A Clever Teaching Aid that Helped My Students for Decades

Violin's fingerboard and strings with four small circular blue dot stickers in a row

Don't Fret

Some stringed instruments (such as guitar) have frets, which are thin horizontal metal bars that space out the semi-tones up the neck. Frets on the guitar allow the player a forgiving range of where the player can place their fingers without worrying about being out of tune. It's kind of an ancient auto-tune for these instruments.

The violin family of stringed instruments do not (traditionally) have frets. Without getting into a lot of details around the harmonic series, vibrating string length, overall scale, and other factors, there are good reasons why this is the case.

Despite the intonation (the art of playing "in-tune") being far more difficult to master on the violin than many other instruments, there are many various techniques and benefits to playing without frets. Fretless instruments allow for more nuanced expression and a wide variety of sounds and effects. It also makes the violin appropriate for playing music from other cultures that do not use the Western 12-note scale based on semi-tones (the black and white keys on a piano).

Allow me to "geek-out" for a moment: My favourite part of playing a non-fretted instrument is that it allows for "tastier" sounding temperament depending on the key. For example, an F-sharp is even more sharp in G major than it is in E major because, being the 7th degree of the G scale, F-sharp sounds best when it is reaching higher to be closer to the root or tonic "G."

I find playing my grand piano frustrating in how I cannot change the temperament (tuning) of an acoustic piano on the fly, but I can sure do this on my violin!

Starting out on the violin takes time to learn the proper finger placement to master intonation (playing in-tune). This is where having some kind of markings on the fingerboard is helpful for beginners or players who struggle with intonation overall.

Violin's fingerboard and strings with four small circular blue dot stickers in a row

Follow the Dotted Line

For over 20 years I installed four small 1/4-inch round stickers indicating a basic fingering layout on my beginner students' violins. It helped players learn finger placement and to train their muscle memory to play in tune.

These "dots" are small and easy to remove. I really don't recommend "fretted" stickers that cover the entire fingerboard because those tend to rub against the strings (especially the thin E-string) and make for some really nasty sounds. The larger stickers and tape wrapped around the neck also leave a nasty residue that can actually damage the finish of your instrument and are difficult to remove.

My dots don't rub against strings and they don't leave a mess or cause damage.

They are also not as easy to see at a glance, but this is a good thing! With the dots the player is less likely to totally rely on them, staring at the fingerboard instead of the music. Players using dots are more likely to listen and feel their way through playing as we all learn to do with practice.

Sheets of various coloured small dot stickers

Introducing a Helpful New Service

As a service to my shop clients I am now offering installation of these small stickers for many of my violins and violas for sale for a modest installation fee. I only charge a fee because I do these myself and such orders take longer to pack up and ship on busy shipping days.

The 1/4-inch dots are available in several colours from which you can choose (select a darker colour for a more discreet look, you will be able to see it from the player's close-up perspective). They will surely make the first few weeks playing that much easier as the player gets started on a new instrument or adjusts to a larger size.

Do note the stickers wear out with use, but it gets a new player a great start. Think of them as bicycle training wheels you don't need once you get a hang of things. After these ones inevitably fade and fall off you can try to go without your dots moving forward.

If you find you still need them, you can replace them with more 1/4-inch stickers from an office supply store and even adjust the location for new finger placement or higher positions on the fingerboard.

As far as I understand, mine is the first violin shop to offer this beneficial service and I hope this new add-on option makes getting started far more enjoyable for players and their families.

[On a similar topic, Fiddleheads also provides complimentary Housemate Helper Earplugs with all student violins for first-time players.]

Thanks for your interest!

Rhiannon Nachbaur signature

Rhiannon Nachbaur, Fiddleheads' Owner