Markings on Fingerboard

Racsen · #1 08-12-2006, 05:43 PM

Hi I'm a bass guitar player for 3 years and I'm trying to play double bass for 4 months.

My bass' previous owner was playing arco but I'm playing pizz.So I'll go to a luthier to setup my bass for pizz. playing.

Yesterday I saw this video where the bass player has markings on
his fingerboard.And I'm thinking to do the same markings.I think It will help my intonation what do you think ?I know devoloping ears is first thing to do but can this help too ?

I saw a thread about like this but I'm saying to put markings permanent.
www.myspace.com/racsen in this link you can see how I'am out of tune

Sorry about my english I can understand what I read but cant explain myself clearly.

Jeff Guevin · #2 08-12-2006, 05:52 PM

Racsen, there's actually more than one thread on this, with lots of opinions:

Question for Edgar Meyer fans
Is it bad to mark positions?
Position Dots a la Edgar Meyer

Personally, I don't that it's a problem to have them as an aid to playing consistently once you are proficient, but I personally wouldn't suggest them as a way to learn to play in tune. You'll be much better off learning to use your ears, not your eyes.

toman · #3 08-12-2006, 06:27 PM

I don't think it's a problem really. Sometimes if I have an audition or something and I'm having a hard time getting a particular phrase in tune, I'll mark on my fingerboard with a pencil. That way it's there, can easily be removed, and nobody else can see it. Obviously it's better to use your ears, but sometimes it helps to have a target to shoot for, expecially if there's a big jump up the board, or if you have a solo entrance that has to be in tune. I say do whatever you need to to get the desired effect, and don't let anyone else put you down for it. If you can play you can play, who cares how you do it, right?

Jeff Guevin · #4 08-12-2006, 06:39 PM

Racsen, what video is that picture from?

**Chef** · #5 08-12-2006, 08:35 PM

I have "whiteout dots" on the side of the fingerboard where it faces me for "3,5,7,9,12..."
They're easily removed if they ever need to be, and no one sees them but me

Admittedly, I'm a hack...
I put these on when I first started, and refer to them less and less as time goes by.

TGP · #6 08-12-2006, 10:04 PM

Looks like Bob Hurst's bass to me.

Racsen · #7 08-13-2006, 01:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jguevin

Racsen, what video is that picture from?

This one >>> http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v4_ite...earchID=374452

Robert Hurst is on the bass

Jake · #8 08-13-2006, 02:17 AM

I really like Bob Hurst. It looks like his set-up has changed a lot. He used to use guts and higher action from what I remember.

Karl · #9 08-13-2006, 06:39 AM

Ed Meyer used to play a bass with markings. But actually these markings are not meant to help you intonate but to make it easier four you to orientate on the fretboard - somehow what note you are intonating right right now. Little dots won't help you intonate anyway, as the fingerboard is not straight and you are not looking at it from directly above. You'd need fretboard-lines for that, and really, fretboard-lines look ugly

I really like the pencil-trick if theres a high passage that must be intonated right on a gig.

So as a playing aid, there is no problem with it, as a practicing tool they will only make your ears develop slower and yourself less confident with your intonation.

nicklloyd · #10 08-13-2006, 12:48 PM

Anybody know what that bass is?

jasonheath · #11 08-16-2006, 08:02 PM

I don't think it is a problem to use markings as a reference as long as you can play without them. It seems like more and more professional bass players have been using some sort of marking on the fingerboard.

Bruce Lindfield · #12 08-17-2006, 02:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasonheath

It seems like more and more professional bass players have been using some sort of marking on the fingerboard.

Where is the evidence for this?

I have been going to my local Jazz club every Friday night for the last 8-10 years - in the audience at close range - have gone and looked closely at the DBs - I have never seen any markings on a fingerboard!

I go to Concerts in London quite frequently and have seen even more Concerts on the BBC - with all the Big symphony orchestras - no markings on DBs anywhere!!

Thomas Stone · #13 08-17-2006, 03:10 AM

Hey Bruce did you see the proms last night (wednesday 16th) on TV?
The Mozart concert.

One of the bass players had dots down the middle of his fingerboard.
I was rather shocked. It looked rubbish too.

Bruce Lindfield · #14 08-17-2006, 03:16 AM

No - but then that's maybe one as against a few thousand, I have seen, over the last 10 years...

Bruce Lindfield · #15 08-17-2006, 03:19 AM

PS - what concert was this?

BBC website says :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/1608.shtml

Wednesday 16 August 2006 THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

19:30 PROM 44: BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

Prom 44

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

19:30 - 21:25
ROYAL ALBERT HALL
Tickets £6-£24 (price code A) or Prom for £5

Dohnányi
Symphonic Minutes (11 mins)
Bartók
Piano Concerto No. 3 (25 mins)
interval
Stravinsky
The Rite of Spring (33 mins)

Thomas Stone · #16 08-17-2006, 03:34 AM

I just caught it on BBC 1, at about 11 last night. I don't know when it was recorded. It was the Verbier Chamber Orchestra.

The soloist (Maxim Vengerov) was conducting the orchestra between soloing.

I couldn't believe seeing the dots as, like you, I've never seen such a thing in professional circles.

I don't know about more and more professionals using fingerboard markings, but it was just uncanny to see one last night.

Bruce Lindfield · #17 08-17-2006, 03:43 AM

Never heard of the orchestra before - but it may be they were going for an authentic instrument performance - from when DBs had "frets"!!

Gufenov · #18 08-17-2006, 06:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

...but it may be they were going for an authentic instrument performance - from when DBs had "frets"!!

Or, it could be they were going for the best possible performance, using whatever aid that assisted in finding the proper intonation. Not everyone is concerned about what the snobs think.

Bruce Lindfield · #19 08-17-2006, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gufenov

Or, it could be they were going for the best possible performance, using whatever aid that assisted in finding the proper intonation. Not everyone is concerned about what the snobs think.

Well - that was of course a joke - but you're missing the point - we both agreed that the vast majority of professional DB players we have seen in large numbers of concerts do not use any markings!

Which is why this instance is surprising, noteworthy or remarkable.