Fret Fret A fret is a raised element on the neck of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On most modern western fretted instruments, frets are metal strips inserted into the fingerboard. On some historical instruments and non-European instruments, frets are made of pieces of string tied around the neck. Frets divide the neck into fixed segments at intervals related to a musical framework. On instruments such as guitars, each fret represents one semitone in the standard western system, in which one octave is divided into twelve semitones. "Fret" is often used as a
Standard tuning and drop down to lower open string notes. This is also more practical for the whole playing range of E–C♯ (on a 21-fret guitar), as it can fit easily into the treble clef when written as E–C♯. Transposing by an octave may be explicitly indicated by a suboctave clef, where a treble clef has an '8' placed below it, or a normal treble clef may be used for simplicity. Other plucked string instruments and their respective standard tunings include: Standard tuning In music, standard tuning refers to the typical tuning of a string instrument. This notion is contrary to that