Anyone play exclusively fretless?

[philwood]

There's probably already a thread with this, but i'm just curious to find out if there's anyone on here who plays only fretless and how they get on, i.e do you ever find yourself in a situation where you wish you had a fretted?

Thanks

Edited September 22, 2012 by philwood

[BassBus]

I used to dep with a band a few times a year with fretted but they don't seem to want me any more. Sacked! Huh! So that leaves me exclusively fretless. I don't think fretted would fit too well in the jazz and folk I'm in. So no, no problems here. Prefer the sound anyway. I once took a fretted along to jazz band and the leader commented there was more freedom in the sound of the fretless. Fine by me.

[paul_5]

Pretty much, in fact I've just sold my last fretted bass this week. I'm in the position where I can pretty much do what I want (musically), so I opted for fretless as it's a more expressive, lyrical feel and sound. Occasionally I'll miss having frets (chord stuff and fast passages up the dusty end) but for the most part I carry on regardless. I still use all the effects that I ran on my fretted (Big Muff, Woolly Mammoth, envelope filters etc..) and the differentce is negligible, I am pretty heavy with my plucking hand though, so I can still get the 'string noise' that I need for rock stuff. \m/

[ezbass]

Although I have fretted basses, I'm really only playing my Ibanez GWB35 these days and I'm loving it. The band I'm using it in is an 80s covers band so it's very appropriate. We do do songs which really lend themselves to fretted (The Pretenders for instance) but I just stick to the fretless and it sounds fine to me and the ret of the band seem happy with it too.

[thisnameistaken]

In the '90s I played only fretless and got along fine, can't remember ever wishing I had a fretted bass for anything. I got tired of the sound in the end and went back to fretted basses.

[Blademan_98]

I love my fretless but the band I am in at the moment is just not suited to fretless

So, to answer your question, yes I have!

[Mykesbass]

I only play fretless but don't really play in a fretless style - yes, odd I know. I use pressurewound strings so halfway between round and flats and play fairly rocky versions of Dylan songs. Don't know why but just feel more comfortable with fretless.

[philw]

Up until the last year or so I hardly touched a fretted bass for nearly three decades. I guess it's been that way 'cause I've never played covers but always stuck to original material that sits mostly in the Venn diagram where jazz, folk and pop genres overlap - so fretless has always been the sound of choice (and I bought a Wal in 1983). Also, I only really got into playing bass through being inspired by Jaco, John Giblin, Percy Jones and Eberhard Weber - so fretted was never what I wanted to do.

Recently though, the band I'm in has begun to do a couple of songs where fretted (Yamaha BEX4) with flats, played with a pick (err, that's "pick" for all those tempted to insert an "r") works really well. And do you know what? I really love it.

P

[WillEdwards]

I have both a fretless (Warwick standard) and fretted (Ibanez). I play fretless most of the time but find that I sometimes want the sharper sound that you get from a fretted bass. I mostly play jazz and soul most of the time and sometimes funk but even then I don't [u]need[/u] a fretted bass I can just pluck harder. So to answer your question, I could get away with just having a fretless, but I like to have the option.

[philwood]

Thanks for all the replies everyone, much appreciated to get the opinions of you all.
I think a defret is in order!

[lettsguitars]

Dur. Yea! Frets are for children!

[musophilr]

Used to ... but bass isn't my first instrument and I realised that each time I picked it up it took a long time to get back into playing it in tune. So when it was time for a new bass, I got a fretted one.

[Dave Vader]

My two fretted basses have been sat in their cases doing bugger all for the last 2 years. I can't bring myself to sell them in case I suddenly feel I need them. But I can do pretty much everything on my unlined fretless these days. Would only be for the right look if i hit a band that gave that much of a sh*t about it.

[BigRedX]

I got into fretless about 10 years ago.

I could hear fretless lines in the band I joined back then so I bought a cheapy off eBay to see how I would get on and went through 6 or 7 fretless basses before getting Martin Petersen to build me a fretless Sei Flamboyant. Once I started playing, I went from using on a couple of songs to nearly all of the set in the space of 6 months. It was never exclusively fretless though, as there were always couple of songs that needed the sound and precision of frets.

These days I don't play them much because it doesn't really fit into the sound of either of the bands I'm currently playing with. In the future who knows?

Edited September 26, 2012 by BigRedX

[Bilbo]

Been 98% a fretless player for 26 years. I have played fretted in that time but not much (very occasional gig) and not in the last 5 years (I sold my last fretted bass on here a couple of years ago and it had been hanging on the wall for a long time before that). In that 26 years, I have played duos to big bands, rock, blues, funk, pop, latin and jazz. I think it is important to recognise that there are genres that do benefit from a fretted instrument (slapping and tapping, to me, sound unpleasant on fretless, for instance, but, as I do neither, it is not a problem). I think that the idea that all fretless playing is mwah and extreme slides is unfounded. Have a listen to my soundcloud page; everything electric on there is the same fretless bass.

[mcgraham]

I think I can count myself as exclusively fretless now. Haven't touched my fretted for a good few years now. Certainly haven't gigged with it in years. Great bass but the fretless is 'just me'.

[Chris2112]

I've been there and done that before. Generally I didn't find myself wanting frets too much for most things, but some things were just completely undoable (Level 42, for instance).

In the end, I realised I was happier with a fretted bass!

[chrismuzz]

I've never even held a fretless bass

[Kiwi]

If I'm just sitting down to enjoy the act of playing bass, I tend to go for fretless. It feels so much more expressive.

[mart]

I've played fretless almost exclusively for nearly twenty years, because the sort of playing that needs a fretted bass is either stuff I can't do or stuff I don't want to do. The only time I pick up a fretted bass these days is if I'm playing something with a set bass line that is all over the place, then I play fretted so I don't have to worry about my intonation and can concentrate fully on finding the next note. But then I do get frustrated at how limiting the frets are, it feels like I have much less control over the note than on a fretless.

[WillEdwards]

[quote name='mart' timestamp='1348730677' post='1817338']
I've played fretless almost exclusively for nearly twenty years, because the sort of playing that needs a fretted bass is either stuff I can't do or stuff I don't want to do. The only time I pick up a fretted bass these days is if I'm playing something with a set bass line that is all over the place, then I play fretted so I don't have to worry about my intonation and can concentrate fully on finding the next note. But then I do get frustrated at how limiting the frets are, [b]it feels like I have much less control over the note than on a fretless.[/b]
[/quote]

I feel the same way. I am first and for most a double bass player but have begun to play bass guitar over the past couple of years. I had a crappy fretted bass and found that the frets 'got in the way' because I was so used to a smooth fingerboard so I had to buy myself a fretless.