Why don't "classical" stringed instruments mark their note positions?
So, I understand why classical strings (violins, cellos etc.) aren't fretted, because of the change this makes in the tone. I've often wondered though, why the note positions aren't marked on the neck anywhere.
Wouldn't notes relative to the open string be in the same place all the time?
Wouldn't it be possible to start at a marked position and then adjust the pitch to match other instruments?
Wouldn't even a chalked-on mark would make it easier to find notes?
Any clue why it's done the way it is?
Note the question is not “why don’t violins have frets?”
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If you are using frets, you are creating a fixed tone which can't be altered - similar to a piano. Historically there were different ways to tune an instrument. Intonation like we know it today (well-tempered) changes some of the tones in a scale (especially the third and fifth.) This intonation makes it easier to change scales (i.e C-major to b-minor) and the chords still sound good to our ears.
On an instrument that has no frets, you are able to adjust to the "correct" scale (make the 7 in a scale a little bit higher i.e.), while fixed keys won't be able to do so.
I apologize for the laymen's terms, but I didn't want to be too scientific. More details (and a better explanation) can be found here.
Notes are pretty close to one another and adjusted for temperament. Play happens relative to fixed positions in certain patterns rather than absolutely and the normal playing position for a violin does not make looking at the neck of the instrument a good idea or even feasible: at the angle you'd be looking, distinguishing finger positions visually would be far too inaccurate.
You have to use your ears.
While many of the answers already address issues such as the ergonomics of looking at the finger board and temperment (slight changes in pitch depending on the style of the music), there is also a practical reason:
The note produced depends on the length of the string - so ultimately also depends on the position of the bridge.
This can move (and does, especially on larger stringed instruments, especially when travelling/stored in a soft case) so changes the position required to generate precise intonation (albeit by very small amounts).
Also the height of the bridge has a small impact and these can be changed to suit the owner (this normally affects tone/volume but again changes the intonation by very small amounts).
However, it should be noted that these will only have very small changes (unless someone really knocks the bridge out of place (seen it..), which should be fixed before playing).
Actually in earlier times, classical instruments had frets too. The precursor of the violoncello was the viola da gamba (actually available in different sizes), which had frets. The same applies for the the baryton. Sure, it is easier with them - especially during learning phase, as long as the ear is not sufficiently trained.
But small pitch modifications are much more difficult, you are effectivly restricting the number of pitches to the differentiation of a keyboard, which prevents tweaking the minor third just the tiny little bit. Since they also affect sliding of the fingers, I guess the disadvantages were too many.
It's mainly a practical issue... by the time students learn the fingerings, it's not necessary to mark anything because they now have the positions locked into their muscle memory.
I learned to play a fretless electric bass (without learning a normal fretted base prior) and I was surprised how quickly my fingers knew the right place to reach.
Actually, it's because the notes you need are NOT at fixed places. If you play by ear, you will move the notes around a bit. It's a good approximation to mark 12 equal temperament out. But when playing chords, the notes need to move around dynamically to form perfect chords.
If you play major third interval like G/B together on a guitar, you need to bend up G very slightly until the beating in the chord stops (or equivalently drop B slightly if you can). It similar for minor third interval A/C where you must slightly bend up C (or drop A slightly if you can). A semitone needs to be slightly widened. A tritone needs to be slightly narrowed. A chord like E/D needs to be slightly widened to form a correct sounding chord.
Analyzing this stuff is a complex topic, but if you watch a tuner closely, you can see that the adjustments are not random. They line up with harmonic locations on the strings.
FWIW, people who play piano, harp, and the lowly :-) trombone play largely by position-muscle-memory as well. I've never seen a trombone slide with position markings!
It may be of interest to know that string players do on occasion put a small pencil mark if they have to "jump" to a position very far up the fingerboard,i.e. a position that's not only unusual but the note in question is a large interval from the previous notes in the piece being played. That mark doesn't outlive the performance of said piece, obviously.
As Rob says correctly in the previous answer, the right positions are not fixed, but have to vary slightly depending on the context. The fixed keys of a piano with his usually equally tempered tune are only an approximation, trying to distribute equally the error for all possible musical scales. Otherwise, if you tune the piano exactly for one scale, for other scales the errors will be larger.
Singing or playing a string instrument are examples where it is expected from a good musician to hit the right note intuitively. Jazz singers are specially famous for singing far of the "official" note. And even pianists are expected to slightly influence the individual sounds, not just pressing a key like a robot.
There have even been experiments with pianos having twice as many keys.
Well one reason might be that that you do not look at the fingerboard much while you are playing. You learn where the notes are without being able to "see" them on the instrument.
This is not the case just in "classical instruments". Some older banjos were made without frets as are some folk instruments.
With many string instruments, it's seen as a bad thing to need to look at the fingerboard - often, it's desirable to be able to play the instrument by feel. This is essential if you're reading music at the same time, which in most classical contexts, you would be! Even in the pop/rock world it's often seen as better to be able to play by feel - many fretless bass guitars don't have fret markers either.
With violin and viola, the player's view of the fingerboard is very foreshortened, so it might be hard to pick out an exact position even if it were marked.
It's also hard using traditional construction methods to construct a fretless fingerboard with markers in a way that the markers don't interfere with the tone, and don't wear out easily. Inlays and paint both have their own problems.
It is quite common for teachers to put stickers on the fingerboard while a student is in the early stages of learning, as a means to the end of learning to play by feel.
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