am i mad to consider a fretless squier jazz bass as my first bass guitar?

racefaceec90

i have wanted to get a bass for a while now (but not really having a clue as to what bass).

i recently came across the aforementioned bass as i was looking at basses 

now i have never played any fretless guitar before,but i really am drawn to it for some reason (also have been watching a lot of michael manring on youtube too).

i will only be playing for my own enjoyment,and like the idea of sliding on the strings,and trying to get weird noises from it e.t.c too.

am i mad to consider a fretless bass as my first bass.

i would like to learn classic bass tunes also i'd like to add.

what do you think?

fretmeister

It's just a different way of playing the same notes!

I love my fretless and I play it a lot. There's no doubt that it requires more practice to keep the intonation accurate, but it's certainly do-able.

Double bass players / cellists / violinists all manage!!

mart

Go for it! Nobody asks a beginner violinist or cellist to start on a fretted version. And with that one you've got the lines, and your ears will soon tell you when you're off.

Full disclosure: after a few yers playing fretted bass, I tried a fretless over twenty years ago and have never looked back. In my view of bass playing, what can't be done on a fretless isn't worth doing.

fretmeister

Just as a warning though - if you have any interest in slapping, then that will tear up a wooden board on a fretless.

Some people get the board coated like Jaco did, some expensive basses come as standard like that (Pedulla in particular)

I went for a graphite neck.

That being said, it will still be a few years before you get enough damage to worry about it.

Luminous

Agreed with the previous posters, just go for it you won't regret it. A couple of points though, this bass becomes MUCH better with flatwound strings and a replacement bridge.

fretmeister

Nowt wrong with the BBOT bridge. Was just fine for Jaco, JPJ, anyone else!

Strings are different though. Huge variations in tone just from swapping strings. 

Nomad

If fretless bass appeals to you, the only way you'll really know if getting one is the right thing to do is to get one. They're great fun for solo noodling at home.

As mentioned, flat-wounds are kinder to the board. My 5-string Yamaha has some light wear from rounds used by whoever had it previously, and the balance across the strings was a bit crap (in particular, the B string was too ringy). Putting Picato flats on it made it much smoother to play and the string balance was transformed. That has active electronics, and can still get a pretty bright tone if desired. With a little roll of felt under the strings near the bridge, it's quite thumpy and more like a double bass.

The intonation thing just kind of happens. If you include a few open strings as pitch references, you can develop an ear for when fingered notes are out (as will playing along with recorded music). They have loads of sustain, so you can play an open string and add notes on top on the other strings.

If you haven't already, you might want to consider a 5-string instead, not so much for the extra 5 semitones (although some say that "Bass" begins with "B", and I wouldn't argue), but for the ease of getting a bunch of lower notes across the finger board. Strangely, for a first bass, I found that getting the notes I wanted was no problem (I'm not a real bassist by any stretch). If I were to consider getting a second bass, it would be a 5-string fretted one without a doubt.

xmrchi

I used tape wounds on my fretless, you could still slap and it didn't have a hugely negatively impact on the board:-)