to E A D G), the strings are actually “Long” Enough to be installed on a 34 inch Long Scale Bass… which is most Fender Basses.  But those Strings are REALLY Tight even on the shorter 30’ Scale, and so I would be afraid to tune them to E A D G on a Long Scale Bass – either the Strings would Snap or your Poor Finger Tips would go raw and bloody trying to pluck at the rigidly stiff things.  I read over the Famous D’Addario String Tension Chart PDF for several hours trying to see if I could identify any suitable strings for a Long Scale Piccolo Bass (tuned to B E A D G)… well the Deal Stoppers there are the two thinnest Strings, the D and G, as there are no Long Scale Strings about ‘a half notch’ lighter than the .032 and the .020P.  So if you wanted to Convert  Long Scale Bass to Piccolo duty it seems that one would have no choice but to drop the Tuning a full Note (two Frets) lower.   Such a Drop Tuning would give you a 4-String Long-Scale Piccolo Bass tuned to D G C F*.  If you had a 5-String Bass, it would become an A D G C F.   The Splendid Coincidence about A D G C F Tuning is that a Standard Bass ALREADY has an A D and G Strings… you just have to move them from One Side of the Neck to the Other.  I already converted my 5-String Fender Jazz Bass – it works and sounds great.

*Note:   After playing the Fender 5 String 34 Inch Scale Piccolo Bass turned to A D G C F with the string tension feeling about medium to tight , going back to the 30 Inch Scale tuned to E A D G where the string tension is Really Tight and Stiff, I retuned the Short Four String Piccolo down to D G C F.  I lost a bit of Top Range, but I gained in comfort.   

Oh, I sort of accidentally stumbled upon Something that maybe not everybody knows already.  You see, because I am now practicing with both a 4-String Short Scale E A D G Piccolo, and a 5-String Long Scale A D G C F Piccolo (two frets Lower than  a “E A D G”), I was a bit surprised when I found that I could jump between the two different Tunings and Scales with such ease, and I was unwilling to just suppose that it was because I was somehow ‘that good’.  You see, incidentally, I have been studying Math  (can’t play music All the Time), and it occurred to me to compare the Two Different Tunings and Scales with some precise Exponential Mathematics… and then a straight edge ruler just to Make Sure.   It turns out that while the Tuning of Each Piccolo Bass is one Full Note apart (two frets), the Fret Sizes for the SAME ACTUAL Notes are practically identical (for instance, the 12^th ‘Double Dot’ Fret on the 30” Scale Piccolo is a ‘G’, and that fret is virtually the same size as the ‘G’ Fret on the Long Scale Piccolo which is played two frets further down).   What we can Infer from that is that IF you plan to have both a Short Scale Piccolo and a Long Scale Piccolo, well, you shouldn’t worry that you may have to drop the Tuning of the Long Scale Bass down a couple of notches, since such tuning actually Preserves the Same Spacing between the ‘Fret Notes’ from One Bass to the Other… you just have to slide up or down the neck depending on which Piccolo you pick up to play.  

Oh, by the way, that Same Note-to-Fret close similarity exists for the other Common Guitar and Bass Scales – Using the Long Scale 34” Bass as our reference, the next Scale down is the 32” Medium Scale Bass (a Half Step or One Fret Higher),  then comes the 30” Short Scale Bass (2 Frets Higher), the 28 ½” Baritone Guitar Scale (3 Frets Higher), the new 27” Electric Baritone Guitar Scale (4 Frets Higher), and of course the Guitar at 25” which is 5 Frets or a ‘full String’ higher.  Theoretically you should be able to use the Same Strings on every one of those Scales, just tuning to the Higher Note made possible by the Shorter Scale (But on the Practical Level, Strings in the 25” ‘Guitar Scale come in a greater variety and are far more affordable).

So, with all that being said, I am relatively Happy with my Piccolo Basses – the 5-String Jazz Bass and the Little 4-String Mustang Conversions,  But What If I Could have Anything I Want…and if it did not already Exist, I could just snap my fingers to make it magically appear ?   Well, such a Thought makes me wonder whether the Piccolo IDEA is really the best of All Possible Ideas, for an instrument intended to be played in its Intended Style?   Yes, the Piccolo Bass is a great deal better than Nothing.   BUT if I could design the Optimum Instrument for that ‘Kind of Thing’, well, and it would be on the same 25” Scale as ordinary Electric Guitars and it would use 5 regular scale Guitar Strings.  Well, I suppose there should be a 4-String Version for the people who find the Narrower 4-String Neck ‘Faster’ and more ‘User Friendly’.  The 4-String application would not require a wider neck to permit 16.6mm of Clearance between Strings, but a 5-String would need a Neck the same Width as a 5-String Bass.   Also, Such an Instrument could be tuned ‘One String’ or even ‘Two Strings’ higher than the Piccolo Bass.  It would certainly be more versatile in its tuning options and possibilities.   With the Wide String Spacing, such an Instrument would be Expressive in a Whole Different Way than the usual Electric Guitar.  The World could use an Instrument like that!   Just look at how the Music Industry works now… nobody wonders that a Lead Guitar Player is playing essentially the SAME Instrument as the guy playing Rhythm.  The Lead Guitar Player must necessarily be cramped inside the Limitations of his Instrument.  Really Creative and Expressive Music, when it IS done nowadays, well, it has to be done with all that Acoustic Stuff, because the Acoustic People have a larger choice of Instrumentation, but, well, then you lose the Electric Sound… and Everything you can DO with Electric Sound.   So, anyway, I think there is a Gap in the Potential for Electric Music, and that a 4 or 5-String  Instrument with Wide String Spacing but on the Same Scale as the good ol’ Standard  Guitar could jump into that Breach. Hmmm… what to call such an Instrument?   With the String Spacing of a Bass but being of the same size and appearance as a Guitar, well, such a Cross Breed could be called a ‘Bass-tar’ – wouldn’t That be a catchy enough Name?

Well, to conclude… since Anything Better does not seem to Exist yet, I DO Hope the Piccolo Phenomena Catches On so that People can begin to see the Stylistic Possibilities for That Kind of Instrument.