Can I play a FRETLESS guitar?

[@brandonacker]

Learn classical guitar with my online course! 🎸 Classicalguitar-pro.com -Your first pieces -6 hours, 53 HD videos -PDFs, Downloads, and Quizzes -Simulated recital -Access to Brandon's feedback in an exclusive Facebook group

[@ibalrog]

Watching Brandon struggle is both enjoyable and reassuring. Of course, even Brandon struggling still sounds amazing...

[@joshua2400]

Jesus Christ the true sovereign king who miraculously healed me, loves you :" ) also perfection for us simple humans is not possible for us while we are still as sinners,only God can be perfect in all His ways, but when it comes to music its okay to not be the very best :" ) just enjoy the music you play, grow and see the beautiful sounds that come out (even if you dont think they are at the moment since we sometimes judge ourselves too much) You got this :" ) enjoy the good playing, and remember, its okay to aspire and enjoy others music, but dont let it become something that makes you feel like you will never succeed, as that is simply a lie from the devil :" ) You matter to God, I hope you do well and have a nice life, and even through the hard times, I hope your relationship with the Holy triune God will be beautiful, full of hope trust and peace in Him

[@egosirius]

He struggling it makes better because he's literally giving his best pushing into his limits

[@notyours5780]

@@joshua2400 Jesus bot went haywire

[@ReeferSmoker]

@@joshua2400 I feel like this comment is more about you than anyone else

[@eosborne6495]

Brandon’s intonation on the fretless guitar after 5 minutes is better than mine is on the violin after a decade of practice.

[@jgrossma]

Apart from 15 years of muscle memory as a pro classical guitarist, Brandon has fret markers to show where to put fingers, you don't. More importantly, intonation on violin is a *LOT* harder, because distance between notes is so much less. If you're off by 1-2 mm on fretless guitar, you're still OK, especially in low positions. 2mm on a violin? Awful. . .

[@krisvind1715]

How people can learn to even play violin is beyond my imagination, to me it is incredible.

[@TheVoitel]

Also intonation is a bigger problem on bowed instrument, as plucked instruments do have time dependent pitch, which makes slight intonation problems less noticeable. This is the reason why it is harder to tune a violin just by plucking instead of bowing.

[@oliverhees4076]

lol felt

[@fuffy442]

@@jgrossma Not just fret markers, but the fingerboard has the fret slots scribed into the neck, so there are still visual cues. I was surprised at how the lack of frets affected the sustain and timbre. Very interesting.

[@michelvanbriemen3459]

Some people cringe over the intonation not being absolutely perfect, but I love the fact that for once the intonation isn't perfect. Because there's no frets, every single note sounds slightly different, which adds way more character to the pieces imo

[@jasongcrow5313]

You got a respect the professionalism of the guy who can do something for our enjoyment that he knows might not make him look very good. It actually demonstrates just how talented he is. Thank you.

[@markus-hermannkoch1740]

He plays impeccable, as always, just a wee bit off pitch. Gotta love the humility though, that is shown in opening the video with 'Romanza'!

[@JorgeCastillo-yd5jx]

that’s actually pretty cool to hear such classical pieces executed without frets, it’s a very unique sound! good job Brandon!

[@dietersdawgs]

yep....Brandon can sure play.

[@drianhoxha5595]

Just bolted at the sight of this notification. Absolutely adore fretless music. It‘s just a whole other dimension of music.

[@nickotasla3091]

Yeap👍👍👍

[@elijahpark5344]

“Classical guitarist learns the pain all other classical string musicians have to go through.” In all due seriousness, your fingers never forget how to play, so it’s cool that you tried this out!

[@twokool4skool129]

"All other classical string musicians have to go through" *laughs in viol*

[@no-rq7fp]

Fretted instruments>>>>>>>fretless instruments

[@eufemiahz1556]

Laughs in classical mandolin

[@jamcam9]

@@no-rq7fp fretless will always be better than fretted. Just sounds better and wayyy more fun to play.

[@pablohanc]

Presumably frets were put on the guitar to make making chords easier to play. Cello, violin etc all tend to play one string at a time, occasionally 2. They are more generally single note instruments, although you can sound more than one string at a time.

