I’ve always been intrigued by the sound of fretless guitars, and today I ran across this article about a Turkish guitarist named Cenk Erdogan.

There I had the chance to hear his two-fingerboard guitar that let him perfectly make use of both the microtonal space with the fretless neck and the usual fretted part that allowed him to play the well-tempered rhythmical counterpart simultaneously.

So, what does the “microtonal space” sound like? In Cenk’s case, this:

Pretty interesting stuff.

Another great example of fretless guitar can be heard on Pat Metheny’s tune, Imaginary Day. What’s interesting about this tune is that he uses a fretless nylon string in the beginning and then what sounds like a fretless electric with some mild distortion for his solo at roughly 5:15. It’s a really interesting sound. Oh, and, inexplicably, this otherwise safe-for-work Imaginary-Day video/slideshow displays a series of pictures of semi-clothed women during most of Pat’s solo. Probably not safe for work. Be warned.

Here’s a bit more about guitarists who play fretless.