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What to do when they turn the lights out

dscott11

dscott11

Oct 11, 2009
73
16
dbassman.com
#1
We had a good show tonight for a fundraiser but when they turned off the lights I could not see my fretboard!

They eventually got a bare bulb on the other side of the drummer which helped a bit. I'm thinking about using some white out to make my dots stand out more in dark situations.

I bet those LED setups are cool too.

Comments welcome!

Cheers! Dave
 
#6
I play in a wedding band. While I do have the luxury of having a stand and a little light for it, it is still sometimes hard to see things when the venue turns the lights down. We had a couple ask last minute for a Talking Heads tune. I was selected to be the singer on Psycho Killer. Did my best to memorize stuff, but still needed a cheat sheet. Venue turned down the lights and I mumbled my way through half the tune (especially the French part).
 
#7
+1 learn to play without watching at your hands!

Makes it possible to do things like sing, interact with audience, etc. that make you much more valuable as a player! Not to mention, it makes the whole experience a lot more fun when you can actually participate. Then there are situations like what you described...

Your fingers are right there, on your hands, at the ends of your arms, where they've always been. The frets don't move. The strings are still right where they are, within the very small variation of their vibrations. There's really no good reason to ever have to look for any of that stuff! If you can drive a car without having to keep your eyes glued to the speedometer, you can play an instrument without watching your hands.
 
#11
SatanClaus said:
You could try these....

http://accessories.musiciansfriend....tZ-Fretboard-Illuminator-LED-Light?sku=421664

Just a thought...

SC
Click to expand...

Hmmm this is interesting ...



You can also get / or make little glow in the dark dots.
 
#12
I play with my eyes closed *a lot* of the time, but oddly still have trouble in the dark. Position shifts are the killers. If a song rocks in one position or two positions just two frets apart, no problem, but other songs with many shifts or shifts more than two frets are challenging without being able to see the neck. I don't have a solution yet though, except to ask not to dark the stage completely during certain songs.
 
#13
We use two of the cheap Chauvet rotating LED can lights and a LED "dance" light that flickers and rotates on the dance floor. Including the single stand and t bar we mount them on our total investment was less than 200-250 and it's great.

I have been playing for 15 plus years now and still tend to glare at my fretboard on the busy stuff. You aren't in show choir where you need to look and smile at the audience. Nothing wrong with looking at the fretboard.
 
#14
JohnMCA72 said:
If you can drive a car without having to keep your eyes glued to the speedometer, you can play an instrument without watching your hands.
Click to expand...

drewfunk said:
Actually its more like driving with your eyes closed. If you drive to work everyday why do you still have to stare at the road?
Click to expand...

IMO wouldn't it be more like driving while looking at the steering wheel, pedals and the stick? Or better yet, like a sax/clarinet/flute/trumpet/trombone player playing their instruments while staring at the keys/valves?

I used to practice in the dark for this very reason (the dark stages thing)...try practicing first by looking and then with your eyes closed. Oh yea, and it makes reading charts a whole lot easier.
 
#15
johndough247 said:
Or better yet, like a sax/clarinet/flute/trumpet/trombone player playing their instruments while staring at the keys/valves?
Click to expand...

Not at all.
You don't shift your hands when you play trumpet or reed instruments. Your hands stay in one place. I've played flute, clarinet, and oboe.

With trombone, your hands are in front of your face so you can take a quick glance.
 
#17
dscott11 said:
We had a good show tonight for a fundraiser but when they turned off the lights I could not see my fretboard!

They eventually got a bare bulb on the other side of the drummer which helped a bit. I'm thinking about using some white out to make my dots stand out more in dark situations.

I bet those LED setups are cool too.

Comments welcome!

Cheers! Dave
Click to expand...
I practice until I don't need to see the frets
 
#19
Actually, my wife bought some glow-in-the-dark pens from the kid's craft store (like a teacher's supply store)... In normal light, it doesn't look like much (not as visible as white-out/liquid paper) but in the dark it glows. The nice thing about the pen is that it is 'washable' so you can eventually remove it.

You could 'draw' on the long edge of the fret so you can see it from your playing position. If you want more discreet, just put dots on the regular fret markers.

Would probably look cool with a black-light shining on you too :)
 

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