[@jgrossma]

BTW, people who do play fretless guitar "seriously" usually don't attempt standard repertoire on it; getting good intonation is really not practical or even possible with many common guitar chords. Fretless players will usually play material optimized for fretless guitar. That's typically more single note type melody lines, often with open/drone strings going as audible pitch references to help with intonation. Again, very much like an oud. A lot of it is just having a good "ear" to hear pitches. Open tunings can help for more complicated compositions. While a few common chord shapes "work" chords are usually limited to 2-3 notes, and one of them might be an open string. Standard 1st position open C major is OK and a few others work. You can get a decent minor chord barring across three high strings. Four string fretted "jazz" chord? Forget it. . .

[@polanski2399]

but why? cello, violin etc. don't have frets and we can play chords fine

[@Aurora-oe2qp]

I've seen people play jazz chords and such on cello

[@bobbirdsong6825]

@@polanski2399 those chords are usually on a differently shaped fingerboard and if you're referring to double stops, those only have two notes at a time so a third can allow for rolling the bow to get to the next while you correct intonation with the finger on that string, you can't really strum it. and if you do play guitar, you quickly realize how crucial frets are because while the proper technique is to get close to the fret, with most chords you physically can't get your fingers in the right shape to have perfect intonation.

[@polanski2399]

@@bobbirdsong6825 Well in difficult pieces like paganini or whatever, there are very fast quaver chords with 4 notes, that yes, you roll your bow usually two strings at a time, but the roll on so fast, you have to place all 3 or 4 fingers down at the same time. I see Hilary Hahn or any professional player playing these pieces, but guitarists can't??

[@polanski2399]

@@bobbirdsong6825 look at paganini God save the Queen, there are almost inhumane double stops and chords on that, and yet, we don't use frets.

[@tessabates1078]

As a violinist this video was very entertaining for me. Thank you! Frets sure make things easier. You are a fantastic guitarist and even without frets you sounded pretty darn good!

[@Thyme2sea]

Just consider that you commonly play more than one string at a time on a guitar. Not exactly the definition of “easier”.

[@tessabates1078]

@@Thyme2sea I'm not at all implying that playing the guitar is easy. Especially the level at which Mr. Acker plays. But frets do help make good intonation easier. Violinists also play more than one string at a time and I know how hard it is to make all the notes in tune. He does a fantastic job of it.

[@Thyme2sea]

@@tessabates1078 Please, accept my apologies! I was not intending on offending anyone! It was more of a personal realization that guitars have frets and most other strings instruments in an orchestra don’t (and they are playing one string at a time, most of the time).

[@tessabates1078]

@@Thyme2sea Not offended. 😊

[@jidiplaygames1244]

The frets on a guitar allows things that are impossible to do on a violin, just like... being bowed, or not, and the 1000 reasons a violin is diferent from a guitar. Frets sure may make intonation easier, but they give the musician new possibilities, things that arent practical with fretless instruments, each instrument is different, makes a different sound... (this comment was not well written you all will have to forgive me)

[@chadwickreno8499]

It's not as precise nor easy to play yet its sound is so welcoming and friendly, all of the small "imperfections" in playing only seem to make it sound more warm. It's almost like hearing the voice of someone you love for the first time again.

[@Foxxey]

Maybe some of these intervals approximate the just intervals better. Can you give an example of such warm sounds with timestamps?

Those Mozart variations sounded like a bluegrass banjo tune haha

[@XtremeCoreShubham]

well i can barely play the one with frets so it's a no go for me. but you as always did an amazing job

[@AaronBowley]

lol

[@yeasstt]

I can't hear fretless classical guitar without thinking about Buzz Gravelle! He's an incredible musician!

[@sidsuspicious]

As a fretless bass player who likes playing chords you have my utmost respect, intonation is a nightmare.

[@oneultro6457]

WHAT THE FUCK???

[@ResonantShift]

Thank you for adding 7 minutes and 48 seconds of joy to my morning.

