{"id":3230,"date":"2013-02-18T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-18T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/?p=3230"},"modified":"2013-02-18T12:11:32","modified_gmt":"2013-02-18T17:11:32","slug":"is-there-a-learning-curve-to-fanned-frets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/ideas\/is-there-a-learning-curve-to-fanned-frets.html","title":{"rendered":"Is There A Learning Curve To Fanned Frets?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above is a Dingwall “Afterburner 2”<\/a> bass guitar. Very pretty, very expensive and very awesome all the way around; you’re definitely getting something special when you buy a Dingwall. And as you can see from the photo, it has fanned frets on it, and that’s what this article is about.<\/p>\n

On a fanned fret layout, there is one fret which is perpendicular to the neck’s center line, and the rest are slanted. From the photo above it would appear (although not confirmed) that the 7th fret is “the straight one”.<\/p>\n

What’s the purpose of fanned frets?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The lower-pitched strings gain more length and the higher-pitched strings get shorter, similar to the string lengths on a grand piano. What this does (supposedly) is that it makes for better tuning, and on the bass guitar in particular, “deeper” bass tone due to the fact the lower-pitched strings are longer and therefore should (operative word there) be more resonant.<\/p>\n

Are fanned frets a new idea?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No. Fanned frets first appeared on a 16th century Renaissance-era stringed instrument called the orpharion<\/a>, so the idea of slanting the frets is a very old one.<\/p>\n

Does playing a fanned-fret instrument take a long time to learn?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No.<\/em> The most difficult to learn is the fretless<\/em> because that requires having a trained ear to get the most accurate notes since you have no frets to “fall back on”, so to speak.<\/p>\n

While you see fanned frets, your brain says, “Whoa. Different.. I bet this will take a while to learn..” But when you play it, that’s when you realize it’s really not difficult to play an instrument with fanned frets at all.<\/p>\n

Does fanned fret allow for different tunings that straight-fret can’t do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whether you’re playing straight-fret or fanned, both have the same capabilities as far as tunings are concerned.<\/p>\n

Where the fanned fret has the advantage is concerning the reach of your fingers. On the higher frets in particular, you may find that playing intricate solos is far easier on fanned compared to straight simply for the fact your fret hand is more comfortable when playing on fanned.<\/p>\n

Fanned-fret bass guitars are best described as “being more inviting” to tunings you otherwise wouldn’t bother with on straight-fret because the reach of your fingers feels so much more comfortable when the frets are slanted.<\/p>\n

Is fanned fret a replacement<\/em> for straight-fret?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Absolutely not. Fanned fret, while more inviting to alternative tunings and more comfortable to the fret hand for many players, is not a replacement for the straight-fret bass guitar.<\/p>\n

Just because frets are slanted on a particular instrument does not make that “better” compared to straight-fret; it’s just different.<\/p>\n

What’s the only real learning curve with fanned-fret?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Where your eye travels when playing.<\/p>\n

Notice on the image above that the fret markers on the fingerboard are on the bottom<\/em> and not the top. There’s a reason for that, and it’s not just for show. You will naturally look towards the bottom<\/em> of the board when playing on the higher-pitched strings, and use the side markers on top when playing the lower-pitched strings. Why? Because of the slant. With the exception of one fret, the held note on any fret will always have its position slanted from string to string. That slight difference in finger position for many requires extra attention to the markers, and the solution presented for that was to simply move the on-board markers towards the bottom.<\/p>\n

You’ll notice that most fanned-fret bass guitars do specifically put the on-board fret markers on the bottom simply because it is easier for the player to keep track of where he is when playing. Side markers for lower-pitched strings; on-board markers for higher-pitched strings. It works.<\/p>\n

I know, I make that sound difficult, but believe me, it’s not. When you get the opportunity to play a fanned-fret bass guitar, you’ll understand why it’s important to have those on-board fret markers near the bottom.<\/p>\n

Have you (or are you considering) playing a fanned-fret bass?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Above is a Dingwall “Afterburner 2” bass guitar. Very pretty, very expensive and very awesome all the way around; you’re definitely getting something special when you buy a Dingwall. And as you can see from the photo, it has fanned frets on it, and that’s what this article is about. On a fanned fret layout, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":3233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}