Will fretless ever make a comeback?

[julesb]

I love fretless but I can't remember the last time I saw a classified ad asking for fretless player. It seems to have been deeply unfashionable for years now for bands to feature a fretless. I'm not talking about youtube virtuosos or niche prog just your regular bands.

[ivansc]

Bearing in mind the pretty much total ignorance of other musicians as to what a fretless can be made to do, why would they even think to advertise specifically for a fretless bass player?

...unless it is for something like a Paul `n Pino trib band....

[ahpook]

To be fair most bands don't advertise for 'fretted basses only', so there's nothing to stop you taking a fretless to an audition. You're still playing bass, after all.

Edited April 10, 2017 by ahpook

[dannybuoy]

I wouldn't expect to see an ad asking for a fretless player any more than I would expect to see and add asking for a Fender Precision player.

I played fretless in a 'regular band' for a number of years, the ad I replied to never mentioned fretless of course but it was the only bass I had at the time! Later I got a fretted bass also and used both depending on what was most appropriate for the track.

Edited April 10, 2017 by dannybuoy

[Grangur]

Most people putting a band together won't have given the bass that much thought other than knowing they want the groove in a thump in the background. They'll be thinking more about their own sound in the mix.

[radiophonic]

At best, most non-bassists have a very skewed idea of what a fretless sounds like (i.e. 1980s Paul Young records), so they'd probably rather gnaw their own arm off rather than advertise for a fretless player. For years, any ballad demanded fretless and too much chorus and the world rightly wearied of it. See also, slap, freeze dried guitar shredding and the Yamaha DX7. In reality of course, fretted and fretless overlap massively in terms of what they can sound like, so unless you are required to play mostly slap or to slide harmonics all the time, either is fine for pretty much anything. Depending on the set list, I take one or the other if I can get away with it rather than lugging two basses.

[ahpook]

[quote name='radiophonic' timestamp='1491817448' post='3275511']
....and the Yamaha DX7.
[/quote]

Edited April 10, 2017 by ahpook

[Sonic_Groove]

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1491817888' post='3275516']

[/quote]

I Love the DX7

B

[paul_5]

[quote name='Sonic_Groove' timestamp='1491819478' post='3275539']
I Love the DX7
[/quote]

I don't .

[TheGreek]

Flares made a brief comeback so surely there still hope for fretless...

[Tonteee]

And... the Yamaha DX7?

[paul_5]

To be honest though, fretless never went away 'round here...

[bubinga5]

I didn't know it had gone. I hear it a lot . Maybe not in popular music.

Edited April 10, 2017 by bubinga5

[julesb]

Ok I stand corrected. 😂😂😂

1. Fretless is just as popular as fretted.

2. There's no difference between the two.

My next thread will be: Will playing a bass 2mm from your chin ever make a come back?

[ead]

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1491820198' post='3275548']
Flares made a brief comeback so surely there still hope for fretless...
[/quote]

Damn, did I miss this? I have my purple ones with obligatory paisley inserts on standby.

[fleabag]

[quote name='julesb' timestamp='1491823821' post='3275583']
Ok I stand corrected.


My next thread will be: Will playing a bass 2mm from your chin ever make a come back?
[/quote]

That never went away either. I'm sure Mark King is still playing 2" from his chin

[lojo]

If you mean will it become more common Again in pop and rock recordings then I hope so

So many great tracks built on the fretless sound and we need more

[julesb]

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1491828425' post='3275650']
If you mean will it become more common Again in pop and rock recordings then I hope so

So many great tracks built on the fretless sound and we need more
[/quote]

In a nutshell. Thanks for getting the intended drift of my post.

[MrDaveTheBass]

I don't know about generally, but in my case it has. - I joined an originals outfit last year and turned up with a fretted. A couple of rehearsals in, I was asked, "Er...can you play fretless?" I dug out my old fretless that'd been lying in its case under the bed for the last 20 years and surprised myself at being able to play it much better than I remembered. I'm now all set for fretless world domination... Mwah Ha Ha!

[julesb]

[quote name='MrDaveTheBass' timestamp='1491830176' post='3275683']
I don't know about generally, but in my case it has. - I joined an originals outfit last year and turned up with a fretted. A couple of rehearsals in, I was asked, "Er...can you play fretless?" I dug out my old fretless that'd been lying in its case under the bed for the last 20 years and surprised myself at being able to play it much better than I remembered. I'm now all set for fretless world domination... Mwah Ha Ha!
[/quote]

Great!

[geoffbyrne]

I pretty much play fretless for everything these days except when I want to be certain of my intonation in the studio.

G.

[blue]

Unless your playing jazz, why would anyone need or want a fretless bass guitar.

Blue

[drTStingray]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1491866524' post='3276059']
Unless your playing jazz, why would anyone need or want a fretless bass guitar.

Blue
[/quote]

It has a place in other types of music and the fact is, it can sound like a fretted bass when you want it to but with the ability to step out in some tasteful phrases. Blue, you clearly haven't heard Pino from the 80s.

I occasionally take mine to gigs in the bluesy funky band I play in and the other band members are quite supportive - audience members have made positive comments as well.

I think it can be a very musical and tasteful addition to some songs so no reason why it couldn't become more popular again. One of my favourite Fretless parts.....from the days when bass guitar played an important part in pop music.

http://youtu.be/Tg-Q-Acv4qs

Edited April 10, 2017 by drTStingray

[blue]

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1491868390' post='3276064']


It has a place in other types of music and the fact is, it can sound like a fretted bass when you want it to but with the ability to step out in some tasteful phrases. Blue, you clearly haven't heard Pino from the 80s.

I occasionally take mine to gigs in the bluesy funky band I play in and the other band members are quite supportive - audience members have made positive comments as well.

I think it can be a very musical and tasteful addition to some songs so no reason why it couldn't become more popular again. One of my favourite Fretless parts.....from the days when bass guitar played an important part in pop music.
[/quote]

Makes sense to me.

Now that I think about it I think Paul Young's recording of Daryl Hall's "Everytime You Go Away" employs a fretless bass guitar and it sounds awesome.

Blue

Edited April 11, 2017 by blue

[Trueno]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1491866524' post='3276059']
Unless your playing jazz, why would anyone need or want a fretless bass guitar.

Blue
[/quote]

When I was doing a lot of gigging it was much easier to play fretless with my bony arthriticky hands. My last band played classic rock, I just turned up to the audition with the fretless and away I went... no comments, no complaints. Unless you play it to emphasise the fretlessness (depending on the type of music) I don't see that it makes any difference.