First or third fret.

[iiipopes]

A side dot at the first position serves a purpose on a fretless bass.

Indeed. It is called the Simandl 1/2 position, and is an anchor for playing in flat keys.

 

[Swipter]

Rick puts a side dot on the binding at every single note position on their fretless basses, just to further confuse you while playing. To complete their jedi mind trick, the dots on the fingerboard are located between the note positions.

Really? Sometimes I get lost just walking through the house. If I picked up one of those basses I would become a babbling idiot.

 

[IamGroot]

1 ,3,5,7,9,12,15,17,19 is not a duplicating pattern . 0,3,5,7,9,12,15,17,19 is,

 

[El Güero]

Don't try this at home.

 

[Killing Floor]

If you rarely look at Fender basses...

Santa, please. And also sometimes Gibson.

 

[Killing Floor]

To be honest I have a bass with blocks and dots and one with no marks at all. I can't see it anyway. I partly believe fingerboard decorations are for the audience.

 

[micguy]

I don't think I've ever seen a bass with first fret marked...

There are a lot of them out there. Then again, I build all my basses without any fretboard markers. Side dots, yes, fretboard markers no.

 

[VictorW126]

Rick puts a side dot on the binding at every single note position on their fretless basses, just to further confuse you while playing. To complete their jedi mind trick, the dots on the fingerboard are located between the note positions.

This is the best markup for fretless bass!



This is the best markup for fretless bass!

 

[micguy]

To be honest I have a bass with blocks and dots and one with no marks at all. I can't see it anyway. I partly believe fingerboard decorations are for the audience.

Absolutely correct. If you can see fretboard markers while playing, you're way too hunched over.

 

[WillyW]

I partly believe fingerboard decorations are for the audience.

Silly wabbit, there's no audience in my mom's basement….

 

[Hounddog409]

You know where the first fret is because it's the one next to the nut.

Also the marks are related to musical divisions. You could play open A and 6th fret on E string together to find out why that isn't a useful dyad.

Lastly, it's your bass so apply whatever looks good to you. The inlays are also for decoration. It's a lot easier to see the side dots when you are playing standing up. You will occasionally see a block in 1st.

I think all fretboard markers are useless. All you need is the marks on the edge of the neck. Its all to you can see while playing anyways. Fretboard dots, blocks, birds, etc are just decoration.

 

[GWGuitar]

It took me years of playing guitar before the pattern after the 12th fret clicked!

It's always good to ask about why things are, or if there are different ways to do things - there's a lot of times that there's a great reason behind something, but what good does that reason do if we don't know it?

Playing the bass opened up my knowledge of the fretboard on the guitar.

 

[g-dude]

Playing the bass opened up my knowledge of the fretboard on the guitar.

I feel like bass uses sections of the fretboard that many guitarists neglect in their rush to hit the G string and higher.

 

[Slevage]

A side dot at the first position serves a purpose on a fretless bass.

What is that purpose?

 

[Slevage]

You don't really need a visual hint to find the first fret.

3 5 7 9 12 and then repeat the cycle.

If you put one at the first fret, then that means you need one on the 13th fret, which would look odd right next to the 12th.

You can mark the first fret and not the thirteenth. I recently had a DB custom built by Upton Bass. I requested side position markers as well as thumb position markers.They placed them exactly how I requested.

 

[WillyW]

Ha! I knew I had one with the first fret blocked!

prefer the top board though…

 

[farace]

Rick puts a side dot on the binding at every single note position on their fretless basses, just to further confuse you while playing. To complete their jedi mind trick, the dots on the fingerboard are located between the note positions.

That's why on my Ric fretless I drilled out the 3, 5, 7, etc. dots and replaced them with black tube Luminlay, so that those positions are now a black circle. With a glowing center. I didn't really need them to glow, I just needed them to be different from the other dots.

 

[g-dude]

You can mark the first fret and not the thirteenth. I recently had a DB custom built by Upton Bass. I requested side position markers as well as thumb position markers.They placed them exactly how I requested.

I contemplated side position markers, but I just use certain grain elements that coincidentally get me really close.

 

[Smurf-o-Deth]

What is that purpose?

I'll just quote @iiipopes here:

Indeed. It is called the Simandl 1/2 position, and is an anchor for playing in flat keys.

Also, it's just nice to have the visual cue there to break up that long, empty space, especially for unwashed slab players, like myself.

 

[Killing Floor]

Absolutely correct. If you can see fretboard markers while playing, you're way too hunched over.

Giraffe?
I do love they way some blocks look.