Up or down?

John Colter

It ain't what you've got, it's what you do with it
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Not strumming, I'm talking about moving about on the fret board. Some folk say they are going DOWN the frets when they move from the nut towards the body. I always think of it as going UP the frets. I guess I'm thinking of it like a ladder - the notes get higher, so I'm going UP.

My wife takes the opposite view. To her, it seems more natural to talk about going down the fret board, because you usually hold the peg end higher than the body.

Is there a right and a wrong way of talking about this?

Ukantor.
 
I believe you win this one

From what I know, you are correct. You are going up the fretboard when you move toward the body. Your wife definitely has a point though - it is a little counter-intuitive.
 
i always thought going towards the body is going up too..
 
How are frets numbered?

Is fret number 1 numerically lower or higher than fret number 12?

What note is higher in pitch, a note played at the 1st fret or one played at the 12th fret?

Where's my other blue sock?
 
Yup.

"Up" is toward the body. Your wife is wrong.

But for the love of God don't tell her that. :p

JJ
 
Or hold your ukulele upside down when explaining so you're both right. :D
 
Renaissance man, thanks for putting me straight. I can help you with your sock problem. Have you noticed that you can never find your socks, but you've always got far too many wire coat hangers? Socks keep turning into coat hangers. It's a well known fact. It MUST be right - my wife told me.

Ukantor.
 
And thank you Ukantor, for exposing the wire coat hanger intelligence. This morning I gathered all my wire coat hangers, and locked them in the guest closet. I've also sent a memo to my few remaining socks, informing them I'm aware of their actions. ;)
 
I consider it moving up, because the pitch is going up. Easy enough. :D

Anything past the 15th fret I consider to be in outer space, because for some stupid reason even my baritone only has 15 frets. Clearly, I need to get a new uke so I can finally have access to high D. (Is this a valid UAS excuse?)
 
If you continued to fit frets all the way from the nut to the saddle, how many would you have?

Renaissance Man - no use separating them. It will still happen. The sock is the larval form of the wire coat hanger - it's nature.

Ukantor.
 
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