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Fret facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
YAMAHA MOTION LB long-scale bass, LED position marks
The neck of a guitar. The frets are the pieces running left to right under the strings that run top to bottom.

A fret is a thin metal strip found on string instruments. Guitars, mandolins, and banjos have frets.

Frets are mounted on the long necks of the instrument. The frets help the musician playing the instrument to know where to place their fingers on the instrument.

On historical instruments and some non-European instruments, pieces of string tied around the neck are frets.

Frets divide the neck into sections related to a musical framework. On instruments such as guitars, each fret marks one semitone in the standard western system where one octave is divided into twelve semitones.

Images for kids

  • Frets, guitar neck, C-major chord

    The neck of a guitar showing the nut (in the background, coloured white) and first four metal frets

  • Saz frets

    Frets tied on to the neck of a saz; note microtonal frets between semitones.

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Fret Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.