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Glite Dictionary
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fretted

fretted

8.1
An instrument with metal bars on the neck that show where to put fingers to play notes
  • adjective
  • /ˈfrɛtɪd/
  • Specialized
translation icon : con trastes
  • He customized his guitar from fretless to fretted for better playability.

Examples

  • Traditional lutes are fretted instruments, unlike the fretless violin.

  • She prefers a fretted neck on her instruments.

  • The guitarist preferred a fretted bass for its precise note selection.

  • The guitar was beautifully fretted for easy playability.

  • The guitarist preferred a fretted bass for its precise note selection.

  • Traditional lutes are fretted instruments, unlike the fretless violin.

  • The guitar was beautifully fretted for easy playability.

Antonyms

unfretted
  • Specialized
9.9

A string instrument with no metal bars on its fingerboard

How Fretted

fretted
  • Specialized
8.1
fretless
  • Specialized
1 7.2

Surface Forms

fretted positive

Morphology

fretted = fret (transparent) = fret + ed

Formed by regular past-participial/adjectival suffixation of the verb 'fret' meaning 'to add frets'; the meaning 'having frets' is directly derived.

Etymology

Fretted (musical) comes from fret, the small raised strip on a guitar or lute fingerboard, like the strips on a fretboard. Those strips help guide your fingers to the right notes, so a fretted instrument has these bars to make playing more precise.