Fretless Basses

guitarfishbay · June 2017

Had a go on a Squier Fretless Jazz yesterday. It was actually pretty good I thought.

Serious respect to people who can play them in tune. Crossing strings going from a 5th to an octave (so same fret both strings) is really hard to do smoothly and in tune, at least for a beginner fretless player. Sounds cool though

mart · June 2017

Practice makes perfect less imperfect.

Winny_Pooh · June 2017

Playing octaves ala Jamiroqui are deceptively hard, they are fun to play though.

Funkfingers · June 2017

Smother your sound in chorus or flanger and gliss to every note.

Snap · July 2017

I got an Ibanez SR 370 fretless last year. I've played it more than anything else since, and it does get easier. When I got it (xmas) I hadn't played a fretless since maybe 1986, and I was all over the place. Sounded terrible. But it soon gets easier. I have been working at playing it so you can't tell its fretless. It;s just practice really. I love the feel of it, feels much more fluid, which I suppose makes sense!

here's some demo work, of cover of Army of Me that I am (very slowly) working on.This was done in one take, so its a bit rough and ready (lots of sloppy harmonics). It was just to test out the sound and some ideas

<iframe width="100%" height="450" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/314670599?secret_token=s-3q0Qm&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;visual=true"></iframe>

sorry for the massive link, a normal one wouldn't embed

axisus · July 2017

Not played my fretless for years. It's 5 string and I now play 4s for bass. I should dig it out again

PhilKing · August 2017

I have a Fretless "EB0" built by @WezV which he sensibly made a regular 34" scale, so it's easier to play, as the fingering is the same spacing as my Fender bases. This is me using it at a show last year https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGDy3CjQpNY

LaCathedrale_UK · August 2017

I had a Fretless 5 for about a year - my intonation was pretty good until around the seventh fret but after that I just couldn't make it work!

WezV · August 2017

Can you believe its 8 years old this year - i love the massive expanse of pure ebony on this

One thing to be aware of with fretless basses is the dots on the side often represent the fret position. Iliek to have lines where the frets should be and dots in the normal position halfway between the relevant frets

which you can see here

BigLicks67 · August 2017

I had a fretless briefly years ago, someone had done a Jaco on it, so all the fret lines were still visible, so it was certainly easier to play than a double bass.

Funkfingers · August 2017

I am not a fan of lined or de-fretted fingerboards. The temptation is always to judge pitch with the eye rather than with the ear.

Rocker · August 2017

Why make playing music harder and more difficult than it needs to be?

guitarfishbay · August 2017

Rocker said:

Why make playing music harder and more difficult than it needs to be?

The sound is different. You can't make a fretted bass sound like a fretless bass.

Anyway Orchestral strings players manage just fine, it's a skill you can learn.

mart · August 2017

Rocker said:

Why make playing music harder and more difficult than it needs to be?

Why ask the question if you don't listen to the answers?
http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1303470/#Comment_1303470
http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1305563/#Comment_1305563

Winny_Pooh · August 2017

Rocker said:

Why make playing music harder and more difficult than it needs to be?

Why make life harder by opposing everything you don't understand?

Funkfingers · August 2017

Winny_Pooh said:
Why make life harder by opposing everything you don't understand?

It never ceases to amaze me, the efforts to which some humans will go to avoid thinking.

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Fretless Basses

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