3 ms·

Why does fretless matter? Doesn’t string bending also let you play off-note tones?

• chucksmash 4y ago
  Having to bend up to a given note each time you need to hit it will be slower and less precise. Generally the bend is done after the fretted note is struck as well. I guess it would be possible to always pre-bend to a given alternate note if you wanted a constant tone, but it definitely seems like working against the grain of the tool versus just using a fretless instrument.
  • paulmooreparks 4y ago
    Eddie Van Halen was known to do this, though he was admittedly a freak of nature. He tuned the B string a few cents flat so that barre chords played up the neck would sound more in tune. If he needed to play, for example, a D chord in first position, he'd bend the D fretted on the B string slightly sharp.
    • criddell 4y ago
      There’s a video of a Van Halen concert where the synth track for Jump was played back at the wrong bitrate. Eddie worked furiously to find it on the guitar but couldn’t. It’s pretty wild to watch.
• coldtea 4y ago
  Because in fretless it can be done all the time - and picking the note manually by exact finger placement is done all the time. In fretted instruments, bending is done for effect, not for adjusting each and every note.
  • criddell 4y ago
    There are some players of guitars with a scalloped fretboard who do so to experiment with tempered tunings. It's definitely uncommon, but it's not unheard of.