Introduction
The fretless guitar movement is growing. 13 years ago, when I started playing fretless guitar, it was often viewed as a parlor trick, an interesting oddity but not something that was of much interest to mainstream musicians (at least in the West--the modern fretless guitar was "invented" in Turkey and has always been accepted there). Experiments with both electric and acoustic fretless guitars go back to the 1970's in Western popular music (Frank Zappa and George Harrison both owned and used them) but the fretless guitar was always on the fringes. Little by little, over the years, this has been changing. Artists have picked it up, dedicated themselves with it, unlocked it's potential. Now curious guitarists of all playing levels, because of the internet, are being exposed to and playing the fretless guitar. It is just a matter of time until the fretless guitar is fully recognized as a common and legitimate variant of the guitar, the same way the fretless electric bass is seen today. As a fretless guitarist and composer I am part of this movement and doing my part to further it along. You, reading this, are also part of the movement.
Currently, there is a relative scarcity of instructional material online for how to play the fretless guitar, and even less geared towards solo nylon-string acoustic fretless guitar playing, improving, and composing. To help remedy this I am creating a body of instructional material to help guide aspiring fretless guitarists to mastery. This page as it is now is only the beginning. More videos, tutorials, and instructional advice will continue to be added.
One of the beautiful aspects of the fretless guitar (whether electric, steel string acoustic or nylon string) is that it is not limited by style. Guitarists are inspired by a variety of reasons to try it out. Some guitarist love the warm tone of the fretless and the expressive possibilities of glissando and vibrato. Others are motivated by the ability to play different non-Western music on it, whether it be Turkish, Arabic, Persian, or Indian. Still others are fascinated by the ability to experiment with different temperaments and other avant-garde explorations, and there are those that see it as a way to take blues riffing, heavy metal shredding, or jazz improvisation to the next level.
My tutorials are based on my perspective of the instrument. While I am fascinated by all of the above mentioned aspects of the fretless guitar I primarily approach it from the perspective of a Western trained classical, fingerstyle, and jazz guitarist. That training is apparent in how I play it, arrange for it, improvise on it, and compose for it. I focus on how to not only play single-note melodies but how to enrich them with harmonic ideas to create satisfying, self-contained solo pieces.
This material is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to every aspect of fretless playing, especially if you are interested in a non-Western approach to the instrument. If so, I recommend also watching Cenk Erdogan's excellent instructional videos on fretless guitar from a Turkish musical perspective.
I hope I inspire you and open doors for you. Find your voice. Add to the growing movement of fretless guitarists. It is my pleasure to aid you in that process.
Currently, there is a relative scarcity of instructional material online for how to play the fretless guitar, and even less geared towards solo nylon-string acoustic fretless guitar playing, improving, and composing. To help remedy this I am creating a body of instructional material to help guide aspiring fretless guitarists to mastery. This page as it is now is only the beginning. More videos, tutorials, and instructional advice will continue to be added.
One of the beautiful aspects of the fretless guitar (whether electric, steel string acoustic or nylon string) is that it is not limited by style. Guitarists are inspired by a variety of reasons to try it out. Some guitarist love the warm tone of the fretless and the expressive possibilities of glissando and vibrato. Others are motivated by the ability to play different non-Western music on it, whether it be Turkish, Arabic, Persian, or Indian. Still others are fascinated by the ability to experiment with different temperaments and other avant-garde explorations, and there are those that see it as a way to take blues riffing, heavy metal shredding, or jazz improvisation to the next level.
My tutorials are based on my perspective of the instrument. While I am fascinated by all of the above mentioned aspects of the fretless guitar I primarily approach it from the perspective of a Western trained classical, fingerstyle, and jazz guitarist. That training is apparent in how I play it, arrange for it, improvise on it, and compose for it. I focus on how to not only play single-note melodies but how to enrich them with harmonic ideas to create satisfying, self-contained solo pieces.
This material is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to every aspect of fretless playing, especially if you are interested in a non-Western approach to the instrument. If so, I recommend also watching Cenk Erdogan's excellent instructional videos on fretless guitar from a Turkish musical perspective.
I hope I inspire you and open doors for you. Find your voice. Add to the growing movement of fretless guitarists. It is my pleasure to aid you in that process.
Fretless conversion issues: string action
Before embarking on playing the fretless nylon string guitar it is imperative that the instrument you learn on both sounds good and is easy to play. This is guaranteed if you are one of the few who own a luthier-built fretless guitar. Most guitarists don't. They have converted a fretless guitar from a standard fretted guitar. This can be a great option if done correctly. I have taught students who have converted guitars into fretless and have seen both great results and complete disasters. The most important point is to not only, obviously, be careful removing the frets and filling in the fret grooves but to lower the action!
Correct string action, or the height of the strings from the fingerboard, is vitally important. Too high and it will be difficult to fret notes and sustain will be reduced. Too low and there will be buzzing on notes. This is especially pronounced on a fretless neck if the fingerboard is not perfectly flat. In general, string action is measured in two places, at the nut and at the 12th fret. Since the fretless guitar no longer has frets I will refer to the second measurement as where the neck meets the body, which is the 12th fret on most classical guitars, cutaways notwithstanding.
