Finding Fret-board Notes Without Looking: How to do it - and - How long does it take?

[Wasnex]

Jimmy’s right: Closing your eyes is, um, counter-productive.

It's not unusual for people to close their eyes to visualize performing a task. Visualization can help with learning and enhance performance. With music it's possible to visualize while doing the task.

For me, anyway, the point of not looking at the fretboard is so you can have eye contact with your band and with your audience.

Definitely an important benefit, but not the only benefit...or necessarily even the primary benefit.

 

[SteveCS]

So I'm looking for advice, suggestions, and guidance on how other more advanced players on Talk Bass were able to develop that skill over time: Fretting accurately without looking at the fretboard?

An important aspect of this is hand-shape along with a thorough knowledge of the positions, playing within them and how to move between them, also known as shifting.

• Begin by developing a stable hand-shape that enables you to play all of the notes within a position without rolling, pivoting or manipulating your hand and wrist. It is at this point you have to decide of you are to adopt a 3-finger (1,2,4 or 1,3,4) or 4-finger method, aka One-Finger-Per-Fret (OFPF). In time, there is nothing to stop you learning both and developing a blended method, but for this purpose it is better to stick to one or the other, at least until you develop fluency.
• Within a given position, and keeping your hand and wrist stable with your thumb 'registered'* on the neck, learn to 'feel' where your fingertips need to be to reach the notes cleanly with the fingertips just behind the fret. Scale and melody exercises are useful in this regard.
• When you come to move between positions, try to move your whole hand as a unit - most of the motion will come from the shoulder and upper arm. Allow your thumb to slide along the neck, keeping loose contact as it locates and 'registers' the next position. The only change in the hand-shape should be the fingertip spacing expanding or contracting to fit the changes in fret spacing. Begin by moving to adjacent positions - once you know where finger 4 is in a position, try to shift such that finger 1 is now playing the same note as previously played by finger 2. Then expand the shift to put 1 where 4 was. Then move on to shifting such that finger 1 is playing the note above the one that finger 4 was playing. Then go back the other way.

Hope this helps

* Some people say to 'lock' the thumb in position - I avoid using the word 'locked' as it suggests a degree of clamping force is required, which is not the case - apply only enough 'squeeze' to get the string down. It is only 'locked' in the sense that it should not be moving around all over the place - it needs to provide a stable foundation from which the hand can freely and accurately manipulate the fingertips, but that is all. Remember that the pressure in your fingertips should come from the forearm tendons and muscles, not from a thumb clamp or death-grip. These tendons run through your wrist, which is why a straight wrist is important.

 

[JimmyM]

Maybe I did not express myself clearly.

Yes, when performing (or rehearsing with the band), I find it important to use my eyes to communicate with band mates, with the audience, to look at some sheet music, and, yes, also to help my left hand finding the notes on the fingerboard. So we agree on this, I believe.

The point I was trying to make is something quite different. It is about practicing alone by myself. This is a situation where there is no need to use my eyes for communication. Also, since I play fretless instruments (mostly double bass, but also fretless acoustic BG), (a) there is much to look at on the (unlined) neck, and (b) good intonation is a never ending challenge. In this circumstances, I find (and I could well understand that it would work differently for someone else) that closing my eyes intensifies the clarity of my hearing (somehow like how vision improves when some fog disappears). This pertains both to intonation accuracy, as well to the connection with musical ideas I pre-hear in my head. It also helps constructing a mental map of where the notes are located on the fingerboard.

Now on fretless instruments, I can see a benefit to not looking at your left hand while practicing. I play upright but I’m not great at it, so when I practice, I always look away because my intonation improves, but I never close my eyes. I did that once and tripped over a chair leg, then piledrove my knee into the floor. Not safe!

 

[singlemalt]

Blind fold. Or turn out the lights. Or read music. Look out the window. Watch a movie with the sound off.

Picture it in your head. Know where your roots are.

Did the typing teacher let you look at your fingers? Do you still peck at your computer keyboard with two fingers?

Use your ears and make corrections if you are off.

 

[porkynuggets]

Even after playing for 40+ years, I still have to at least glance at the neck when shifting above first position. Once there, I can look away. In first position, though, I never have to look.

This. You have muscle memory for the patterns in position, a quick glance at where you're shifting to is usually enough. Focused repetitive practice of scales and arpeggios, it will come naturally.

 

[Oddly]

Good advice above, so I'll just add a simple little 'hack' I picked up on here years ago.
Put a couple of little stickers on center of back of neck to mirror the fret dots...even just on the 5th and 12th...for your thumb to recognise.

Combined with @SteveCS ' post above, that'll get you there.

 

[0260n25]

I started out on violin and reading music, so that forced me to not look. The more I play the bass, the less I look. Time and muscle memory.

How do blind people learn to play bass (rhetorical)?

 

[Jens Telemark]

I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve been driving cars for over 40 years and still have to look.

Practicing not looking at your bass for its own sake is a complete waste of valuable time. Instead try tearing apart diatonic triads in all inversions and fingerings as musically as you can. But rather than starting on the low notes start and finish as high up the instrument as is possible. Not having to look isn’t a skill, it’s a side effect of knowing the fingerboard and having some idea what all those theoretical combinations of notes might sound like before you play them.