This beast I've worked so hard to tame is finally bearing fruit. Hearing it roar breathes life into me. Striking the strings, a cacophanous noise assaults my ears.
"Shoot, too distorted. I should just stick with a clean tone. Or less distorted."

Hearing the commotion, my roommate leans on the doorway. Folding his arms, he gives off an air of quiet arrogance and confidence that his baggy hoody only accentuates.
"Noodling around again?"

"Yeah, I'm just finding a decent tone for this inner melody I've thought of."

"Oh yeah? Lemme hear it, man."

I adjust some dials and flip a switch.
"Here I go."

I zoned in on my left hand, making sure the spacing between my fingers was immaculate. I was going a little outside of my comfort zone with this instrument, going fretless and all.
My right hand was getting quite the workout, too. Alternating from fingerpicking and slapping the strings, managing both hands was not easy. It becomes easier with practice, though.

As I finished the last chord, my roommate nodded his head in approval.
"Not bad, man. You're getting better and better every day."

"Thank you," I reply, shyly.

"I do have some things, though. Is that a countermelody? Man, seems like it'd steal the show there."

"No, just soloistic."

"Ah, I see. Keep up the good work, then." He winks at me, and walks off in the hallway. My heart melts a little.

"Oh yeah, you gotta cut your nails, man!" he calls from afar, "Fretless doesn't like long fingernails, y'know!"

"Cut me a break already!" I shout back.

I experiment a little more and settle on a final version to write down. As I write the part out, my roommate appears in the doorway again. "I'm heading out for some groceries. You wanna join me?"

I set my instrument aside. "I'd love to."

As we walk down to the garage, my partner comments, "You know, I wonder if I can match up to that as a guitarist. That'd be one helluva bass solo."

"You'll be fine. We're a dynamic duo, after all."