[@MaximusRiopel]

His asturias WITHOUT FRETS sounds better than my asturias WITH frets 😅

[@brandonacker]

Loving the sound of classical guitar? My in-depth online guitar course will get you playing classical guitar from the comfort of your home! Check it out at ClassicalGuitar-Pro.com

[@PARAMONARIOS]

where can I get this leg rest attachment??? Please help! 🙏

[@brandonacker]

@@PARAMONARIOS Go to the video description. Under "my gear" you will find the link.

[@PARAMONARIOS]

@@brandonacker thank you!

[@RobertSlover]

the "fretless" guitar aka the middle eastern oud.

[@JamesMartin-bu8yu]

You should make a video about "True Temperament" fretboards sometime. The idea behind the true temperament fretboard was to correct the intonation errors in equal temperament on a standard fretboard.

[@brianmessemer2973]

Glad your mind eventually went to music for Oud and fretless instruments - what an opportunity to play what we westerners call “microtonal” music! Years ago I discovered Tolgahan Cogulu, a wonderful Turkish guitarist who develops and plays microtonal guitars. You probably know all about him but in case you haven’t heard of him please check out his brilliant guitar scholarship kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4PWhJ2earmHp6s

[@madbead2142]

As a Turkish person I loved that uskudara gider iken part

[@brianspenst1374]

The Satie piece sounded good on the fretless. With some longer practice on a fretless guitar you could create a really haunting version.

[@annaslattery3878]

Sounds magnificent in such talented hands.... I adore watching your expressions as you play because I can see the utter joy and surprise in your face! thank you for sharing

[@servantofhashem4632]

Please make a video on the baglama saz❤️ Appreciation all the way from Pakistan 🇵🇰

[@darshanpatel.1782]

مجھے نہیں لگا تھا پاکستان سے لوگ دیکھ رہے ہوں گے، وہ بھی کلاسیکل گیٹار! ہندوستان سے خوب سارا پیار! 🤗

[@franksabatino7576]

Thanks Brandon. As always, your joy with guitar music is fun to hear.

[@WackyJacky101]

As someone who is just learning the classical guitar (and doing so through your course) - Actually mindblown that you can play this well on a fretless guitar!

[@yakinthebox]

Wackyjacky?? lol how is it going

[@TheRussianGenius]

Love your content! Have watched so much, and always excited for a new video!

[@nickotasla3091]

👍👍👍👍

[@Djacob_]

Bot

[@lechuck2011]

Brandon playing for the first time on a fretless guitar(with less sustain) plays better than me after 4 years of classical guitar studying in a fretted guitar... I actually expected pitch changes, impossible chords and even weird slides, but Ive never expected so less sustain

[@HerzogFranz]

Even as a beginner I started practicing on a fretless guitar due to inspiration from Cenk Erdoğan, a Turkish guitarist who is a master of this kind of guitar. For melodic patterns with glissandos it is wonderful to play. Accords are of course a new dimension on a fretless guitar 😁 You can hear instantly a close relationship to the sound of an oud and get easy access to the Turkish Makam-music. It’s fun to play with and a good education for your ears… 👍🏻

[@joachimlagerstrom8958]

How many else copied Cenk Erdoğan into the search? I did and have only listened to two tunes so far but he is insanely good. Thank you so much for posting this!

[@HerzogFranz]

@@joachimlagerstrom8958 Just three weeks after having transfered a simple guitar to a fretless one, Cenk was in Vienna with three other fantastic musicians playing in front of maybe 50 people - amazing concert. We talked a bit afterwards and he showed me his guitar, even gave it to me to try some tunes on it! I was really surprised… Very gentle person… He even shares some fretless lessons for free on his homepage 🙂

[@eryek8913]

Erkan Oğur

[@zitronekoma30]

you mean chords?

[@HerzogFranz]

@@zitronekoma30 Yes. I accidentally invented a synthesis of the german word “Akkord” for english “chord”. Sorry 🤭

[@RAkers-tu1ey]

Very Nice! I have been experimenting with fretless guitars, and I can offer the following (as a decent luthier, and poor musician): The neck relief must be increased to get more sustain, the overall action should be a little higher than normal, the "fall off" of the fingerboard extension should be increased slightly. And, on the ones I have built, I used fretted fingerboards, and inlayed contrasting wood strips to locate the former fretting positions (and to control the neck relief). I have only done this work on inexpensive used instruments, so I cannot comment on the effects on a really fine instrument. BTW, thank You for to exposing me to gut frets. I am really enjoying playing around with those. The extra neck relief helps here also.

