Double Bass dots on double bass

[timobee4]

My bass has Eb neck so that is also a reference I quickly look at when I get up on the neck for a perfect Eb, E, F, great little reference! My friend has a D neck bass and I didnt know!! I thought I was going mad! The board @ the end of the neck was an E not and F. Don't ask why, I don't understand the point of D neck!

timobee4, I'm with you on this one.

What did you mean by this?

 

[Fran Diaz]

My bass has Eb neck so that is also a reference I quickly look at when I get up on the neck for a perfect Eb, E, F, great little reference! My friend has a D neck bass and I didnt know!! I thought I was going mad! The board @ the end of the neck was an E not and F. Don't ask why, I don't understand the point of D neck!

For me it is exactly the oposite. My bass has a D neck and when I have played an Eb neck it was a little disturbing. I think that it all depends on what you get used to play in a regular basis.

 

[timobee4]

+1 on that one! disturbing is the word I was looking for! So true isn't it? You get used to something might as well stick to it, in 30 years only that one time I came across D neck and I got dizzy but back to the thread what ever neck you play you get used to it! Putting dots on the neck is a dot to eye connection not a ear to note, and sometimes eyes to chart connection! I know its hard at first, but with persistence and the correct left hand fingering and shifting positions, scales up and down the neck will take a student a lot further lot faster (boring at first)! Than again most new guys with some bass guitar knowledge play upright in a ******** way using bass guitar fingering never noticing that they constantly flat or sharp with their contorted fingers. Particularly the bass wacking slappers perfect pitch is irrelevant as it is more of a percussion instrument. Listen to Ray, Charles, Christian, our Paul and it becomes obvious that playing what we feeling and hearing doesn't come from looking at dots. Each to their own but that is what I tell someone wanting to learn. Repeating what my conservatorium teacher told me all those years ago when he saw pencil mark on my bass!!!!!!! Erased it with seemingly furious anger. Hahahah

For me it is exactly the oposite. My bass has a D neck and when I have played an Eb neck it was a little disturbing. I think that it all depends on what you get used to play in a regular basis.

 

[Fran Diaz]

Regarding the use of pencil marks or dots: I've been playing DB for 4 years (at the conservatorium, with a teacher from day one) and have never used a mark, with the exception of a natural flaw (mark) on the fingerboard around the F note on the G string, that at this point serves me well to go to thumb position from a lower position.
I find my intonation to be better if I don't look at the fingerboard when I'm playing. Not to mention the fact that I don't need to put my eyes away from the paper.

+1 on that one! disturbing is the word I was looking for! So true isn't it? You get used to something might as well stick to it, in 30 years only that one time I came across D neck and I got dizzy but back to the thread what ever neck you play you get used to it! Putting dots on the neck is a dot to eye connection not a ear to note, and sometimes eyes to chart connection! I know its hard at first, but with persistence and the correct left hand fingering and shifting positions, scales up and down the neck will take a student a lot further lot faster (boring at first)! Than again most new guys with some bass guitar knowledge play upright in a ******** way using bass guitar fingering never noticing that they constantly flat or sharp with their contorted fingers. Particularly the bass wacking slappers perfect pitch is irrelevant as it is more of a percussion instrument. Listen to Ray, Charles, Christian, our Paul and it becomes obvious that playing what we feeling and hearing doesn't come from looking at dots. Each to their own but that is what I tell someone wanting to learn. Repeating what my conservatorium teacher told me all those years ago when he saw pencil mark on my bass!!!!!!! Erased it with seemingly furious anger. Hahahah

 

[drurb]

My bass has Eb neck so that is also a reference I quickly look at when I get up on the neck for a perfect Eb, E, F, great little reference! My friend has a D neck bass and I didnt know!! I thought I was going mad! The board @ the end of the neck was an E not and F. Don't ask why, I don't understand the point of D neck!

Actually, I think that most basses are D-necks. Indeed, the heel of the neck is used as a reference by virtually every player-- but not as a visual reference. Rather, for most (including me), it's a tactile reference. I virtually never look at my left hand when I play. The funny thing is that if you ask me to look at the fingerboard and point to where a note is, I'm far less accurate than if you ask me to put my hand where the note is. "Growing up" as a classical player, it would have been impossible to read the music, watch the conductor, and have my eyes on my left hand.

 

[Daniel.leary]

I have enjoyed this (and several related) discussion - I play mostly bluegrass and old-time string band music on a very early Kay. According to legend, it came off the roof of a car after a gig in 1956, sat in a field for three days while the band sobered up, then was repaired ( or at least put back in service) with a half dozen screws and a great big carriage bolt straight through the heel. When I had it rebuilt a few years back, I had the luthier stain the plugs on the fingerboard so they would contrast with the original wood. It doesn't help me play a lick better, but it sure makes for some interesting conversations backstage.