D maj7#5 on Upright Bass, and the Number That Writes It

D maj7#5 spells D – F# – A# – C#. That much is fixed. What is not fixed is what it is CALLED: hand the same chord to a chart in A and it is written 4; hand it to a chart in A# and the identical chord is written 3, on a page nobody had to rewrite.

D answers to the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and the 7 depending on what got called: it is a plain number in 7 of the twelve keys and needs an accidental in the other 5.

An upright player reads the same root the electric reads and a longer way to get to it — the chart says which number, and the distance between two numbers on this fingerboard is what decides whether it is walked or arrived at. The digit is the same digit the electric got; what differs is the distance the left hand covers to reach it, which is why this reader looks at the NEXT number sooner than anyone.

Every position below is drawn for EADG, 4 strings, open positions first and movable ones after them, and each one plays back — because the fastest way to check that a number was read right is to hear it.