Playing above the 7th Fret

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by CASD57

I voted based on a acoustic capo'd on the 7th... maybe a jumbo or dread sounds ok..but my OM doesn't

+1, I play a few songs with a 7th fret capo. Gives the guitar a completely different tone.

Without a capo, I'll still play a few chords above the 7th fret. Love the tone of the Em barre chord up there.

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

Does putting a capo on the 7th and playing cowboy chords count. *

And why would you want to play above the 7th fret anyway? That's where I hang my washing!

As for cutaways, well, lets just not even go there

* I actually do have one song in my set where I do capo at the 7th. And one song from the 6th fret capo, and one from the 5th, quite a few from the 4th, loads from the 3rd, even more from the second, and even a couple with first fret capo. In fact, I think I only play two songs from the nut at present

I'm with Robin.
all my flat tops are 12 fretters, but I have ONE song which I capo at 5th, the rest are open , or capo II or IV.

[reeve21]

I voted occasionally, but that may be subject to change.

I learn other's songs and arrangements, I don't compose (no idea of how to do that, I'm a paint by numbers player). At my current skill level and genre of choice (country blues) I don't spend a lot of time in the upper regions, sometimes above 7, hardly ever above 12. I prefer the tone I get closer to the nut.

I'm about to start studying ragtime piano arranged for guitar. My teacher showed me the book last week (Allan Jaffe, author). First thing he said was this isn't for beginners (not sure if I should take that personally ). The first thing I noticed was the tab went up to the 17th fret. Yikes, I didn't know there were that many. I'm not a fan the cutaway look, but it sure seems like a good excuse to give in to GAS

[Mark L]

Why would I want a keyboard with an octave and a half?

Why not explore the range of one’s instrument.

Lots of reasons, some genres don’t need it at all. Lots of reasons for that too.

If it’s good music, it’s good with me. There’s lots of good music “above the 5th fret”, apparently just no money..... 🤔

[guitarxan]

Above the 7th fret is fun.....but it takes a little more finesse to keep tone. It also helps to use your thumb to keep a strong bass line going whilst your exploring the upper octaves playing finger style.

I have spent the last couple of COVID lockdown months exploring this. Lots of fun but I have lots to learn.

[TBman]

Wherever the tab takes me.

[nightchef]

I had trouble interpreting the poll question. Basically, it's true that the higher up the fretboard you go, the less time I spend there, and this tendency gets more pronounced after about the 7th fret. But if I play for half an hour, I will probably spend at least a few minutes of that time, cumulatively, up in the 7-to-12 region (above 12 is pretty much "electric only" territory for me, with rare exceptions).

So "frequently" in the sense that I rarely go through a whole playing session without going above the 7th fret, "occasionally" in the sense that most of the time, I'm below there.

[Brent Hahn]

I took it to mean "playing where the strings are too short and the frets are too close together." In the clip I posted earlier, I first worked that out on ukulele, where the strings are too short and the frets are too close together all the time.

[Brent Hahn]

If there's an "Above the Seventh Fret Hall of Fame" this guy should be in it. Electric, but still. And he was in the actual band, not a session player.

[Andyrondack]

Originally Posted by Tannin

I stay at the pointy end of the instrument as much as possible because electric guitars have good, sometimes even great tone on the upper frets. Acoustics don't.

New acoustics can sound quite harsh above the 7th fret, after a few years they start to mellow out after that they get quite sweet .

[nightchef]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

If there's an "Above the Seventh Fret Hall of Fame" this guy should be in it. Electric, but still. And he was in the actual band, not a session player.

Derek Leckenby was a really good guitarist. While the producers used session musicians on many of the Hermits' hits, Leckenby got to play lead on some of them, including "I'm Henry the 8th, I Am," which has a kickin' solo.

[FrankHudson]

As many have said already, there's a whole neck, why not use some goodly portion of it when it pleases you or makes some interesting music.

To be honest, I don't play a lot of acoustic guitar above about 7 to 9 fret range, but this was asked on "play and write" so I didn't take it as an acoustic guitar only question. I did used to play a lot of "acoustic lead guitar" once upon a time. It can be a nice contrast with chords in a lower position. The acoustics I play don't have cutaways and I'd reach over the body for some notes back then.

On electric I'm up there for single notes all the time, but my father used to remind me that there were good notes down in the lower register, and I'll often tell myself when creating lead lines to play some stuff below the 6th fret and to use those low E and A strings more often.