[@Burnt_Gerbil]

There are videos of Guthrie Govan playing electric fretless. Every note is in tune. How he manages to play it confuses me.

[@TheModernHermeticist]

Awesome and hilarious. Looks hard as hell, though I like some of the Oud-ish vibes on the classics.

[@serhatk8074]

Have you ever heard Erkan Ogur? He is a true master on fretless guitar. I hope you check him sometime you’ll see what I mean. Btw video was great hope you continue that kind of content.

[@saus2818]

This is easily my favorite video on your channel, so entertaining and so glad you played üsküdara giderken, I was hoping you played it because of the context of the video and I wasn't disappointed 😁 Also: 5:46

[@mongarcia9151]

If luthiers somehow figure out how to compensate for the lost sustain it might sound amazing

[@BraxtonWise_1]

Imagine quadruple stops on a cello, and it has no markers.

[@quailstudios]

One thing that is nice about fretless is that you can tune the intervals a little differently than being restricted with frets.

[@Aurora-oe2qp]

indeed, though you still need good intonation then.

[@ahdemircan]

Erkan Oğur is the inventor of this guitar, you shall listen him

[@icystorm9968]

It reminds me of Indian classical music but it's still really funny somehow 😂

[@ClearCritique]

4:10 you can hear in this section how it works much better as an Arabic-style improvisation. The slides work now.

[@johnnyfivethephilosopher1086]

The Mozart variations sounded like bluegrass, it made me smile a bit.

[@musicmaster555]

as a CIS/hetero male I feel like I'm speaking the truth when I say I could just lay in Brandon's lap and let him teach me historical music facts 😌

[@Scubaz]

i didn't know that the frets give sustain.. so interesting

[@mainakbhattacharyya3988]

Count Dracula playing Fretless guitar 🙄

[@dietersdawgs]

Excellent effort.......the open tuning sounded pretty good actually and especially the "oud" music....guess it basically becomes an oud guitar. Chords seem to be nigh impossible, but without the frets it's a totally different instrument. Great video, very fun and informative....you "rock" dude! I picked up an 11 string fretless Godin Glissentar a while back from a pawn shop....it was brand new and a fraction of the actual list price ......will have to give it a real go at some point.

[@Indarow]

Dude, can you please release an entire solo fretless guitar album? I think it sounds really interesting. It has this really organic quality of imperfection. Sort of raw and unpolished, and there were several instances in this video where the unintentional microtonality really added another layer of intrigue. Awesome video. I thought it was actually a really successful experiment.

[@christopherherrmann921]

There are phenomenal turkish guitarists playin without frets. Just type in 'Cenk Erdogan'. He released some albums, they will blow your mind ;)

[@chrismuratore4451]

Capricho Arabe made me think my camel has had a bit too much wine this evening lol. You did great playing fretless though =)

[@brandonacker]

🤣

[@BadWallaby]

I cant help but hear Jack Black every time I hear Bouree in E minor lmao

[@maggiepie8810]

I think we now know why violins (and the violin family) don't have frets, becasue all of the sustain is meant to come from the bow, so you don't want the added sustain from the frets. This is also why fretless electrical basses have a much punchier tone, and fretless guitars in general aren't a thing.

[@samclarke653]

Those slides during your improv were hitting me right in the guts, both beautiful and very middle eastern sounding.

[@eugenedebs3281]

If you like the sound of the fret less classical guitar then give Buzz Gravelle a listen. All his music is with fret less classical guitar and it sounds great!

[@jerryballard371]

I think there’s simply a limit for most humans, no matter how talented, as to how many notes one can simultaneously ‘intonate’ I think the 2 executed by violinists may b the general limit. (And bass players have a lot more leeway.) Cool video!

