How many frets do you need on your guitar?

[tvanable]

How often do you solo above the 13-15th fret? Do you think it gets harsh at that point?

[Boston Joe]

Not very often.

I don't know that it gets "harsh" per se, but the lack of finger room up there means I don't tend to stay up there too long.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Now that I use a Tele more, I'm up there more. I admit I played the high D yesterday (22nd fret) and I liked it

[neatomic]

dano guitarlin-31 frets!


anyone using a fender, solos beyond the 13th fret!!..& with a jazzmaster you can keep going behind the bridge!! haha

ala nels cline-



cheers

[rlrhett]

There is no money above the 5th fret!

[ronjazz]

All of them.

[Cunamara]

12. After that it just gets repetitious.

[neatomic]

12. After that it just gets repetitious.

haha


cheers

[dconeill]

at least 4

[MarkRhodes]

My cutaway doesn't allow my much access beyond the 15th fret, so I don't get up around there often. I used to play a Strat and sometimes miss the easy access to the upper frets. At the same time, I haven't exhausted the possibilities of what is readily available, so I have no complaints! ;o)

[whiskey02]

I think up above the 13-14th frets, while it can sound great for R&R into an overdriven amp, with cleaner "jazz" tones it does lean towards harsh, or at least just tends to not sound particularly good. I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions to that observation but at the very least I think it's fair to generalize that only the top 2 strings have a chance of sounding good up there, the wound string just flat out don't sound good to me up that high.

[Thumpalumpacus]

If I'm playing rock, 17th fret and up happens often enough. Blues and jazz, it's a rare excursion.

[A. Kingstone]

Most of my fretting happens before I pick it up.

[Boston Joe]

dano guitarlin-31 frets!

That looks like one of the old Hondo II Longhorns.

[lammie200]

I actually like having 22. It may be rare, but with good technique I feel that the upper frets are very useful. Look at someone like Birelli Lagrene. He gets a lot of use out of the upper register for cool accents. Also, if I get bored with what I am doing I sometimes move to a section of the fret board that I normally only glance over and key center there. That may lead me to using those upper frets more. Just more variety, that's all. Don't take away my upper frets.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

My only beef is with 24 fret guitars. The neck pickup ends up too close to the bridge. Harshes my mellow.

[pingu]

20 for me top C bit of a gap then
The pickup

[neatomic]

That looks like one of the old Hondo II Longhorns.

hope that's a joke!!..danelectro came out with the guitarlin in 1958!...hondo was the much later (late 70's) rip off..hah

here pic of link wray with dano..he used it early on..late 50's



and of course some players don't need any frets at all



cheers

[smokinguit]

It depends on what sound you're trying to get. If you're very experimental, the more the better. More timbre for you.

[princeplanet]

Well, I do everything based on CAGED, which means in some keys, some of my extensions that get down to an open string will be played 12 frets higher. So my CAGED positions are generally b/n the 3rd and 15th position. Consequently the 18th and sometimes 19th fret get used as much as the others. I don;t go lower than the 3rd position, is that weird to anyone?

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Well, I do everything based on CAGED, which means in some keys, some of my extensions that get down to an open string will be played 12 frets higher. So my CAGED positions are generally b/n the 3rd and 15th position. Consequently the 18th and sometimes 19th fret get used as much as the others. I don;t go lower than the 3rd position, is that weird to anyone?

Not weird at all. What's weird is when some guitarists complain that a singer is making them transpose from A to Ab. So? I guess they're missing all their open strings.

[princeplanet]

Not weird at all. What's weird is when some guitarists complain that a singer is making them transpose from A to Ab. So? I guess they're missing all their open strings.

Haha, yeah, I'll do anything to avoid open strings, not even for comping...

[Jonah]

To me avoiding higher frets turned out to be rather a technical limitation than a choice... (though I thought it was a choice)))

I began to play a lot up after I practiced playing up there for a few weeks...

I just put a capo on the 8th or 10th fret and played any stuff I usually did from this position up for a 30-40 min...

After that I do not usually think if you are up there or not..

I even ended up with switching to 'es-335' type of guitar which makes it more comfortable... fretboard feels more like a keyboard with more or less equal access to any point


By the way.. same thing about playing in open position...

I believe that there are 3 things that require a bit different approach and practice

1)playing in open position - or in any with open strings involved
2)playing from 1st to 14-15 fret
3)playing 15 fret up

these three should be explored separately - at least for me...

[princeplanet]

....t
3)playing 15 fret up.....

Agree that it's like another instrument (mandolin??). Skinny / pointy fingers might help (lucky me), but then, you see great violinists with chubby fingers, so....