Talk me out of going fretless

[dclaassen]

Yup…I use it quite a bit. That is a good playing P bass

[StickyDBRmf]

Cool thing you can do on a fretless: hit a harmonic, fret it, then pull it up, or down. Instant Percy Jones. 

Lines throw me off. If I'm looking. I don't know why. I play by ear. 

Also: You can actually be in tune with the guitarist.

[Beedster]

4 minutes ago, StickyDBRmf said:

Also: You can actually be in tune with the guitarist.

That is no joke, had an awful gig on fretted before Xmas with a guitarist constantly going out of tune and so wished I’d picked up the fretless 🤔

[StickyDBRmf]

Just now, Beedster said:

That is no joke, had an awful gig on fretted before Xmas with a guitarist constantly going out of tune and so wished I’d picked up the fretless 🤔

Try being a Stick player. I can tune twelve strings, both sides in tune with each other, and then the guitarist plays a chord.

I have a ten-string Ironwood Stick that had the frets removed. Mistake #1: Unwound strings "tapped" are really difficult to balance with the wound, "bass" tapped notes. Mistake #2: the luthier put fret lines in it. (see previous post)

[nilorius]

8 hours ago, lownote said:

 

yes, but think where Jaco could have got to without lines

He would not be able to play donna lee so fast.

[mario_buoninfante]

yeah, fretless basses are bad... as*
 

 

[itu]

Fretless and pick: Paco de Lucia - One summer night (Carles Benavent)

 

Fretless 5: Tribal tech (Gary Willis), CAB (Bunny Brunel)

 

Fretless and drumsticks (funk fingers): Tony Levin

 

Slide: Morphine (does not have to be a fretless, but...)

 

E-bow: Michael Manring - Thonk

 

Octaver: Paul Young - No parlez (Pino Palladino)

 

Nylon strings, and piccolo tuning: Brian Bromberg

 

Fingers, just plain fingers: John Giblin

 

Someone has certainly used a bow, a looper, a synthesizer, and whatever.

 

I need to add one record from a double bassist: Edgar Meyer - Dreams of flight

[Downunderwonder]

On 14/02/2023 at 02:41, tauzero said:

. a new plain fretboard fitted...

that's a fingerboard.

[uk_lefty]

As if you needed more persuasion.... For a long time my only bass was a five string fretless. And I played classic rock, Black Sabbath etc with it and though I couldn't clank the strings I didn't have to mwah it all over the place, it was just "bass". We played one or two Pearl Jam songs though and the reverb and chorus were on and it was mwah all over! It was a fretless Kramer which is now over twenty years old, I don't think you'll find one easily and if you did you might not like the styling, it's an acquired taste!

 

I now have five basses. My most recent acquisition is the Harley Benton jaco-alike fretless jazz. For £150 brand new it is excellent. I have had two Sire basses (still got one of them, V9 fretted 5) and my Thomann wishlist has the V5 fretless in it... 

 

Just do it. What do you lose? You buy a bass you can resell, you spend some time scratching an itch. What do you gain? A new bass that does something your existing basses can't, a new technique, a new way to express yourself. I always find new, different, basses encourage me to make different note choices, you will discover something guaranteed. Even if that discovery is "I like fretless, just when other people play it".

[Ralf1e]

On 13/02/2023 at 09:25, Fishfacefour said:

Definitely heading for a lined neck for that reason. 

Would definitely talk you into it. IMHO. It will make you a better player.

I have lined and unlined. Muscle memory doesn't see the lines neither do your ears.

Even before you buy spend time with your fretted playing it as if it were fretless. Keep hitting those frets instead of the spaces in between. It will be a great help for later.

I would be so bold as to suggest that the side dot markers in the right place i.e. where the frets should be not in line with the fretboard dot markers in between the frets is a thing you should look for. If you can find a bass with those markers it will help you no end to learn the muscle memory to hit those spots that are in tune.

If you can't find one consider putting them in yourself or have a tech do it for you.

Personally I think it insane to have the side markers out of line with where the frets would have been. I really can't see why manufacturers do it.

Some of the older makes like Westone thunders were very good basses for not a lot of money and there are fretless payers on here that will confirm that.

For some reason they sell sometimes for a fraction of their real value as a very well crafted bass.

It wouldn't hurt you if you could find one. Same thing goes for a good Spectrum.

As someone else on here said play in the dark sometimes. If you have a good ear it will help that muscle memory a great deal.
Rotosound 88 tru bass

Black nylon bass guitar strings

Sound great, play great and last for ages.

Hope this all makes sense and helps you.

Go for it and enjoy it.

