Using a 21 fret guitar, but the music calls for fret 22, how do you handle this?

  I rarely do cover tunes any more. And my electric guitar is only a 21 fret guitar. The songs that I would like to learn that I run into call for a hammer on or pull of on the guitar or tapping on the 22 fret high "E" or D note at the 22 fret , no other options.

 I have been working on and trying to develop the technique of bending the string and then hitting the note however it calls for to compensate, but some of the music I do you would have little to no choice but to play it a certain way to sound right. Not to mention to keep tempo is almost impossible without that fret. 

Now I could improvise, but it's just bugging me to not play it right.

I recently started practicing again after a long time away, well I just started about 2 weeks ago.  And there are a couple of cover tunes that I want to play note for note, but they require a 22 fret guitar. I play very few cover tunes anymore.

Perhaps my only choice is to buy a 22 fret guitar. I don't have one now and can't afford one. I am even considering buying a new guitar neck to try and save some money, all I have is a 21 fret guitar, I don't know if that's a good ideal or not.  I've been out of work for a few months and I've got to watch what I spend right now.

Here's my question : "When you run into these type of situations how do you handle them"?

Improvisation would be my easiest choice, but like I said some of this stuff requires a certain technique using the real high notes to play them correct.

One other option is to tune higher and use different chords for the rhythm, that's really no problem for me but it does involve a lot of time to rethink this stuff.

Yeah, I know you can transpose, but is that called for for just 1 note?

What is your recommendation on how to handle those type of situations?

Thoughts on how to handle this "One Note" problem?  I'm sure it's simple, I've been out of music for a while and since I got back into it I haven't done any serious practice until the last couple weeks so I've forgotten a lot of things that I am having to relearn.


Thanks in advance. I am not a professional.

Bobby

bdickens


If you have a Strat - or another guitar with a neck pocket that has the same dimensions - Warmoth makes 22 (and even 24) fret replacement necks.

Thanks, I am starting to think that this is the only option.

Bobby

bitflipper


If it's a recording we're talking about - as opposed to a live performance - you could fake that note the same way we fake vocal notes that are just a little too high - shift the pitch digitally.

I am talking about recording/Playing the music live or whatever.

Thanks BTW, I appreciate the input.

That 22nd fret on the guitar is really important when it comes to hard rock music specifically.

I am mainly wondering how others have played or handled the type of situation to where they run into the problem where they have to use the 22nd fret to make the song they are playing sound right when they don't have that fret, be it live or whatever.


Bobby

I have a song that I have played (and recorded) with my SG.... 22 frets and yeah I can hit that high D note. I was on a borrowed guitar...playing live, and it was a 21 fret neck....... I bent the string to hit the note.

Answer:  Play rhythm guitar.

Yeah, the stop-gap/quick fix is to use VV and just hit the 21st fret...fix the note digitally. At least it'll do until you can get a 22 fret jobby.

rob.pulman


Hi Bobby, if it's just for one tune then can't you borrow a guitar?

I've got the same issue - but luckily I've got a Gibson to fall back on for the 22 fret parts.

I am just smart enough to get myself into trouble sometimes you might say.

The irony is that I sold a 24 fret guitar about a couple of months ago, what a stupid mistake, I sold it and not the 21 fret guitar because the 24 fret guitar didn't have no name on it, and I didn't like the action of it when you played it. I wish I would have kept it. The only reason I sold it was because I was concerned for the future, covering bills and such. All is ok now but I do have to watch every penny until I get back to working again.

I can't borrow a guitar.

I posted this question mainly to learn how others handle this when they run into these type of situations. Mine is more or less a use of a novice just trying to play a song and learn from it, even though I play very few cover tunes anymore.

Thanks,
              Bobby

Guitarhacker


Another option...do a different song.

This is true. I'm not looking at playing live, just learning. And I run into a lot of tunes like this with the sheet music/tablature sometimes.

Once you hit the highest note sometimes that's it, and if it calls for a higher one to the point that it's impossible,  all I can think of is to improvise. But that kind of negates the learning process. I'm not going to name the song because there are several.

Maybe it's best that I understand what's going on like I have been trying to do and improvise the parts where I don't have that fret.
Just getting by I guess you might say.

I must say  though : "To the user who said : Just play rhythm" : I hit the floor laughing at that comment : "It was honest and straight to the point". But that's not an option for practice and improvement. That was hilarious though, because it was so honest and right on as to how to solve the problem. Same thing with your comment Guitarhacker. True, so very true.

I'm working on it.

Thanks Herb, and Thanks to everyone else who has commented. I'm trying to practice the right way and not spend endless hours doing things that really don't matter, and suffice it to say I think I need to avoid these tunes until I get a guitar that has that fret for now.

Lot's to think about for me, and lots to work on and "RE-LEARN".

I don't believe that asking this question/questions were a waste of time. And I say that for those who might feel afraid to ask a question of any kind.  I can't tell you how many times using Cakewalk software that I have google'd a question and it pointed me in the direction of these forums with an answer where a question was asked on simple things like this before.

I hope this helps someone, it has helped me for sure. And once again thanks to all who replied I appreciate it!

Keep on keepin' on!

Thanks again everyone,

                                    Bobby

Tune the high E to F?

I rarely do cover tunes any more. And my electric guitar is only a 21 fret guitar. The songs that I would like to learn that I run into call for a hammer on or pull of on the guitar or tapping on the 22 fret high "E" or D note at the 22 fret , no other options.

If you have a whammy on the guitar and you can pull up 1 semitone and hammer at 21. If your nuts pretty smooth you can push down on the 1st string behind the nut raising the pitch 1 semitone and tap at 21. You can also bend up 1 semitone at about 17 and then tap at 21. You can bend up at 19 and hammer at 21 as well. Of course you can just bend up 1 semitone at 21 to get the top D.

Takes a bit of practise but are doable. Whether they will work for the passages in question, we'll I'd have to hear em :)

Hope that helps.