fretted

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 verb, meaning simply "to press down the string behind a fret". Fretting often refers to the frets and/or their system of placement.

When you fret, you worry so much about something that it eats away at you. Many people fret about taking standardized tests, but really, they're nothing to sweat. Fret comes from the Old English word freton which means to devour like an animal. When you fret over something, it consumes your thoughts.

Fretted instruments are by far the most common of all musical instruments, with the guitar topping the bill, especially the electric guitar. Familiar fretted instruments include mandolins, bouzoukis, bass guitars, banjos, dulcimers and numerous derivatives.

When a string is held down it makes contact with a fret on the fingerboard, and the fret now acts as the support point instead of the nut. The two points supporting the string are now the fret and saddle, so the vibrating part of the string is shorter, causing its pitch to increase.

Fretting examples include wear of drive splines on driveshafts, wheels at the lug bolt interface, and cylinder head gaskets subject to differentials in thermal expansion coefficients.

A bar or ridge (usually made of metal) across the fingerboard or neck of a musical instrument; when the string is stopped (pressed) by a finger at the metal bar it will produce a note of the desired pitch. Frets are arranged on instruments to produce specific musical pitches, usually of some musical scale.

Examples of 'fretted' in a sentence

• Adrina fretted at the delay, but knew the crowd was her best protection.
• Fancy fretted, at the same time she strove to perform all her wifely functions perfectly.
• He said that he fretted about making a mess of installing the car seat, despite having done a dummy run.

The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strings against frets with the fingers of the opposite hand.

But while players can argue about the sound of various fretwire, the effect that frets have is far more about feel and durability than it is about tone. New, freshly dressed, and worn frets each affect the feel and the ability of a guitar or bass to intonate, and that will in turn affect the tone.

Fretting on leaf chain can be identified by a red dust appearing from in between the chain link plates. It is redder in colour than surface rust, which is normally found on the outer surfaces of the link plates, – and bears a strong resemblance to chilli powder.

Fretting refers to wear and sometimes corrosion damage at the asperities of contact surfaces. This damage is induced under load and in the presence of repeated relative surface motion, as induced for example by vibration.

fret verb [I] (WORRY) to worry or be unhappy about something: Don't fret – I'm sure we'll find the kitten.