Bassists need to know all of the notes on the fretboard, and there are patterns that help us locate them easily – for instance, fifth fret on any string corresponds with next open string.
Learning intervals can also be extremely useful. Recognizing where any note stands relative to others enables you to more quickly locate it on the neck.
Frets
Frets on a bass guitar neck are small raised areas where you press your finger down with your index finger to produce notes, raising their pitch by one half-step or semitone with each fret press. The twelveth fret in particular is important as it divides “scale length”, giving a natural way for you to move up and down strings as well as play chords quickly and effortlessly.
Bass guitar fret counts can range anywhere from 21-22 frets. As more frets open up more notes for playback.
Fret size should also be taken into consideration when purchasing or preparing to play a bass guitar. Common sizes for frets include small, medium and jumbo (or extra jumbo). Smaller frets require less pressure to press while larger ones provide greater physical freedom for your fingers while making it easier to apply bends and vibrato to strings.
Most bass guitar frets are typically constructed of rosewood or maple, although exotic woods such as ebony and tigers eye maple may also be utilized by some luthiers. Metal frets used can include nickel-silver, brass or Delrin (a trademarked name for polymer/thermoplastic material).
No matter the material, a quality set of frets will offer low action – this means that strings bend easily when moving up and down the neck without much resistance from resistance in between frets – with smooth surfaces and evenly spaced frets for a comfortable playing experience.
As well as learning notes themselves, it’s also helpful to gain an understanding of octaves on the fretboard. An effective method is identifying where individual notes reside on the fretboard before using their higher octave location to find new notes: two frets up and up two strings represents one octave up from the root of first fret; while three frets down and up and down two strings represents an octave down from fifth fret root.
Side Dots
From above, your bass fretboard should feature an inlay of dots called fret markers or inlays which serve to mark where your fingers are on the neck. There are various kinds of inlays from simple dots to elaborate tree branches like those seen on Steve Vai’s signature Ibanez JEM model; all serve the same purpose of helping you quickly locate notes you wish to play.
Dot fret markers are the simplest type of fret marker. Their placement on a fretboard determines what notes can be played when pressing down on specific frets – for instance, pressing on the 2nd fret with your index finger will produce C as an example; similarly with all the other frets.
As well as fretboard markers, many basses also include side fretboard markers to assist beginners. Though less precise than their counterparts on the fretboard itself, these will still give an idea of which note can be found at each fret position; for example on an E string note 1, 2 and 3 correspond with C, D, and A respectively.
On electric basses with 24 frets, there are two dots at the 12th fret that help beginners learn intervals more easily. An interval occurs when one note repeats itself from fret to fret – making learning scales simpler for newcomers. If you play an E string open at 12th fret while using this technique, you will hear an identical sound while being an octave higher (one note higher than opening string).
Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals of playing your bass guitar, the next step should be learning how to locate notes by feel. For this process, count frets from one open string endpoint to a particular note you need and back again until it lands where it should. Although initially it may take longer, eventually finding what you need becomes much simpler.
Scales
Scales on a bass guitar fretboard are an invaluable part of learning the instrument. Not only can they help create better bass lines and solos, they can also improve speed and accuracy as well as expand chord possibilities-which comes in particularly handy for songs featuring multiple key changes. To build up proficiency on scales it is wise to practice all along both necks of your instrument as well as in its higher octaves.
A bass typically features 21 to 24 frets, or seven to nine notes per string. Most four-stringed basses differ significantly in appearance from their six-string counterparts compared to traditional tuning standards; however, scale patterns will usually remain similar regardless of this difference in fretboard appearance.
To learn a specific scale pattern, locate its root note on your fretboard and place your left-hand finger over it. Use your fingers to alternately play up each string until each note of your chosen scale has been reached.
Once you’ve mastered one scale, move onto the next until you have memorized all eight. Remember to practice these scales with the backing track of your song so you can hear how they sound while feeling how chords progress as you move up and down the fretboard.
Fretboard diagrams or notation charts are another helpful tool. These will show where each note in a scale can be found on your bass quickly when playing along with music or practicing. When reading one, each column represents 1 string – G, followed by 4th string E etc.
Name and position on the fretboard are determined by a note’s pitch – whether sharp (raised) or flat (lowered). Understanding intervals – distances between individual notes – will enable you to play any major scale on bass guitar quickly and effortlessly.
Notation Chart
An bass guitar fretboard note chart can be an invaluable aid, helping reduce mental processing when searching for notes on the neck. Acting like a map of the fretboard, it offers clear visual representations of all scales and chords found on your bass guitar neck.
Learning all the notes on a fretboard may seem like a daunting task at first, but it doesn’t need to be as difficult. First of all, recall that all strings are tuned the same – EADG – and that all strings contain the same notes on their fretboard (see image below). Once this knowledge is in hand, learning each note becomes much simpler – especially using memory techniques such as popular mnemonics which work just as effectively for preschoolers memorizing alphabets as for bass guitarists memorizing chord progressions!
Understand the relationship between each note and their octave is essential in making your bass fretboard note chart experience much simpler. Each fret has been divided into five half steps (plus a gap), so when moving up frets each note repeats as it’s repeated an octave higher.
Chords are an integral component of music, and bassists must be adept at playing them along with pianists, guitarists, singers and other instruments to provide harmony within songs or pieces of music. As such, it’s wise to become acquainted with the major chords found on a bass guitar fretboard as these will serve as “home base” chords to build upon when creating whole songs or pieces of music – plus the bass can act as lead instrument adding melody over top of chords played on other instruments or voices!
Finally, it’s essential that you become acquainted with the cycle of fourths – it is a popular chord progression used in many songs and will make switching keys or creating bass lines over different chords easier for both you and others to play together.