[Fishfacefour]

Just been watching a great course on Scott's bass lessons with Steve Lawson as an intro to fretless. Some great tips and exercises to help transition from a fretted bass. 

It's shown I really need to focus on my precision before moving over I think. 

But it's also made me more excited for the range of sounds and expression. 

 

Unless something second hand pops up I'll be aiming for a sire p7 I think. 

[tauzero]

7 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

that's a fingerboard.

 

Good, someone's paying attention.

[tauzero]

Incidentally, a fretless Precision is rather an oxymoron as the Precision name was bestowed upon it by St Leo because it had frets so bass players would get the notes right.

[lownote]

2 hours ago, Ralf1e said:

As someone else on here said play in the dark sometimes. If you have a good ear it will help that muscle memory a great deal.

At last years Dereham Blues Festival the band I was in at the time were dropped last minute into subbing for a band in a dark club venue. Despite not being able to see no worries because i had fretless muscle memory.

[nikon F]

16 hours ago, tauzero said:

Incidentally, a fretless Precision is rather an oxymoron as the Precision name was bestowed upon it by St Leo because it had frets so bass players would get the notes right.

but are not all basses with frets P's , going on the reason they were called precisions in the first place ? whereas now its the pup configuration that defines them .   anyway i'm going to talk ( the o.p.  ) out of getting a fretless         

JUST GET ONE !.....       damn.

[police squad]

yep get one. Until recently I had 3. Now I only have my bitsa P bass, maple board, no lines. Looks and sounds awesome. I'll keep it just in case I need a fretless in the future. I did do some rock gigs with it and it sounded great

[Pseudonym]

Don't do it. Fretless basses are all manufactured by child labour in shacks controlled by warlords. The fingerboards are made from ivory painted with carcinogenic black pigment. Some manufacturers have a history of links to IG Farben, the gulag system, Pol Pot or Jimmy Savile. The pickups attract tariffs of 3000% and their configuration will trigger sprinkler systems in any major shipping warehouse. This is known to cause water damage that distorts the ivory fingerboard, which is then unplayable even for jazz, and increases the risk of fatal electrocution when selecting the neck pickup.

 

Really, it isn't worth it.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Pseudonym
I'm trying to persuade myself, really. I don't have the room, and my shoulder is wrecked.

[nilorius]

1 hour ago, Pseudonym said:

Don't do it. Fretless basses are all manufactured by child labour in shacks controlled by warlords. The fingerboards are made from ivory painted with carcinogenic black pigment. Some manufacturers have a history of links to IG Farben, the gulag system, Pol Pot or Jimmy Savile. The pickups attract tariffs of 3000% and their configuration will trigger sprinkler systems in any major shipping warehouse. This is known to cause water damage that distorts the ivory fingerboard, which is then unplayable even for jazz, and increases the risk of fatal electrocution when selecting the neck pickup.

 

Really, it isn't worth it.

It looks like you are - bad to the ''fretless'' bone.

Edited February 16, 2023 by nilorius

[uk_lefty]

12 hours ago, Pseudonym said:

unplayable even for jazz,

This tickled me a lot.

[Fishfacefour]

so, how easy is it jumping between different scales? There is a 35" spector core on Guitar Guitar at the moment. Will this play havoc with the muscle memory?

[Paul S]

Doesn't take long to adjust once you have the hang of it.  Back when I had a use for all of them I used to swap between Uke bass, short scale fretted, long scale fretted, long scale fretless and EUB quite a bit and I wouldn't say I was the most accomplished of players.

[ezbass]

Can't say that it's a particularly big issue for me. I have a 33", a 35" and my 42" EUB. My muscle memory seems to be connected to which bass I'm playing rather than the actual scale. Weird for sure, but that seems to be the end product.

[dclaassen]

3 hours ago, Fishfacefour said:

so, how easy is it jumping between different scales? There is a 35" spector core on Guitar Guitar at the moment. Will this play havoc with the muscle memory?

This is the same as what I use. It took me about 10 minutes to get used to. Cracking bass…run with cash in hand!

[TheLowDown]

6 hours ago, Fishfacefour said:

Will this play havoc with the muscle memory?

I wouldn't worry about it. I switch between long scale and short scale and 4, 5 and 6 string. If you switch regularly it quickly becomes second nature. 

Edited February 17, 2023 by TheLowDown

[BlueMoon]

11 hours ago, TheLowDown said:

I wouldn't worry about it. I switch between long scale and short scale and 4, 5 and 6 string. If you switch regularly it quickly becomes second nature. 

This has also been my experience. The more times you do it the less of an issue you think it is. In reality,  it isn’t an issue.