When measuring use a ruler with 32ths of an inch and measure from the fretboard to the bottom of the string. The measurement at the neck/body point should be 3-4 32nds of an inch for the trebles and 4-5 32nds of an inch for the basses. Going lower or higher makes your guitar susceptible to the aforementioned problems. That being said, too high action is almost always the problem for conversions as the person simply removed the frets without lowering the action to compensate for the distance from the fretboard the crown of the fret provided. This will entail lowering the nut and the saddle of the guitar.
A second option I have seen for conversions is to have a fretless fingerboard glued on top of an existing regretted fretboard or have the existing fretboard removed and replaced with a fretless fingerboard. This can work great. There are even guitars with removable fretboards. The same issues of setting the action applies though.
Correct string action, or the height of the strings from the fingerboard, is vitally important. Too high and it will be difficult to fret notes and sustain will be reduced. Too low and there will be buzzing on notes. This is especially pronounced on a fretless neck if the fingerboard is not perfectly flat. In general, string action is measured in two places, at the nut and at the 12th fret. Since the fretless guitar no longer has frets I will refer to the second measurement as where the neck meets the body, which is the 12th fret on most classical guitars, cutaways notwithstanding.
When measuring use a ruler with 32ths of an inch and measure from the fretboard to the bottom of the string. The measurement at the neck/body point should be 3-4 32nds of an inch for the trebles and 4-5 32nds of an inch for the basses. Going lower or higher makes your guitar susceptible to the aforementioned problems. That being said, too high action is almost always the problem for conversions as the person simply removed the frets without lowering the action to compensate for the distance from the fretboard the crown of the fret provided. This will entail lowering the nut and the saddle of the guitar.
A second option I have seen for conversions is to have a fretless fingerboard glued on top of an existing regretted fretboard or have the existing fretboard removed and replaced with a fretless fingerboard. This can work great. There are even guitars with removable fretboards. The same issues of setting the action applies though.
fretless conversion issues: the fingerboard
I get asked if a fretboard needs to be epoxied to prevent damage from the strings hitting against it, as this is commonly done for fretless basses. I have found, however, that this is not necessary for fretless nylon string guitar. The most common fretboard materials are rosewood and ebony. Of the two, ebony is hardest and is preferable. Some nylon string guitars have a truss rod, which also will add to neck stability. All Altamira fretless guitars have a truss rod.
The fretless guitar sound: tone, sustain, and volume
Removing the frets on a classical guitar alters the tone in three ways.
1. It produces a warmer ("fuzzy") tone. The pads of the fingertips are softer than metal fret wires. This will prevent some of the brightness of the note from emerging. To compensate for this I move my plucking hand slightly further to the bridge to help reintroduce some of the sharper attack of each note. When done properly this gives each note a clear, defined attacked followed by a pleasant warm sustain.
2. It slightly reduces volume. I would approximate that about 5%-10% of volume is reduced when a guitar is de-fretted. Why? Because we are fretting with our soft finger pads and because when lowering the string action during the conversion process, the angle of the string break at the saddle is reduced. This, in turn, creates less pressure on the bridge that is then transferred to top of the guitar when a note is plucked.
3. It slightly reduces sustain. Since we are stopping the note with the soft pads of our fingertips instead of the hard metal fret wire some of the vibrational energy gets absorbed. Having action that is too high will unnecessarily further reduce sustain. Make sure your action is not too high.
However, one can compensate for the latter two issues in a variety of ways. For me, I always use an amplified sound mixed with the acoustic sound. The most common way to do this is to have a piezo pickup installed under the bridge. However, any system will work: piezo, piezo plus internal mic, eternal mic.
I add reverb to the amplified sound, which I run through either an acoustic amplifier or a p.a. and sometimes a bit of delay too. This, while not adding sustain to the instrument per se, allows the notes to linger longer. When done well it can create a beautiful effect.
Another technique to add sustain is to play noes on the left-hand fingertips, called "sarod" technique. This is named after the Indian instrument of the same name where this is the standard left-hand playing method. For left-hand melodies it is not as awkward as it may seem. It isn't practical for playing chords, though.
1. It produces a warmer ("fuzzy") tone. The pads of the fingertips are softer than metal fret wires. This will prevent some of the brightness of the note from emerging. To compensate for this I move my plucking hand slightly further to the bridge to help reintroduce some of the sharper attack of each note. When done properly this gives each note a clear, defined attacked followed by a pleasant warm sustain.
2. It slightly reduces volume. I would approximate that about 5%-10% of volume is reduced when a guitar is de-fretted. Why? Because we are fretting with our soft finger pads and because when lowering the string action during the conversion process, the angle of the string break at the saddle is reduced. This, in turn, creates less pressure on the bridge that is then transferred to top of the guitar when a note is plucked.
3. It slightly reduces sustain. Since we are stopping the note with the soft pads of our fingertips instead of the hard metal fret wire some of the vibrational energy gets absorbed. Having action that is too high will unnecessarily further reduce sustain. Make sure your action is not too high.
However, one can compensate for the latter two issues in a variety of ways. For me, I always use an amplified sound mixed with the acoustic sound. The most common way to do this is to have a piezo pickup installed under the bridge. However, any system will work: piezo, piezo plus internal mic, eternal mic.
I add reverb to the amplified sound, which I run through either an acoustic amplifier or a p.a. and sometimes a bit of delay too. This, while not adding sustain to the instrument per se, allows the notes to linger longer. When done well it can create a beautiful effect.
Another technique to add sustain is to play noes on the left-hand fingertips, called "sarod" technique. This is named after the Indian instrument of the same name where this is the standard left-hand playing method. For left-hand melodies it is not as awkward as it may seem. It isn't practical for playing chords, though.
Final thoughts
It is vitally important to get a good sound from your instrument. As you see, my approach is not to treat the fretless nylon- string guitar as a standard classical guitar minus the frets. Rather I view it as an acoustic/electric hybrid. It has expressive potential that the fretted classical guitar does not. However, the fretted classical guitar can also shine in ways the fretless does not. I do not play traditional classical guitar repertoire on the fretless nylon-string guitar. Why? Because it sounds best on a fretted guitar. Fretless guitar has it's own unique voice and should be viewed as such. When played well it possesses an intimate sensitivity that is spellbinding. With that in mind let's dig in and make some music!
Tutorial 1: Playing in tune
Tutorial 2: Vibrato and glissando
Tutorial 3: Playing a melody and bassline together
Tutorial 4: How to play chords
Yes, you can play chords on a fretless guitar. And chords on fretless guitar can be quite beautiful. However, how you approach playing chords on a fretless guitar should be slightly different than how you approach them on a standard fretted guitar.
In most cases the open-string three or four fingered folk chord shapes (A, D, C, G, E, B7 etc.) don’t work as well on fretless guitar as they do on a standard guitar, as they are difficult to intonate well. This is no problem though. When playing chords on a fretless guitar it is not necessary to put down a lot of fingers on the fingerboard. Using only one or two fingers plus open strings is best.
When only one or two fingers are used it is easier to intonate the fretted notes correctly. I particularly like shapes where the fretted notes are the top and bottom voices, with and open strings in the middle. Open strings offers two benefits. First: they are always in tune. As such, they can be used as reference pitches to tune the fretted notes to. Secondly, open strings add resonance. There is one circumstance in which a fretted guitar and a fretless guitar sound the same— when open strings are played. And it’s the combination of open strings with fretted notes, to which vibrato or glissando can be added, which makes chords on fretless sound so unique and beautiful.
The most difficult shape to intonate properly is the barre chord. The one finger barre chord can be done but requires precision. I play them infrequently, and when I do they are often used as a staccato chord. Five or six string barre chord shapes cannot be intonated well and offer little resonance. Avoid them.
I composed the etude at the start of the tutorial video for students to work on playing chords All of the chords in it require the use of only one or two fingers plus open strings. There are no barre chords. I suggest downloading the music and giving it a shot. It’s notated in both standard notation and tablature. Hopefully, it will give you something challenging to play but, more importantly, inspire you to compose your own music for fretless guitar using more chords.
In most cases the open-string three or four fingered folk chord shapes (A, D, C, G, E, B7 etc.) don’t work as well on fretless guitar as they do on a standard guitar, as they are difficult to intonate well. This is no problem though. When playing chords on a fretless guitar it is not necessary to put down a lot of fingers on the fingerboard. Using only one or two fingers plus open strings is best.
When only one or two fingers are used it is easier to intonate the fretted notes correctly. I particularly like shapes where the fretted notes are the top and bottom voices, with and open strings in the middle. Open strings offers two benefits. First: they are always in tune. As such, they can be used as reference pitches to tune the fretted notes to. Secondly, open strings add resonance. There is one circumstance in which a fretted guitar and a fretless guitar sound the same— when open strings are played. And it’s the combination of open strings with fretted notes, to which vibrato or glissando can be added, which makes chords on fretless sound so unique and beautiful.
The most difficult shape to intonate properly is the barre chord. The one finger barre chord can be done but requires precision. I play them infrequently, and when I do they are often used as a staccato chord. Five or six string barre chord shapes cannot be intonated well and offer little resonance. Avoid them.
I composed the etude at the start of the tutorial video for students to work on playing chords All of the chords in it require the use of only one or two fingers plus open strings. There are no barre chords. I suggest downloading the music and giving it a shot. It’s notated in both standard notation and tablature. Hopefully, it will give you something challenging to play but, more importantly, inspire you to compose your own music for fretless guitar using more chords.
Fretless Chord Study in G: Free .pdf of the chord etude at the start of the video
| chord_etude_in_g.pdf |
Meditation
This is an intermediate level piece that uses many of the textures described in the previous videos. In drop D tuning. Free .pdf in standard notation and tablature.
| meditation__fretless_classical_guitar_.pdf |