[@thewallacesessions9426]

Can you recommend Classical Builders to check out?

[@JoshChristiane]

I was wondering if these were very popular anymore about 2 hours ago in the shower. Nice timing. Great video!

[@clivemelton7240]

10 out of ten for effort and bravery. What an interesting sound and shows just how much precision of notes is to 'western' music. The ood tune was brilliant and, obviously, better suited to the fretless instrument. I've often wondered about using a fretless guitar myself. Now I know the proper response. DON'T bother. Thanks again. Very interesting.

[@NarrowboatJourneys]

There's no reason why fret positions couldn't be marked on the fretboard. It would reduce the guesswork. Sounds nice though.

[@tyarthas]

I play fretless bass, but I need my frets on classical. :D

[@bizhanhooman9729]

I really enjoyed watching you play around with different pieces. It's awesome to see your reaction to hearing your own mistakes, it brings me back to in-person classes. It was also interesting to see which pieces seemed to "do alright" on fretless, and which ones didn't. Thank you for the great video!

[@joedesimone1444]

Really interesting video. 0-3-5 Smoke on the Water was a riot. I'm glad you injected some levity into this experiment and had fun with it. However a thought came to mind while watching you struggle, what an interesting learning tool this would make for students in developing ear training and muscle memory. All of what you played relied completely on these two elements.

[@DElkan]

This is going to sound totally reductive, but the improvisation you played in open D major was like 50% twinkly sentimental emo and 50% desert Bedouin riffage. It was great!

[@robertsala8031]

Loved this! The classical pieces were interesting played fretless, but the technique really shined when Brandon improvised. Playing into the strengths of an instrument’s construction/configuration is always the best course of action for me. I loved the slides: that is such an intriguing sound and should be explored/utilized more.

[@dim4eg123123]

Slides are the main technic in the indian classical music (raga) and are played on fretless instruments like sarod. It can be played also on fretless guitar and sounds very good.

[@dieselrider]

6:25 - it's a thing!!! I love the Oriental music,and fretless spanish sounding much like oud,I really liked this,thank you very much) I would very much like to hear such things on such a this guitar, only tuned to the tuning of the oud

[@Ntmoffi]

The idea of a fretless acoustic just seems odd to me.

[@EduardQualls]

You've chanced upon the "lap-held harpsichord"! Or is it a flat-backed oud?

[@muziksiyenci]

This guitar is invented by great Turkish musician Erkan Ogur in 70s. You may find his performances and records on KZbin! By the way, your technic and style is my favorite!

[@gerrimeister]

this is surprisingly close to an oud in sound though. Interesting

[@KraestBurns]

Just last night I was thinking “hm, I want to watch more fretless guitar stuff” and boom, this pops up in my notifications. Perfect timing!

[@JoshuaC923]

I see you are back in the legendary warehouse

[@choonja]

Brandon, It is both loopy and wonderful! Kudos for trying to play outside your comfort zone.

[@PeterDad60]

An acoustic guitar of that size to have such wonderful Timber is adding to the enjoyment of every note. I really enjoyed your playing here Brandon.

[@James-nr9gm]

I'm very new to music and didn't fully understand why he was laughing with delight and called things hilarious until the big shift at the start of Capricho Arabe... at which he also laughed XD Totally a fun video, thank you for posting!

[@MuzikJunky]

Playing Arabic classical music, à la Umm Kulthum, would sound dope on that guitar! Peace.

[@jandoedel5671]

Hej Brandon. I am not a very active commenter but I enjoy your videos. This one especially when you started the oud music. Did you ever try that arab guitar with all kinds of half notes. If you search youtube on Microtonal Guitar (Fixed Fret) - Tolgahan Çoğulu you can find it. Would love to see you play that guitar.

[@mateoramiro4210]

I think it's about time bowed string players stop complaining that they don't have frets😂😂😂 just humor, by the way

[@clarinetguitar6373]

Accurate left hand position! I cannot imagine how ugly the music were if I played such guitar......

