I got an Amazon review that criticized me for warning against short-scale basses in my Pattern System book. Fair enough to push back, but I think the reviewer misread what I actually said. So let me clarify.

I don’t knock short-scale basses. I love mine, including my U-Basses. But what I do warn against is switching back and forth between different scale lengths while you’re actively working through the Pattern System. That distinction matters.

Here’s why.
The Pattern System is a deeply layered method. It combines fingering and muscle memory with internal fretboard representation. You’re saying note names. You’re saying scale degrees, understanding intervals, scales, chord arpeggios. All the while you’re training your ear to hear what you’re thinking, and training your hands to land where your mind sees. The whole point is that all those channels, physical, visual, theoretical, aural, are being wired together simultaneously.

That wiring takes time. And it needs consistency.

Here’s the most extreme version of what can go wrong: you practice the Pattern System dutifully on your short-scale for months, exactly as described. Then you go to a gig, and the band wanting a specific sound or look, hands you a 34-inch bass. Suddenly, your hand is fatiguing because it’s calibrated to shorter distances.

Or you are asked to switch to a regular fretless, and your intonation is off, because your muscle memory is still imprinted on a shorter scale length. That’s not a failure of the system. That’s a consistency problem.

Once you’re genuinely proficient, switching basses is no issue. When I move between my various electrics and U-basses, I have a quick calibration routine (just a few triad and scale patterns, really) and I’m settled within minutes. But you have to earn that flexibility. You don’t start there.

So why do I recommend a regular 34-inch bass for learning the Pattern System?

Because in my professional life, I’ve repeatedly been handed a bass I didn’t bring: a house bass at a studio, a theater pit instrument, whatever the engineer pulled off the wall, whatever look a producer was going for. Most of the time, those are 34-inch. If you’re coming from a regular scale, adjusting to a short-scale is quick. If you’ve only ever trained on short-scale, a 34-inch bass at the wrong moment can be a real problem, not just technically but in terms of confidence and pattern technique.

If you are committed to your short-scale and have no intention of ever playing in a situation that demands otherwise, use your shortie. No problem. But if you own more than one bass and switch regularly, pick one scale length to learn the system on, and stick with it until the patterns are internalized. Then bring in your other basses.

The Pattern System is powerful enough to transfer just about anywhere, including to upright, which uses entirely different fingering. That works because the system is built around internal representation of the fretboard, frets or no frets. But internal representation has to be stable before it can be flexible. Give it that chance.