Many have tiny fret markers on the side, but I haven’t seen one that has markers on the fretboard, like every other type of fretted instrument.
I found out how much of a crutch this one when I was doing a jazz cocktail gig last week. I used my classical for a tune. It was too dark to see the fret markers on the edge and I had a hard time finding my way around. I didn’t realize how much I subsconsciously depend on them.
Purely going on memory here, but if I remember correctly it’s at least partly to discourage bad habits. The instrument shout be perpendicular to the floor, and the player shouldn’t need to look at the fretboard to play.
I’d like to know (seriously) why any guitar has fret markers on the fret board.
When I play guitar, I use the ones on the side. I can’t see the ones on the board.
I see the fretboard when I play my electric guitars. Runs With Scissors, what kind of guitar do you have/music do you play?
I have a classical guitar but have never studied classical formally, so I don’t know what teachers tell you.
Yes, they’re looking at their fingers while playing from memory.
They may or may not have a small dot or two on the 6th string side of the neck, but there’s nothing on the plane of the fretboard itself. In order to see any fret markers there, you would need to tilt the neck such that the 6th string is closer to your chest than the 1st string. (This is actually a good position - rather than being 90 degrees to the floor, about 100 to 110 is better as you get a tiny bit of gravity helping your fretting fingers.) Any flatter than about 110 degrees, and your wrist is going to be bent too far. Unless you’re a lap style player, the markers on the fretboard aren’t as visible as the dots on the side of the neck.
It is hugely a matter of personal preference - most classical players want a completely smooth surface to the fretboard (other than the frets, of course.) Even as far as dots on the side of the neck go, some players have a real attitude about fret markers. (‘I don’t need any kind of crutch when I play.’ sort of thing) Others like one, two or three dots.
My teacher used to have an instrument with no fret markers whatsoever until he played in the pit for the Rodney Charmin/Atom Egoyan opera “Elsewhereless”. The second act started with a guitar passage, but the pit was completely dark until 20 seconds into the act, for dramatic reasons. It meant he had to be down there 5 minutes before everyone else and get his hand into position. Even with that, he was shit scared of f^cking up the entire orchestra with that passage. It wasn’t until dress rehearsal that the stage manager gave him a little dot of ‘glow in the dark’ post-it note that he put at the seventh fret. Since then, he’s always insisted on a dot at the seventh ‘cause you never know…’
I agree with him - being used to a dot at the seventh fret, I’m a bit lost when I play a guitar that has nothing at all.
Not all stringed instruments have frets; think violin and family. And there are fretless guitars but they are a very different animal than the fretted guitar.
I think the real reason classical guitars don’t have fret markers is simply that it is traditional. Very expensive classical guitars from traditional Spanish luthiers tend not to have any markers, while less expensive guitars do have some.
I have two classical guitars right now, one with just a marker at the 7th fret and the less expensive one with markers at 3, 5, 7, 9, and 12. I’d guess they’re kind of like training wheels; somebody who is spending $4,000 or more for a guitar is already familiar with the fretboard and isn’t likely to need them.
My first teacher was adamant about not looking at the fretboard except for an occasional quick glance during a big move, but my latest teacher tsk-tsks that attitude. Both are college graduates in music education who majored in classical guitar.
The first teacher (no peeking) is much more oriented toward sight reading, ensemble playing, and studio work than the latest (peeker) … eyes need to be on the sheet music or the conductor or the soloist or whatever, while the peeker is much more oriented toward solo performance from memory … so there really isn’t anything else to look at unless he stares into space or at the audience. He (peeker) plays a very expensive Spanish guitar to which he has stuck a little piece of Post-It to mark the 7th fret, while no-peek plays a much less expensive, thoroughly modern electrified Ovation with a full complement of markers at which he rarely looks. FWIW, the no-peek guy is far and away the better player.
The classical guitar isn’t held perpendicular to the floor. The top is tipped slightly back toward the player so the sound is cast upward.