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Double Bass Markings on Fingerboard

R

Racsen

Dec 6, 2003
159
0
41
Turkey
www.myspace.com
#1
Hi I'm a bass guitar player for 3 years and I'm trying to play double bass for 4 months.

My bass' previous owner was playing arco but I'm playing pizz.So I'll go to a luthier to setup my bass for pizz. playing.

Yesterday I saw this video where the bass player has markings on
his fingerboard.And I'm thinking to do the same markings.I think It will help my intonation what do you think ?I know devoloping ears is first thing to do but can this help too ?

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]



I saw a thread about like this but I'm saying to put markings permanent.
Link Removed in this link you can see how I'am out of tune :)


Sorry about my english I can understand what I read but cant explain myself clearly.
 
#2
#3
I don't think it's a problem really. Sometimes if I have an audition or something and I'm having a hard time getting a particular phrase in tune, I'll mark on my fingerboard with a pencil. That way it's there, can easily be removed, and nobody else can see it. Obviously it's better to use your ears, but sometimes it helps to have a target to shoot for, expecially if there's a big jump up the board, or if you have a solo entrance that has to be in tune. I say do whatever you need to to get the desired effect, and don't let anyone else put you down for it. If you can play you can play, who cares how you do it, right?
 
#5
I have "whiteout dots" on the side of the fingerboard where it faces me for "3,5,7,9,12..."
They're easily removed if they ever need to be, and no one sees them but me;)
Admittedly, I'm a hack...
I put these on when I first started, and refer to them less and less as time goes by.
 
#9
Ed Meyer used to play a bass with markings. But actually these markings are not meant to help you intonate but to make it easier four you to orientate on the fretboard - somehow what note you are intonating right right now. Little dots won't help you intonate anyway, as the fingerboard is not straight and you are not looking at it from directly above. You'd need fretboard-lines for that, and really, fretboard-lines look ugly :)

I really like the pencil-trick if theres a high passage that must be intonated right on a gig.

So as a playing aid, there is no problem with it, as a practicing tool they will only make your ears develop slower and yourself less confident with your intonation.
 
#12
jasonheath said:
It seems like more and more professional bass players have been using some sort of marking on the fingerboard.
Click to expand...

Where is the evidence for this? :hmm:

I have been going to my local Jazz club every Friday night for the last 8-10 years - in the audience at close range - have gone and looked closely at the DBs - I have never seen any markings on a fingerboard!

I go to Concerts in London quite frequently and have seen even more Concerts on the BBC - with all the Big symphony orchestras - no markings on DBs anywhere!!
 
#15
PS - what concert was this?

BBC website says :

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Wednesday 16 August 2006 THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

19:30 PROM 44: BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA


Prom 44

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

19:30 - 21:25
ROYAL ALBERT HALL
Tickets £6-£24 (price code A) or Prom for £5

Dohnányi
Symphonic Minutes (11 mins)
Bartók
Piano Concerto No. 3 (25 mins)
interval
Stravinsky
The Rite of Spring (33 mins)
 
#16
I just caught it on BBC 1, at about 11 last night. I don't know when it was recorded. It was the Verbier Chamber Orchestra.

The soloist (Maxim Vengerov) was conducting the orchestra between soloing.

I couldn't believe seeing the dots as, like you, I've never seen such a thing in professional circles.

I don't know about more and more professionals using fingerboard markings, but it was just uncanny to see one last night.
 
#18
Bruce Lindfield said:
...but it may be they were going for an authentic instrument performance - from when DBs had "frets"!! ;)
Click to expand...
Or, it could be they were going for the best possible performance, using whatever aid that assisted in finding the proper intonation. Not everyone is concerned about what the snobs think.
 
#19
Gufenov said:
Or, it could be they were going for the best possible performance, using whatever aid that assisted in finding the proper intonation. Not everyone is concerned about what the snobs think.
Click to expand...


Well - that was of course a joke - but you're missing the point - we both agreed that the vast majority of professional DB players we have seen in large numbers of concerts do not use any markings!

Which is why this instance is surprising, noteworthy or remarkable.
 

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