Video Question: Fretless Guitar

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Date: March 24th, 2008 | Length: 1.27 | Instructor: Mark Lincoln

Potownrob asks, "While fretless bassists are not rare, it seems there are very few fretless guitarists who play regular six-string guitars without frets. I was wondering if any of the instructors or other staff had any experience playing fretless guitar and what it was like." Another benefit of being a member of JamPlay is the video response section. Our expert staff fields questions from our members and provides video responses each week.

Other Video Responses:

How to Build Scales - August 28th, 2009 (9 minutes, 14 seconds)

Walter_Mundstock asked "Hi Guys. First of all, I have joined JamPlay a few days ago and I have to say that you guys do an AMAZING job. I wanted to stay at home to be with my recently born daughter and didn't want to quit having guitar classes... JamPlay met perfectly my needs! Thanks guys! I have been having classes about scales, have been practicing and memorizing them, but I would like to understand a little better how these scales are built. I would like to be able to think about any note and build the scale for that key by myself. An exercise I have been doing is to listen to songs, identify its notes and build the scale by applying the WWHWWWH steps. That usually get me setup with something that seems quite right... Is there a "formula" to build pentatonic and other scales just like I'm doing ? Apart of that, I don't really understand what is the difference among a chromatic scale, diatonic scale and so many others... Please help me understand the context of these scales. Thanks. Walter." View Response

- April 24th, 2007 (1 minutes, 25 seconds)

Crackdown asks: "Hey, I was just wondering in the opinion of the Jamplay staff do you think that someone completely new to guitar should start with an acoustic or electric guitar. I really like the idea of playing both, and am interested in what is easier to learn and probably more versatile." View Response

Curious About Effects Chain - July 16th, 2009 (4 minutes, 46 seconds)

Sheldon_31 asked "Dear to whoever it concerns, I have been really looking into running an effects chain, but i have no idea what stuff to use on it so far i've decided to use a boss overdrive pedal and either Kirk Hammet's signature cry baby or the Dimebag cry baby from hell. I am mainly interested in a nice melodic metal sound possibly just a really filthy textured sound nice and crisp which would be really easy to pinch harmonic on. So any suggestions on what i should use????" View Response

Capo - June 20th, 2008 (4 minutes, 17 seconds)

Fret asks, "Would you please explain the cappo and when specifically one would use one. Thanks and keep up all the great lessons. -Danny" View Response

Fast Picking - July 18th, 2008 (3 minutes, 34 seconds)

StephenWhan asks, "Can you give any advice as to how to improve fast picking techniques? By way of example, I've been messing around with the intro to Iron Maiden's "Wasted Years" for a while now and find that I keep missing the string every 3-4 picks. Either I miss the string altogether, or I dig too deep into the preceding note and it throws off my rhythm. I've tried practicing without using my left hand and get fairly accurate relatively quickly, but as soon as I re-introduce the left and start depressing strings, I go right back to missing strings again. Slowing down, I'm 100%, so it's the tempo and length of the repetition that's throwing me off. Any and all help, as always, is greatly appreciated. Jam on!" View Response