Fretless guitar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The fretless guitar is a guitar without frets (including similarly configured bass guitars known as a fretless bass). It operates in the same manner as most other stringed instruments and traditional guitars, but does not have any frets to act as the lower end point (node) of the vibrating string. On a fretless guitar, the vibrating string length runs from the bridge (also called chair), where the strings are attached, all the way up to the point where the fingertip presses the string down on the fingerboard.
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[edit] Advantages and disadvantages
Fretless guitars are not constrained with particular musical tunings, as is the case with fretted instruments. As well, fretless guitars produce a different sound than their fretted counterparts, because the fingertip is relatively soft (when compared to solid and hard fret) and absorbs energy from vibrating string much faster. The result is that the pizzicato on a fretless guitar has a more damped sound.
However, playing a fretless instrument usually requires much more training of the fretting hand for exact positioning and shifts, and more ear training to discern the minute differences in intonation that fretless instruments permit. To make this easier, many fretless basses have lines where one should put their fingers, as seen here.
Acoustic fretless guitars produce less volume than their fretted counterparts, which is usually addressed by the use of pickups and amplification. Fretless bass guitars, which have much heavier strings and a bigger body, are also typically amplified.
[edit] Fretless instruments
Fretless guitars are typically modified versions of factory made traditionally "fretted" guitars. There are also professional builders specialising in custom-made fretless guitars.
Fretless bass guitars are much more common than fretless guitars, and there are many manufacturers offering these as standard models.
[edit] Famous users
In alphabetic order:
[edit] Fretless guitar
- Tim Donahue uses self-made fretless guitars.
- Erkan Oğur (Turkish inventor of the first classical fretless guitar) makes nearly all his music with self-made fretless guitars.
- David Fiuczynski plays fretless guitar extensively in his instrumental project KiF. His guitar is a double-neck, fretted and fretless: the fretless neck is the uppper neck and is a 12-string short scale. He also teaches fretless guitar techniques at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA.
- Adrian Belew (of the band King Crimson) has occasionally used fretless guitars.
- Ron Thal (also known as Bumblefoot) has used fretless guitars extensively.
- NedEvett fretless guitar player (video: http://www.nedevett.com/slacker.html)
- Michael L. Vick Michael ATONAL Vick is a multi-instrumentalist who focuses on fretless guitars acoustic and electric, and VVV also promotes and organizes the NYC Fretless Guitar Festival.(http://www.themichaelvicktrip.com) +(http://www.fretlessguitarfestival.com)
- Pat Metheny, the leader of the Pat Metheny Group, uses a fretless electric guitar or bass guitar for some tunes.
- Morgan Kraft exclusively plays a fretless guitar, primarily a converted Stratocaster.
- Andy Summers (guitarist for The Police) also played a fretless Hamer guitar.
- Steve Vai, a virtuoso guitarist, occasionally plays a three-necked guitar featuring a fretless neck.
- Rick Nielsen (guitarist for Cheap Trick) has a fretless six-string as the bottom neck on his famous five-necked Hamer guitar.
- Sugizo (lead guitarist for Luna Sea) has and uses several custom fretless guitars with ESP
[edit] Fretless bass
- Jaco Pastorius (bassist for Weather Report, considered by many to be the most influential fretless bass player of all time) used a custom fretless Fender Jazz Bass.
- Jonas Hellborg (solo bassist who has played with Mahavishnu, Shawn Lane, V. Selvaganesh, Jeff Sipe, Ginger Baker, John Mclaughlin, Buckethead, Shining Path, Public Img Ltd, Down By Law, Dissident, and Kofi Baker as a cross section of his career, extensively used fretless bass both on his solo bass recordings and with other projects. Famed for using a fretted/fretless Wal doublenecked bass before moving onto comapnies like Status, Vigier and Warwick. He also owns an Ovation double necked bass, which was also fretted/fretless)
- Les Claypool of Primus and solo works uses a Carl Thompson (6 string bass) live and on many recordings.
- Flea (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) uses a fretless bass on one of the songs on the bands album By the Way.
- Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam has used fretless basses both on tour and in the studio over the past 15 years.
- Steve Bailey, a session bassist, has performed on the six string fretless bass guitar.
- Jack Bruce (of Cream) uses a fretless Warwick bass guitar.
- Sean Malone Played a fretless bass on the technical death metal band Cynic's sole album "Focus."
- Sean Burke of Grandfather Frog and the Amphibians has used his fretless bass for his entire time with GFA.
- Kevin Corren uses a fretless upright bass made from stainless steel.
- Rick Danko (of The Band) used a fretless bass for several years, starting from the recording of the album Stage Fright. However, returned to using a fretted bass for the band's The Last Waltz.
- Steve DiGiorgio (one of the few fretless bassists in the metal scene) usually plays a five string fretless bass.
- David Gilmour (guitarist for Pink Floyd) plays fretless bass on several of Pink Floyd's songs.
- Marshall Jones (bassist of Ohio Players) was an early user of a homemade defretted electric bass.
- Mick Karn (former bassist of Japan and avantgarde musician) used fretless bass guitar since the late 1970s.
- Bill Laswell contributed fretless bass on Robert Miles' Organik.
- Tony Levin famous for the bass on Peter Gabriels "Sledgehammer" and a large amount of his solo album work.
- Tony Franklin has been instrumental in bringing the fretless bass to heavy music recordings, and is his primary instrument. He's also known for having a signature fretless Precision Bass, which is far less popular than the fretless Jazz Bass, and gets a low-midrange heavy, unusual tone between that and using overdrive and distortion on his fretless, which is also fairly unusual.
- Michael Manring (bassist at Windham Hill Records) is known for his fretless bass playing.
- Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas (bassist for Mute Math) plays fretless bass on many songs including instrumental track "obsolete".
- Lars Norberg (of Spiral Architect) uses a fretless bass.
- Russel (of Gorillaz) uses a fretless bass in Feel Good Inc.
- Pino Palladino, a session bassist, has developed a fretless bass method.
- Sting (bassist and leader of The Police) used a fretless Gibson bass.
- Jeroen Paul Thesseling, fretless bassist, plays microtonal world music using six-string fretless Warwick basses.
- Bill Wyman, (former bassist of The Rolling Stones), used a fretless bass.
- Juan Alderete, (bassist for The Mars Volta) has several fretless Fender basses.
- John Myung, (bassist for Dream Theater).
- Garry Gary Beers, (bassist for INXS).
- Josh Ansley, (former bassist of Catch 22) is well known for his innovative fretless bass styles.
- Michael Todd (musician) (aka Mic) Former bassist of Coheed and Cambria sometimes used a fretless bass.
- Colin Edwin, (bassist for Porcupine Tree).
[edit] External links
- Unfretted.com - fretless guitar resource: history, news, reviews, tips, FAQs, MP3s, lists, dictionary, etc.
- Fretless Bass.com - fretless bass resource: interviews, gallery, boards, etc. (semi-commercial site)
[edit] See also
- International Society for Creative Guitar and String Music
- Frets on bass guitar
