Timeline for Why is it so uncommon to see electric basses with flat fretboards?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
12 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 11, 2016 at 0:19 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackMusic/status/741424637238726656 | ||
| Jun 9, 2016 at 19:30 | comment | added | Basstickler | @Tim - It is true that it's not incredibly common to play barre chords on bass but barring as MatthewRead is suggesting seems fairly common to me. Typically the picking finger will mute the lower of two strings and I find it easy to lift all but the tip to mute the other string. I actually tend to play a lot of chords on bass, when the other musicians let me, and do end up using a barre approach when playing root+minor 3 (10th). Les Claypool does a lot of chordal stuff as well, often root+5 (as a 4th), and he tends to use a barre approach there as well. Still not incredibly common though. | |
| Jun 9, 2016 at 16:31 | vote | accept | Emílio Dolgener Cantú | ||
| Jun 9, 2016 at 14:53 | answer | added | Dedwards | timeline score: 1 | |
| Apr 26, 2016 at 11:28 | comment | added | Carl Witthoft | FWIW, an acoustic bass (orchestral) has a rounded fingerboard for obvious reasons. The amount of curvature on any electric bass guitar is far less than that, since nobody ( :-) ) bows them. I suspect a bit of rounding fits the natural motion of your hand/wrist/arm. | |
| Apr 26, 2016 at 7:07 | comment | added | Tim | @MatthewRead - that's interesing! I play mostly 5 string bass, but never consider barring. Possibly it's easier to stop notes (don't want to blend notes into each other too much on bass) with individual fingers rather than slightly lifting the whole finger, or pivoting it? I thought you may have meant using barres to play barre chords... | |
| Apr 26, 2016 at 6:59 | comment | added | user28 | @Tim Hmm, I do like to use barring when I play my 5-string. It's quite useful when alternating strings on the same fret. | |
| Apr 26, 2016 at 6:07 | comment | added | Tim | @MatthewRead - it's not often the case where barring is utilised when playing bass. The strings are so low in pitch that even two barred will usually sound muddy. There is plenty of space between strings, even on a 5 string, strung with a four string neck width. | |
| Apr 26, 2016 at 3:46 | comment | added | user28 | I would hazard a guess that the vertical displacement helps prevent the strings from hitting each other, since the heavier bass strings will oscillate more than classical guitar strings. It might also be to help with barring, which would be quite difficult on a wide flat board with bass strings. | |
| Apr 26, 2016 at 3:10 | comment | added | Emílio Dolgener Cantú | My bass has a round fretboard, as I went for doing what the industry does. It envolved quite a bit of work and it's not as even as any chinese bass around, so I wonder if I could skip this step. Probably, the best answer will come after I build it and test it myself, but wanted to know what other musicians feel about it. | |
| Apr 26, 2016 at 2:42 | comment | added | Todd Wilcox | When you play your homemade bass, do you find it harder or easier to play than other basses because of the flat fretboard? | |
| Apr 26, 2016 at 2:32 | history | asked | Emílio Dolgener Cantú | CC BY-SA 3.0 |