Fastest fretboard material???

[SurrenderMonkey]

Okay, that's cool that the material doesn't seem to matter as far as playability is concerned. I like the look of maple. I also like a clearer sound on the bass and less muffled. More bite, less mud. What do the pro bassists seem to prefer? The bass greats I mean.

I see what you mean now. But bass strings are so thick, your fingers would hardly touch the fretboard, the fretbaord feel doesn't matter as much as for guitars. The back of the neck does matter, for thumb comfort. A sticky back is not nice, especially if you do solo stuff where you go up and down "like kangoorooes in the mating season" (god old Red Dwarf).

Strings also matter, Elixirs are coated with some stuff than makes them less sticky (feels a bit like teflon). Not necesseraly a good thing, as you lost a bit of feel as well (I'm not entranced by mine).

As for fretboards, hard fretboards will give you more attack and articulation. Ebony, Wenge, Maple, Pau Ferro. Then it's mostly a question of looks between all of these.

Fret profile also important, but I can't really comment on which one would be the 'fastest', or good for solo, I don't solo (not good enough anyway). I would think, sharp small profile, and a bass than can have a low action...

All that reminds me of Peavey Cirrus.

 

[ihateusernames]

okay, my smoothness flowchart for standard fretboard materials, based on mho - ebony > maple > rosewood. not sure where the fancier less common materials fit on this 'scale'.

 

[lug]

BTW, when you fret a note , the string doesn't usually even touch the fretboard unless you're squeezing like King Kong and if you are, you are certainly not playing fast.

 

[DEbassist]

If you are looking for a really fast "feel" to your neck, try using stainless steel frets instead of the more common nickel ones. The have a glass like feel and stand up to player wear and tear much better.

 

[easy]

I don't know about you guys, but my fingers touch the fretboard all of the time. Not from when I'm fretting a note, though.

I practice playing my bass without looking at it so that when I play a show, I can interact with the audience instead of staring at my bass for an hour.
the instructor I went to a few times early on suggested that when I change positions, with one of my fingers I should feel the frets as my hand moves over them. That way when I jump from, say, position 1 to position 3 or 4, I can feel the frets passing beneath my finger. not that I'm counting the number of frets as my hand flies up my neck, but this practice has made me much more familiar with my bass, over all. I'm sure some of you guys can just make that jump, and know that you'll be in the right spot based just on the bend in your elbow or whatever, but not me, so I keep a finger on my fb.

maybe because of this, or maybe for other reasons, some fbs definitely feel faster than others, and I think it has nothing to do with the strings of frets. but like I said earlier, maybe it's just all in my head

 

[perfektspace6]

How can people be giving actual answers to this? Fingerboard material has no bearing on how fast you can play on a fretted bass (not much, if any, on a fretless either). This is a question of technique and a quality setup. Silly.

...put some KY on the strings. You'll zoom all over the place.

 

[steveb98]

How can people be giving actual answers to this? Fingerboard material has no bearing on how fast you can play on a fretted bass (not much, if any, on a fretless either). This is a question of technique and a quality setup. Silly.

...put some KY on the strings. You'll zoom all over the place.

+1

You play on your strings not the fretboard, especially on fretted. The fingerboard does have some affect on the sound of the bass. Softer wood like Rosewood is warmer. Harder wood like Maple is brighter a little more defined. Then Ebony kind of inbetween leaning to Maple sound.

Want to play fast practice slowly and accurately with a metronome. Focus more on your right hand it has more to do with it than the left. Last helps to keep your strings clean. Speed is not anything you really have to work on, it will come on its own though lots of playing. A lot of guys waste a lot of time trying to practice playing fast. They are so focused on speed they ignore they are playing sloppy with bad technique. That why I say practice slowy and correctly so when the speed build it's will be worth listening to.