Is it "up the neck" or "down the neck"?

[Fred_C]

I may be the only stringed instrument player in the world who thinks this way and I'm wondering if there is anybody who thinks the same way.

 

As I move from position to position on the neck (1st fret, 2nd, 3rd etc.) I think of this as moving "up the neck". The reasons I think this way are as follows:

 

1. As I travel from fret to fret, the fret number ascends (1,2,3)

 

2. As I travel from fret to fret, the pitch of the note ascends.

 

That's why it seems reasonable to me to call this "up the neck".

 

Am I the only player in the world who thinks this way?

[whitefang]

No.

 

And there are some I've met who think that since the natural tendency is to strum downward on the strings, the ORDER of the strings should be designated oppositely. The 6th being the 1st and so on.

 

As playing ascending notes on OTHER instruments is considered as going "up" the scale, going "up" the neck only makes sense.

Whitefang

[Larryz]

UP is the only answer I can come Up with (pun intended)...

[Scott Fraser]

I'm baffled by the question, since I've never heard anybody refer to moving in the direction of the bridge as going "down the neck". Really, does anybody ever call the nut the upward end of the neck?

[skipclone 1]

Down-for harmonics perhaps.

[SEHpicker]

How would it work for people playing vertically, like with a cello??

I assume it would still be going UP even though physically you'd be moving down the neck.

[Scott Fraser]

How would it work for people playing vertically, like with a cello??

I assume it would still be going UP even though physically you'd be moving down the neck.

 

With bowed strings it's still "up the neck" toward the bridge, regardless of the orientation of the instrument. And they refer to bowings as either an up stroke or down stroke, even though the bow actually moves side to side on cello & bass.

[A String]

I've only ever heard of it as "up the neck". Have you heard someone call it down?

[Fred_C]

Hi Craig,

 

Yeah. I've heard it quite a bit. Maybe it's a local thing. That's why I asked.

[Mark Schmieder]

We hear it here in NCAL as well.

 

I think it's more common in areas (such as here) where very few people have any formal music training (as opposed to Boston, New York, etc.).

[Caevan O’Shite]

I've always thought and heard of moving higher in fret and pitch as moving "up the neck". This confuses some people who view it as a physical direction being "down"-ward, but "up the neck" or "up the fretboard" being higher in fret-number and pitch is generally accepted as the correct definition.

[Eric Iverson]

I'm with the majority here - heading towards the bridge is "up the neck".

And the high E to me is the one highest in pitch, even if it IS closest to the floor, LOL.

 

 

[Winston Psmith]

Another vote for 'up the neck' meaning ascending notes. That's the only way I'd ever heard it used.

[harvey]

'up' always refers to pitch as everyone has said. I've certainly heard students get confused with this up and down thing. I do a beginner guitar class for about 80 kids each year and this is common.

 

Another point of confusion is 'up and down' the strings. The sixth string is highest of the ground and many starting out assume that this is the first string. Again, based on pitch, if we move 'up' a string we are heading to one of higher pitch...although geography and gravity might suggest otherwise.

 

Then we have left hand fingers...no pianists, the thumb is not no.1 anymore...