On a fretted instrument, you use the fret numbers to describe a particular point on the fingerboard, as in "Fret the third string at the third fret"
or "From the open string to the fifth fret is a perfect fourth." What do you say when you're talking about a fretless instrument?Brian Prunka - 6-20-2019 at 08:36 AM
note, string, finger number if necessary:
e.g., "F on the first string, 4th finger"
It's actually exactly the same way I would refer to something on the guitar usually, since I think of notes instead of frets under most circumstances.
I don't mean this in a negative way, but most of the time, referring to frets is something that is more helpful to untrained musicians who don't know
the names of the notes on their instrument. Fretless instruments don't have this crutch and so musicians are forced to learn the notes, which is much
better in the long run anyway.
Brian Prunka - 6-20-2019 at 09:00 AM
I thought of another way that the fingerboard is described, which is in terms of positions. Oud position terminology isn't standardized, but mostly
people seem to use violin terminology since many oud players are also violinists.
In this terminology, we have:
"half position" - first finger 1/2 step from the open string
"first position" - first finger a whole step from the open string
"2nd position" - first finger where the 2nd finger was in 1st position, i.e., 1.5 steps from the open string or a m3 up
"3rd position" - first finger where 3rd finger was in 1st position, i.e., 2 steps from the open string or a M3 up
"4th position" - first finger where 4th finger was in 1st position, i.e., 2.5 steps or a P4 from the open string
"5th position" - 1/2 step up from 4th position, i.e., 3 steps or a tritone from the open string
"6th position" - first finger at the neck/body joint, i.e., 3.5 steps or a P5 from the open string
In my experience, people hardly mention more than 1/2 and 1st position though.
For oud players coming from guitar, this may seem confusing, and I've heard people refer to positions like guitar positions, i.e., just naming them
after the (imaginary) fret. For one's own purposes this is fine but there is a lot of confusion when communicating with someone using the violin
position names.
Both systems have merits, honestly, but I wish there was more standardization.crmdgn - 6-20-2019 at 09:38 AM
I don't mean this in a negative way, but most of the time, referring to frets is something that is more helpful to untrained musicians who don't know
the names of the notes on their instrument.
Yeah, that would be me.crmdgn - 6-20-2019 at 09:40 AM
