Looking at your fretboard?

[Deleted member 365158]

Thats funny, i was paying attention earlier too.

And i stick to my earlier post.

 

[Mr Cheese]

Do YOU really look on your fretboard while playing? Having nice fretboard-markers leads you astray. Because it's wrong doing that. I've noticed this leads to improper position of the whole bass! It also affects the angle of your wrist and the intonation. With low string height the bass is prone to fretbuzz if you do not hold it vertical. Beginners should really be aware of that or the teachers should point out. Although with increasing tummy this positioning comes quite "naturally" ...
It was a mistake I only found out after many years of playing. So it seems the nice fretboard-markers are more for looking at your bass when you're NOT playing (or for the other players). Maybe 7ender thought of that and gave us maple fretboards with (invisible) perloid inlays ...
Position markers or not?

I only do if I'm playing something new and unfamiliar.

 

[Element Zero]

I fretboard itself? Not usually. The side markers? Sure. I look. Do I stare? Sometimes. Do I look into nothingness? Sometimes.

Variety is the spice of life.

 

[fdeck]

I look at my board when I need to. It's a lined fretless. The lines are there because I de-fretted the bass and filled the slots with "mahogany" plastic wood in 1981. I also play upright bass and cello, which have no marks.

Of course it's impossible to stare at my board continuously. There are too many other things to look at: The audience, band mates, sometimes a chart, who's coming in the front door, and so forth. But a glance when needed, why not? Upright and cello have much shorter necks compared to their string length, and there are more tactile cues, but the full length of a fretless bass neck is just a no man's land, and I'd rather land a note in tune than fumble around.

 

[whero]

Look at the fretboard? No. I can't see it when I'm playing. Well, I could if I curled over the neck so I look like... well, like a bass clef. But I don't like to do that. I prefer to keep my head up. Stay connected to the audience and keep an eye on what the rest of the band are doing. So I know when the stoner crowd are really getting into Like A Hurricane and the guitarist wants to extend the solo by another 16 bars.

My main bass is a Fender Aerodyne Jazz. One of the things I like about the way it looks is that it doesn't have any markers on the fretboard, so looking at the board wouldn't do any good anyway. Once you get further from the nut, blank frets don't help you know where you are.

It does have side dots though, and I do look at those sometimes. Particularly when I'm:

1. learning a new song, or
2. playing something where there's a lot of movement up and down the neck.
   BTO's Not Fragile or Freewheelin'? I hardly look at the neck at all.
   David Bowie's Star or Hang On To Yourself? I'm looking down quite a bit.

 

[Les Fret]

The side dots are for you to look at for reference, the face markers are for your bandmates.

Never looked at it this way but I highly doubt that fret markers where invented for that.

 

[Jazz Ad]

Don't fool yourself or others, we all look at the fretboard unless we're blind.
Try playing in complete dark and see how it goes.

 

[Papageno]

Don't fool yourself or others, we all look at the fretboard unless we're blind.
Try playing in complete dark and see how it goes.

If you practice it, it's completely doable, and actually not as hard as one thinks. Playing in the dark in a fixed position is really a no brainer, but even long shifts can be made to work with some practice. Muscle memory is incredibly accurate if properly trained.

I very frequently close my eyes while playing. It is a different and really interesting experience, which makes me focus harder on what my ears tell me (especially on DB or fretless BG).

 

[Smith357]

Sometimes, and sometimes I play in the dark, It does not seem to help my hideous playing.

 

[Watchootognbout]

I look at the fretboard.
Especially when doing chords in the "Ionosphere"
Deciding which fingering to use.

 

[Les Fret]

If you practice it, it's completely doable, and actually not as hard as one thinks. Playing in the dark in a fixed position is really a no brainer, but even long shifts can be made to work with some practice.

It certainly is doable and I also practice like that sometimes but if you play fast jumps up and down the neck or complicated chords with position shifts etc. it is not that easy. The question is why in these cases you should make it harder for yourself than it already is? What is there to gain? There is a reason that even the top players also look at the left hand.

 

[Papageno]

It certainly is doable and I also practice like that sometimes but if you play fast jumps up and down the neck or complicated chords with position shifts etc. it is not that easy. The question is why in these cases you should make it harder for yourself than it already is? What is there to gain? There is a reason that even the top players also look at the left hand.

I essentially agree with what you write here.

The gain of practicing in the dark or with closed eyes is that it specifically trains my ears and my muscle memory. As I am playing fretless, this training helps me a lot for my intonation. Quite generally, I believe that training to do something challenging contributes to elevate one's playing level.

 

[Les Fret]

I essentially agree with what you write here.

The gain of practicing in the dark or with closed eyes is that it specifically trains my ears and my muscle memory. As I am playing fretless, this training helps me a lot for my intonation. Quite generally, I believe that training to do something challenging contributes to elevate one's playing level.

Yes I agree with that too. It's a good thing to practice. Only you probably won't do it when you play complex stuff on a stage.

 

[Papageno]

Yes I agree with that too. It's a good thing to practice. Only you probably won't do it when you play complex stuff on a stage.

Sure.

 

[luciens]

I think looking at the fingerboard for bassists is like speeding: everyone does it, but nobody actually likes to admit it and most of us do it without really thinking about it .

I look at the fingerboard every chance I get. Like killingfloor says, looking at the board or not isn't really even a part of playing bass and it's not really taught anyway, so if it makes it easier there's no reason not to.

In saying that, I play seated nowadays approximately 99.999999994% of the time, in the usual way with the bass thrown over the leg. So I pretty much always have the opportunity to look and I take full advantage of it.

As for reading, I was a moderately good bass clef reader on trombone when I was in high school, in fact I got pretty decent at sight reading too. I do recall occasionally glancing at my slide, usually for 5th position, but not much and it didn't interfere with my reading that I can recall.

If I ever get to reading on the bass, though, I don't know if that would translate over and I would look at the instrument less or not. I'm a kind of an unlined shellback, but my Jaco jazz bass has turned me into a lines believer. So even in that case, I think I'll still peek at the bass every chance I get even if I do learn to read on the bass...

L