Which Fret Was That?

The guitar is a fretted string instrument that really belongs to the percussion family. Got that? There are fretless string instruments as well; the harp and even the piano would be examples. The fretted neck of the guitar gives us the ability to play more than one note on each string. This way we don’t need as many strings as the harp or the piano.

The pitch we get by striking a string is determined by three main factors; the diameter of the string, the amount of tension it is under, and its vibrating length. The diameter of the string is determined by what gauge of strings we have on our guitar. The tension is controlled by the tuning gears; tighten the string and it gets higher, loosen the string and it gets lower. Both of these factors are constants that do not change in the course of playing a song (generally– don’t get me started on retuning or especially restringing on the fly!).

The main factor we have control over is the length of the string. The frets on the neck of the guitar allow us to change the vibrating length of the string to produce different pitches. This is a really big deal!

When you strike an open string, meaning not touching it with your left hand, you are playing the lowest note possible on that string because it has the maximum vibrating length. If you press down at the 1st fret, you are shortening the string. This changes the pitch to a note one half step higher. Continuing, each successive fret shortens the string again and raises the pitch another half step.

In order to get the best possible sound out of a fretted note you have to create good contact between the string and the fret without touching any part of the vibrating length. This is why finger placement is critical. You always want to place your fingertip just behind the fret, as close as possible but no part of the fingertip above the fret. This will get you the best sound with the least amount of pressure.

There are many situations where you can’t get the fingertip right behind the fret. You may have an adjacent string being played at the same fret, for example. This is when you just get as close as possible but will have to use a little more pressure than if you were closer.

A common mistake students make when a note is not very clear is to just press harder. This creates the bad habit of pressing too hard much of the time. The first solution should always be to get closer to the fret and make sure you are using the tip of your finger.

The best advice I can give on fret placement is keep your fingertips close to the frets and don’t press any harder than necessary to get a clear sound.