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As a beginner I've got a long way to go before I outgrow my fretted Gold Tone AC-5. However, I love the rich, earthy sound of fretless nylagut / nylon stringed banjos. This has led to me getting bit by the maybe-one-more-banjo-won't-hurt bug.
Before I start down that slippery slope, a few questions for those of you with that magical substance called "experience."
- When is too soon to try fretless? What skills would you say are required first?
- Did owning a fretless improve your skills in ways a fretted didn't? If so, how?
- What question should I be asking but in my ignorance don't know to ask?
I had similar concerns before I recently acquired a fretless.
As it turned out, I'm super happy I made the leap. For one thing, my fretless playing came together much more quickly than I would have expected. Not that I'm expert or anything. But decent fun banjo-y sounds seem to be happening without a lot of anguish.
The two main benefits:
1) Access to an expanded repertoire of banjo sound and character. Fretless is different and it's fun to switch it up.
2) Ear training -- getting to the "right" sound involves these constant tiny microadjustments in fingering. Although it becomes semi-automatic, it's more immersive and involving -- and potentially more expressive -- than simply noting on a fretted instrument.
Overall I'd say go for it. Even if it turns out you don't like fretless, no harm done by exploring!
I bought my first fretless, a locally made mountain banjo, when I was still just a beginner learning from those early books, the ones with the square flat plastic records. My fear was would I be able to overcome the muscle memory developed playing my fretted banjos. At the time, almost every thing I played was in open G, so I tuned my new fretless to double D. As my experience grew, I was able to change banjos and tunings without much problem.
Now days, I still mostly play my fretted banjos, but I do enjoy engaging the unique characteristics of fretless. Some tunes beg for those sounds.
Go for it. I don't feel it will hurt your learning, but enhance it.
I'm one of those unusual people who started on fretless banjo and later transitioned back to fretted (although I did have some prior experience with upright bass and fretless bass guitar).
My perspective is that fretless banjo is not inherently more difficult. It *becomes* difficult when you try to play it exactly like a fretted banjo. You have to learn to work with the instrument's inherent tendencies, not against them. That's the real challenge; the actual technique is not anywhere as bad as people make it out to be.
Some segments of the OT repertoire are not really fretless-friendly (I'm thinking of more chordal stuff, country blues and the like). You also don't have the convenience of a full-length (meaning, C/G tuning) banjo you can capo up to D/A. If you aren't involved in the OT festival/jam scene, then this is not an issue. But if you play a variety of music, a fretless banjo will never be your go-to, do-it-all weapon of choice.
If you're okay with that, then go right ahead. No amount of playing fretted banjo will make fretless feel familiar/comfortable the first time you pick it up.
Fretless is it’s own thing. I almost look at Fretless banjos as a completely different, but very closely related instrument to a fretted banjo.
No time is too early to start learning it.
Will it help your playing overall? Absolutely!
It will expand your repertory. It will enhance the way you approach both instruments. It will improve your versatility.
As Ethan mentioned above, sometimes does not work well with all regional styles, but when you get with a solid Piedmont or Round Peak Fiddler, nothing beats the sound. If you sing, it’s great for solo work.
It’s also really fun.
Go for it. Just make your life simple and when you get one, get one that’s well set up and good quality. Makes the transition much easier.
Enjoy the journey!
Fretless is another sound and a technique of its own. It wont help you necessarily to play fretted banjo, but it will have a joy and a musical approach of its own if you want to explore it. Banjos did not have frets generally until the 1880s or 1890s.
I do not think it aids you to play fretted banjo because it is quite different and there are things that you just cannot do in fretless playing that you can do with frets, but also vice versa.
People do act as it is so strange. Lots of people play fretless violins, cellos, violas, and basses on a very high level.
Having never seen or played a fretless banjo the light weight Gold Tone AC-1FL Fretless Banjo with flush frets looks to be the best deal.
I've recently seen and heard some interesting looking fretless models on-line by Stone, Pisgah, Ode, and a used Ramsey, but the cost is a lot more than the Gold Tone.
I know that having the flush position lines on the fingerboard would make a big difference for me.
I've installed Nylgut strings on a fretted minstrel style banjo with a 12" pot and I like the sound.
quote: The rabbit hole was entered, LOL you moved into it the first day you picked up a banjo and felt the twang of the strings in your ears and on your fingers, You were signed up "for the duration."
Originally posted by JollyRogersI started on fretted, and then got into fretless (steel string), which I mostly play now. It is a different technique, and I play fretless so much that when I try to play fretted, it’s tough for me. Point being if you go down the rabbit hole, make sure you keep up with both.
I have a couple of fretless banjos—one is a Whyte Laydie copy with steel strings; the other an 1881 Geo. Dobson with a thin wood rim and real gut strings. They sound very different—as they would if they had frets. The different tones come from structure and setup, not lack of frets. So if you like the slurred imprecision of the fretless sound, get a fretless. Playing it will probably improve your ear, but not your right hand.
@nordmed711