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Horizontal vs Vertical Fretboard? #poll-notice

 

So I was chatting with an old guitar buddy and we got into a discussion about Vertical and Horizontal playing on the Fretboard.
He calls 1st string (E) from 1st Fret to 15th Fret (G ) Horizontal when I've always called call Vertical. For me Horizontal is playing across the neck from 6th String to 1st String.

So just for fun and out of interest what do you call 1st string (E) from 1st Fret to 15th Fret (G) on same string?

Results

 

Hey Alisdair,

Great topic! (I agree w/ you, btw). Hope all's well.

Cheers,
JV

Juan Vega



-----Original Message-----
From: Alisdair MacRae Birch via groups.io <akmbirch@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sat, Dec 5, 2020 2:39 pm
Subject: [Jazz-Guitar] Horizontal vs Vertical Fretboard? #poll-notice

A new poll has been created:
So I was chatting with an old guitar buddy and we got into a discussion about Vertical and Horizontal playing on the Fretboard.
He calls 1st string (E) from 1st Fret to 15th Fret (G ) Horizontal when I've always called call Vertical. For me Horizontal is playing across the neck from 6th String to 1st String.

So just for fun and out of interest what do you call 1st string (E) from 1st Fret to 15th Fret (G) on same string?
1. Horizontal
2. Vertical
Do not reply to this message to vote in the poll. You can vote in polls only through the group's website.
 

If you look at the guitar as if laid down in your lap (like a pedal steel), it makes sense that left to right is horizontal playing.

On Saturday, December 5, 2020, 05:45:49 PM EST, jvegatrio via groups.io <jvegatrio@...> wrote:


Hey Alisdair,

Great topic! (I agree w/ you, btw). Hope all's well.

Cheers,
JV

Juan Vega



-----Original Message-----
From: Alisdair MacRae Birch via groups.io <akmbirch@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sat, Dec 5, 2020 2:39 pm
Subject: [Jazz-Guitar] Horizontal vs Vertical Fretboard? #poll-notice

A new poll has been created:
So I was chatting with an old guitar buddy and we got into a discussion about Vertical and Horizontal playing on the Fretboard.
He calls 1st string (E) from 1st Fret to 15th Fret (G ) Horizontal when I've always called call Vertical. For me Horizontal is playing across the neck from 6th String to 1st String.

So just for fun and out of interest what do you call 1st string (E) from 1st Fret to 15th Fret (G) on same string?
1. Horizontal
2. Vertical
Do not reply to this message to vote in the poll. You can vote in polls only through the group's website.
 

Andy,

But only Thumbs Carlyle played like that, and if you've seen John Stowell his posture is very much vertical...

Cheers,
JV

Juan Vega



-----Original Message-----
From: andy seyler via groups.io <awseyler@...>
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>; [email protected] <[email protected]>
Sent: Sat, Dec 5, 2020 2:49 pm
Subject: Re: [Jazz-Guitar] Horizontal vs Vertical Fretboard? #poll-notice

If you look at the guitar as if laid down in your lap (like a pedal steel), it makes sense that left to right is horizontal playing.

On Saturday, December 5, 2020, 05:45:49 PM EST, jvegatrio via groups.io <jvegatrio@...> wrote:


Hey Alisdair,

Great topic! (I agree w/ you, btw). Hope all's well.

Cheers,
JV

Juan Vega



-----Original Message-----
From: Alisdair MacRae Birch via groups.io <akmbirch@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sat, Dec 5, 2020 2:39 pm
Subject: [Jazz-Guitar] Horizontal vs Vertical Fretboard? #poll-notice

A new poll has been created:
So I was chatting with an old guitar buddy and we got into a discussion about Vertical and Horizontal playing on the Fretboard.
He calls 1st string (E) from 1st Fret to 15th Fret (G ) Horizontal when I've always called call Vertical. For me Horizontal is playing across the neck from 6th String to 1st String.

So just for fun and out of interest what do you call 1st string (E) from 1st Fret to 15th Fret (G) on same string?
1. Horizontal
2. Vertical
Do not reply to this message to vote in the poll. You can vote in polls only through the group's website.
 

My answer is 2. I think that conventionally the neck is described when the neck is held vertically - so "up and down" the neck means moving in the direction of up and down the frets on a single string.
?
Rick

 

WOW! a real thread! Thank you Alisdair!

I always looked at it as you do - Up a string = vertical; across strings = horizontal.

Perhaps your old buddy is thinking that chord clusters (which are vertical) and playing positions occur across strings and scales can occur either way. But arpeggios, intervals, &c. can all occur along one string, and so I consider it visually.

Or maybe I simply have always done it that way... Ya got me overthinking it already!

--
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
 

I didn't vote in the poll, because I'm aware of several contradictory "up/down" and "high/low" conventions for guitar and have consciously tried to avoid "horizontal vs. vertical" controversy.


1. The lowest PITCH on guitar is played on the string with the highest (sixth on a 6-string instrument) NUMBER.

2. When a guitar is held conventionally, the strings with the higher pitches lie below ("lower than") the lower-pitched strings.

3. Chord diagrams are most often shown with the fretboard with strings vertical and frets horizontal.

4. When shown in standard notation, chords appear as vertical structures, whereas single-note lines are displayed horizontally.


I've heard guitar players refer to the first string as "low E." I certainly hope nobody here does that, but it really does happen.

And on a steel guitar, it's all horizontal. :)

Jay
 

Very good points. Let's face it, however you look at it, compared to piano, the guitar layout is just a PAIN IN THE ASS!

(:


--
Peter Crist
 

I've voted, so now I can speak!? I think horizontal runs alongs the string, like the horizon and vertical is across the strings like a ladder.

On Mon, Dec 7, 2020 at 12:15 PM pecpec <peter.crist@...> wrote:
Very good points. Let's face it, however you look at it, compared to piano, the guitar layout is just a PAIN IN THE ASS!

(:


--
Peter Crist

 

There are classical traditions refer to movement that along the neck as? 'lateral' and across the neck 'transversal.'

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