Fretless help and advice needed

[spiltmilk_2000]

Firstly I realise there’s already a similar thread but I have a few specific questions so thought it better to start a new thread rather than hijack someone else’s. Hope that’s cool...

So, have had a cheap squire fretless, bought on a whim, gathering dust for the last year and about 2 weeks back decided to give it a concerted effort and am really enjoying it despite how bad I currently sound! So far I’ve just been running a few scales and arps slowly and just improvising over a drone to try and improve intonation.

Although I doubt I’ll be playing fretless live for quite some time I’m considering moving all my practice onto fretless. Has anyone else done this and how did it affect your fretted playing when you went back to it? It’s a little early for me to say yet but I feel like because I HAVE to play fretless slowly and deliberately this should benefit my technique on fretted too?? And because I’m listening to every note that much more intently surely this too should improve my ear and fretted playing too? Or does it not work like that? Wishful thinking? What are your experiences?

Secondly from a repertoire and vocabulary perspective would you recommend translating the things I would usually play fretted onto the fretless or is it better to work on specific fretless repertoire to target specific fretless challenges? Études or even fretudes if you will :-) if anyone can suggest any good YouTube content / fretless specific websites etc I’d be very grateful!

Finally, the squire is lined thankfully! However I’m already noticing a tendency to play by eye rather than ear which is making me want to switch to unlined already! Is that just lunacy for someone at such an early stage in my fretless journey?

Thanks if you can advise on any of the above points!
Russ

Edited November 7, 2017 by spiltmilk_2000

[roman_sub]

IME effective fretless playing is about tying up your muscle memory with a clear sense of pitch. Singing actually helped my fretless playing, but also vice-versa. I tend to practice much more on my fretted bass, especially when working on right hand techniques.

Any of the Bach cello pieces would be good for fretless - though watch out for any chordal stuff or double-stops, or finger-barre stuff - may be more of a challenge keeping these in tune. Plus usual classic fretless lines - Pino, Jaco etc etc. To pick up on your point, fretless does seem to lend itself to more expressive, more vocal (normally meaning slower) lines.

re: lines / unlined - I think lines are a great aid, but you still have to [i]hear[/i] each note. The way fretlines fall in relation to your fingers means the positioning for accurate tuning will vary somewhat (e.g. just behind the line, exactly on it, etc(- so not just as simple as eyeing it up and leaving it at that, IMO. Gary Willis has some great pointers on this.

Unless you are willing to put in serious amounts of fretless practice, you will probably be out of tune more often on an unlined instrument. Apart from 'clean DB' looks, I don't personally see any advantage to fully unlined instruments. I changed my mind about this last point, having started out on an unlined instrument. These days I enjoy the lined fretless much more and worry less ;-)

Edited November 8, 2017 by roman_sub

[medpb]

Ive found over the years is get a bass that you really feel comfortable with. Some fretless basses ive played & owned you can just never get the intonation right ever & some feel like you can never get a note wrong. Status basses make killer fretless basses like that and so do Wal. But though they're best for me they might not be for you. I think with fretless you seriously need to make friends with your bass. You'll know when you find it !

Another tip is always make sure you can hear yourself properly & if you're playing with a band & especially when the PA guy turns the front of house up, its so easy to lose your sound/monitoring and sound like a t__t.

Try and play with other musicians as much as you can too, its so easy to sound in tune on your own but then when your playing with others its totally different.

Also trust yourself its sometimes better not to look at what your doing.

That last bit will make more sense once you get going. Good luck ; )

[spiltmilk_2000]

Cheers for the advice guys! How would you say your devotion to the fretless has impacted your fretted playing? I can’t see me really getting to grips with fretless totally unless I really dive in head first. Have you found your time on fretless beneficial when you pick up the fretted again?

[gary mac]

I would say playing fretless at home has helped with my fretted playing.

First off, I have to say that I'm not up to gigging standard on fretless but getting used to playing at home, on my unlined fretless and really listening, as opposed to looking at my fingers, has proved invaluable for when gigging my fretted basses. It has helped for example if the stage is dark, or I've been blinded momentarily by the stage lights and also I don't need to spend the whole gig looking at the fretboard

[Linus27]

To play fretless well, you need two very important skills, a good ear and really good muscle memory. I would maybe add strong technique as well but ear and muscle memory are vital. Your fretting fingers should fall into place automatically without needing to think about it. It should be as easy as playing a fretted bass. This then links with medpb's point about being really good friends with your bass. This is such a valid point. I had a Warwick Streamer Jazzman fretless and it was the easiest bass to play. Finding F on the E string is always a difficult note for me to get right but the Warwick fell into place every time. I then tried a Musicman Stingray Fretless and I just couldn't click with it, up and down the fretboard was always hit or miss but the Warwick was spot on always. It was just so comfortable.

As for practise, then you should just play everything on the fretless. Just look at it as another bass, not a fretless bass. The more you do, the stronger your muscle memory will be and the stronger your ear will become. Not all songs will work but the more you practise the better you will become.

For me, fretless is about tone and technique, not specific bass lines, trying to force it to sound all mwah and slidey. It should be like playing a fretted bass but with the fretless tone. If you try too hard it will just sound pants. Do go ahead and add expression and voicing in the notes but don't overdo it.

As for lined vs unlined. Personally I find unlined easier. Its like taking the stabalisers off and your not relying on the lines to be correct. Your ear and muscle memory should be covering that.

[Davebassics]

I use a drone underneath my scale/arpeggio/pattern practicing to help me spot when I am drifting out of pitch. Pitch is relative so if you are practicing without something to reference, you are only practicing staying on pitch relative to the first note you play. Having a drone behind your playing will help you spot pitch variations in your playing easier. Or at least that's the theory!

[Crawford13]

I would say playing fretless definitely helped my fretted technique, my fretting is much cleaner.

Gary Willis is the guy to check out, he can make his fretless sound like a fretted bass. If I’m honest though I tend to think of them as two seperate instruments. I find fretless a lot more expressive, but I doubt I would ever break out my fretless on a rock gig...