Anyone ever try one?

Anyone ever try a fretless guitar?



I wish I could try this guitar.
But you can't find it in stores, and with a $3300 price tag, I can forget about buying one.

Plus:
I used to dislike Govan's music (Respect him as a musician though), but now after searching deeper through his stuff and finding songs like "Wonderful Slippery Thing" I could call myself a fan (of some of his stuff).

I still don't like "Fives" though. :/

haha that's awesome! really wish I could play one of those too, but $3300 is indeed a bit high-priced.

A cheaper alternative could be a whammy pedal?
You can get the same effect but keep your frets.

lol that would be hard as hell to play..

no real point.

obviously, it facilitates Glissando and vibrato but whats the point. Guitars have frets for a reason. I still kind of find it funny that the guitar is now viewed as a primary single note lead. I mean I get the reason due to the massive timbre of the instrument, not to mention how electrical effects add to it now that amplitude is no longer an issue. I still thinks it's silly though. But those so called "lead" metal guitarist still play in standard not straight fourths so whose surprised.

but realistically the only reason you would need it is if you got the cash/are a studio and your a pro guitarist who needs a (insert adj I can't think of) lead line but still wants that guitar timbre. You could rip out the frets and fill them but it would rip up the fretboard so fast--that's why his is metal. you could use nylon but then you just defeated yourself.

or if you still want that type of Glissando and vibrato effect start learning slide. That's the real solution of course you now have the slide timbre and that could be what your trying to avoid??



your are right that they both do Glissando and vibrato but there not even close to being the same thing.



no not really. You still learning I'm assuming but give it a few years and it is really not a problem. I was even able to pull of extended chords with a fairly rapid progression, but it definitely was straining.

@RA

Your right there is no real point....when the price is $3300.

But if one can afford that, there is a point. Fun.

I find it pretty cool to be able to go from a standard guitar to a "slide" guitar with the one guitar.

It just seems like it'd be fun. Plus it's a good way to train your ears and mind to find the correct frequency of a note and quickly do it.

Well the fretless can also be used to achieve microtones,sweet,sweet microtones,as in those used in Idian music...I believe shawn lane used a fretless guitar for that purpose...

Is there any fret markers or anything for refrence? I think it would be pretty challanging to do those scales higher up the neck (especially at that speed).

sound pretty interesting !

There's dots on the side of the neck.

Ahh ok that makes sense.

I just turned a hondo II into a fretless and it's awesome. I have 2 fretted guitars I like and the fretboard on this guitar needed work. I sanded the fretboard with a 12 in radiused sanding block. All the sanding is done and I have all the hardware so I put it all together today without frets and it plays beautifully! The action is really low. I didn't know how much muscle memory I had til I played this thing! I can see how it would be hard to play if you were a newbie with scales. Chords were a challenge earlier today but tonight it's already so much easier.

Anyways, it has a completely different sound and plays different than a fretted guitar. It surprises me when I hear other musicians ask " what's the point". Jean Luc Ponty is one of my favorite musicians. He's a violinist. I also love Alan holdsworth, Brett Garsed, and Shawn lane. These guys are great legato players. I like the stecato guys a lot but I'm more of a legato/left handed player myself.