Nextval

I try to do the following:

Fetch a SERIAL field (ie. record_id) and get the
highest value currently stored (ie. 1000), increment
the value by 1 and store a record that will have the
same value (1001) in record_id. So there must be a way
with concurrency control.

I went through the manuals and found the solution with
NEXTVAL('serial'), but you have to create a sequence
for that, and I don't know if it is the right way to
do for what I want.

It is my first PHP project involving a Database, so
it's a newbie question. Have mercy...

Thanks

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