[@kamelhariri6422]

So cool too see the pure joy on your face as you play. It really shows your passion. Great stuff as always

[@The_History_Man]

It really is surprising how much sustain is lost by removing the frets… and yet it shouldn’t be when you think how little sustain there is when violinists play pizzicato. And yet… the double bass has reasonable sustain. So is there something around pitch of note (or size of instrument body) that affects this?

[@TheVoitel]

When playing with frets you use the fret as a fixed contact point, which is quite hard and small and thus results in little dampening. When playing fretless instruments this is done by your finger, which is softer and bigger, and thus results in more dampening. The key to getting sustain is playing with the right part of the finger, which is the tip of the finger, which is small and hard, not the pad underneath which is soft and big. So basically you want the tip of your finger pretty much orthogonal to the fingerboard plane. Also as with all instruments without fixed pitches the ability to play with portamento also requires more technique to play without portamento. In this case I think the problem is that on a fretted instrument your finger will leave the string automatically when shifting from going over the bump of the fret, unless you actively push the string down. On a fretless instrument this is not the case, and you need to actively lift your finger just a bit at the start of the shift to stop the string from vibrating.

[@ibr7515]

Liked this? You’ll love tsugaru shamisen (please get one and make a video on it😞) (I can recommend some sites to get mid the best quality for oversee buyers if you’d like)

[@dietersdawgs]

So many players look soooooooooooooooooooooooooo serious all the time.......looks like you were having fun, even if it was "torture" for you?! Thanks for posting this....we need more like it!

[@LadyMngwa]

Interesting, this basically reverted the guitar back to it´s arabian grandad. Oriental music obviously sounds amazing on this one.

[@GeorgesSimenonGuitar]

Obviously, such a guitar is more suitable for oriental, Arabic music.

[@BrunodeSouzaLino]

One takeaway for people is to play in tune you have to finger where the frets would be instead of behind them like you'd do on a fretted guitar. Makes one wonder if they did the fretboard with some metallic material instead of wood. That's what Vigier does on their Surfretter guitars.

[@javiercmh]

"it's impossible to play perfect chords" [Plays perfect chord]

[@MusicofDeHaro]

I love microtonal music. Hard to find a fretless guitar. Maybe one day I will defrett mine

[@NeverTalkToCops1]

An experiment! Good! You've shown the crappiness of no frets.

[@fihrilkamal7296]

Seeing fretless guitar my first instinct would be to play some arabic maqams.

[@iamzid]

well, for someone who has no musicale talent, and is strictly an enjoyer, i think it sounds pretty fricken good. i think you just have to embrace the organic imperfection of it.

[@evaminich8085]

A fretless guitar loses the advantages of a guitar. It becomes similar in technique to the cello, only much worse, because the chords on such a guitar sound out of tune, and the sound is weaker than that of a cello. A fretless guitar can be used to play melodies or as a bass guitar. But why do this if the guitar sounds better with frets, and it's easier and more convenient to play?

[@RedSoxKal]

Amazing. It became kinda like an Arabic Oud now. Great video.

[@mayrondharma7710]

capricho arabe sounds the best

[@toxicmicrowave]

must be tough trying to play on a fretless classic guitar since you've been playing one with frets since the 1800s

[@carlcurtis]

I'd say you did pretty well, especially the Bach. I once tried a fretless banjo and sent it back after 48 hours. Hopeless!

[@AcerbusSanctum]

the first two songs you played are literally the first two songs I play when I randomly pick up an acoustic lol

[@shafquatali9218]

without frets it is sounding more like an Indian Instrument like Sarod or Rubab

[@kevinmaillet4712]

The open tuning improvisation sounded pretty good. But regular repertoire? Frets are a must. Lol

[@RobertSlover]

the "fretless" guitar aka the middle eastern oud.

[@samuelconceicao9292]

It's a completely different instrument and it needs new and proper repertoire written to take full advantage of its characteristics.

[@aumenarys]

Ok, now I understand better haha (I commented on the last video if it wouldn't be better fretless)

[@Keldeo-gx]

Look at a guitar master struggle to play a fretless guitar, i just think of how crazy violinists are

[@mityakiselev]

well, now that's more like it, sounds closer to how I tune my fretted guitar by ear