your question

01/12/2020 Gianluca Servello

Hey Trevor, hope everything’s going good. I’m 22 and can’t believe gonna see you at the Brooklyn Steel February 11th, I was 4 when Bungle took the hiatus so this is like the Beatles coming back for me haha.
I’ve been trying to learn upright bass and have a 3/4 scale student model, but one thing worries me. Do you respect one who has to use fret markings for intonation? It’s been hard getting perfect pitch but the tape markings really help me, is this respectable and normal to you, or “cheating”/screaming of incompetence?

my answer

I think there is a certain value to starting out with that kind of aid. But it’s important to recognize that there are two main factors in good intonation on a stringed instrument in which tempered tuning is relative. Neither of those things is visual. They are muscle memory and your ear. It’s ok to start with those “cheat notes” but the point is to get your hands (and ears) used to the correct place to be, which you will eventually need to achieve without those markings. (Btw, there are not frets on an upright bass so it would be more accurate to call those pitch markings). How will you be able to read music or watch the drummer, for example, if you are staring at the neck of your instrument. Even piano students at a certain point are encouraged to read without looking at their hands. Those notes aren’t going anywhere. Get used to feeling and hearing where they are.