A
ghost is haunting around the guitar world: the ghost of the fretless
guitar. Technically the fretless guitar is an instrument (electric or
acoustic) without frets, such that fingering its strings at
particular positions on the string is done by pressing the string
against its fingerboard. A "fretboard" in fact is just a
fingerboard with inlaid frets, hence the principles for fingering the
fretless is almost the same as the fretted, but with three exceptions
1) the position where the finger marks the string is not as exact as
in fretted instruments, requiring greater finger position precision,
and 2) the resonance of strings is different and may require more apt
plucking or modified amplification (pickups) to achieve desired
volume, and 3) the smooth form of the fingerboard allows for slides
between notes which are natural and not notched to particular notes.
While the violin and other stringed instruments are always fretless,
other instruments exist both the regular version that the one without
frets (typically electric bass and electric guitar) . Behind this
seemingly simple technical definition hides however a very complex
and varied guitar’s microworld. Playing a fretless guitar involves
not only the need for pinpoint accuracy to find the correct pitch on
the keyboard, but also a different use of fingerings (better to avoid
the contrast with open strings and a radically different sound’s
conception. Over the recent years we are seeing a growing number of
professionals who are intriguing and ushering in this new world. A
world that is gathered from a few years in several festivals around
the world and on Internet on the website www.unfretted.com,
a world populated by guitarists working in different areas: the
fretless seem to have enjoyed particular success in metal, ethnic
music, microtonal music and avant-garde, with passages within ambient
and funk.
The
double CD "Village of the Unfretted" presents itself as an
authoritative point of view for those who want to start to listen and
understand what's in store and what can be interesting to continue to
investigate: two CDs for a total of 35 tracks (and 35 guitarists)
ranging in every genre of music from pop to metal, rock and ethnic
music to the most abstruse atonal and microtonal forms.
The
risk that often faces cd’s collections is not to find a consistent
quality but rather a series of ups and downs, it’s not the case of
the Village of the Unfretted where its inhabitants will give everyone
great pains to present to best of their abilities and talents. The
result is an interesting compilation, extremely varied and mostly
valid. If you have any curiosity about fretless guitar this is a
great starting point.
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento