Best basslines for a FRETLESS beginner?

[fluffo]

Paul young where ever I lay my hat

[Zoe_BillySheehan]

Thank you @dmccombe7 😁

 

ZH

[mcnach]

22 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Came across this and was quite enjoying it till the singing started but the fretless bass is pretty impressive

 

 

singing?

I feel old...

 

 

[Frank Blank]

22 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Came across this and was quite enjoying it till the singing started but the fretless bass is pretty impressive

 

Thirty seconds until a man in black contact lenses appears, love it.

[stef030]

john martyn some people from grace and danger

easy to learn and super expressive

[dmccombe7]

19 minutes ago, stef030 said:

john martyn some people from grace and danger

easy to learn and super expressive

Good choice.

[Skinnyman]

Apologies if this was already suggested but Moon Over Bourbon Street by Sting sounds gorgeous on fretless. 

 

[Zoe_BillySheehan]

45 minutes ago, Skinnyman said:

Apologies if this was already suggested but Moon Over Bourbon Street by Sting sounds gorgeous on fretless. 

 

Thank you! Will check it out! ☺️

[Guest Marcoelwray]

Personally, I play fretless like a normal bass.

[lonestar]

New York Minute Don Henley 

great Pino bass part. I recently covered it on a Squier Fretless VM Jazz like yours 

[Bunion]

Almost anything off Ten album by Pearl Jam (not Jeremy) you can get your bass face on and go wild. 
kind of makes you forget there’s  no frets. 
 

Edited February 8, 2021 by Bunion

[Bunion]

I’ve recommended this before, it’s a series of exercises put together by Tony Franklin. 
I’m fairly new to fretless myself but I’ve found this series on the TrueFire app extremely useful. It of course needs to be paid for but I think TrueFire are having a sale atm. 
You get the backing tracks and notation/tab and you can isolate certain parts and loop tracks to practice along with. 
Some of the content is available on YouTube. 
well worth a look. 
 

[Bobthedog]

2 hours ago, Bunion said:

Almost anything off Ten album by Pearl Jam (not Jeremy) you can get your bass face on and go wild. 
kind of makes you forget there’s  no frets. 
 

Black is one of my go to tracks to chill out with. I have a fretless bass but have never played this on it.  Doh!

[mr4stringz]

22 hours ago, Bunion said:

Almost anything off Ten album by Pearl Jam (not Jeremy) you can get your bass face on and go wild. 
kind of makes you forget there’s  no frets. 
 

Ten is a masterclass in tasteful fretless playing. Was my go to back when I was learning fretless.

[51m0n]

Old thread, I know, and Mick Kahn has had a couple of mentions already, but this track is so good I thought I'd point it out:-

 

https://youtu.be/Wf_g9bvCO44

[Stub Mandrel]

On 17/04/2019 at 21:35, Zoe_BillySheehan said:

liding harmonics are super fun!

Lovely double one in Pino's wherever I lay my hat 🙂 Very satisfying to nail it!

[2pods]

On 21/04/2019 at 17:49, stef030 said:

john martyn some people from grace and danger

easy to learn and super expressive

Danny Thompson on Upright on the older stuff. John Giblin and Alan Thomson on the later stuff. All have great feel, and the bass is usually well up in the mix too 👍

[41Hz]

Surely this should be one the list......🤣

 

[StickyDBRmf]

Play stuff w/ octaves and fifths. Play with "tuned" instruments. If not with a band (hardly right now) along with records. Make sure the intonation is correct - harmonics vs. "fretted" 12th. I started playing bass on a Fender Jazz and found an upright in High School and thought my intonation was the bomb. Found a Fender Precision maple neck fretless and took it to band rehersal and COULD NOT PLAY IN TUNE. (and I didn't bring the Jazz because I was gonna show everybody) This was a band with horns - we were doing Chicago & Brecker Bros. and etc., and it was embarrassing...until about the end of rehersal when my intonation came around. But did my hand arm and neck hurt from the tension I was creating to "hear". And I was sometimes reading charts so I wasn't looking, I was listening, at an un-lined neck - to this day I don't like lined fretless. You have to use your ears. AND. GOOD LUCK AND FIND YOUR OWN VOICE. 

[ezbass]

These are hardly beginner lines, but I think we’ve moved on since the thread was started. A breakdown of Bakithi’s playing on Graceland...

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by ezbass