fretless guitar

[blindboygrunt]

http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/fretless-guitar/1061845744

 

Came across this ad while browsing locally . while I'm really not interested in such a beast , I was wondering if anyone had tried one. Weird

[BluesKing777]

A can of white paint to do some fret lines and dots will get us going, but I don't want it - normal frets and stuff are hard enough!

 

 

BluesKing777.

[L5Larry]

I saw a Chet Atkins performance video where he plays a fretless nylon string for one song. He mentions that he had Gibson built it for him, and has no idea WHY.

 

Of course Chet pulled it off nicely, I doubt any of us mere mortals could.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjDVBxWRZxE

[Jayyj]

I've spent some time with the guitar the ad is for. It's designed as a hybrid between guitar and oud, tuned like an oud but with guitar scale length. Being fretless it's possible to play quarter tones, as well as fretless bass effects. The guys I've seen getting the best out of them play a combination of arabic melody and jazzy bass parts. Try looking for Godin Glissantar on Youtube, although there's a lot of people gooning about on one, so you might have to wade through a few clips to find someone who knows what they're doing with it. Lord knows I didn't have a clue: i've had a few pointers in arabic violin here and there so just tried to mimic that sort of thing on it. I guess you really need to have a reasonable level of understanding of arabic music to get the best out if them.

 

I've played fretless banjos as well, which are pretty cool and certainly have their own sound, and a fretless electric guitar, which struck me largely as a pointless novelty. Doubt the fingerboard would last very long either, although that's maybe less of an issue on a guitar that most likely ended up under most purchaser's beds within a few weeks. On the other hand I believe one of the current members of Guns N Roses plays a fretless Vigier with an aluminium fingerboard, and he's an impressive player if not entirely my thing, so I guess there are always going to be talented people who come across a new concept and run with it.