The Strangest Gear Demonstration Video You'll Ever Watch!

[Hellzero]

If you want to hear a lefty 12 strings (no octave) fretless bass player in tune and having something to say, better watch this:

 

[musicbassman]

8 hours ago, Hellzero said:

If you want to hear a lefty 12 strings (no octave) fretless bass player in tune and having something to say, better watch this:

 

Blimey, he's a bit good, isn't he ? A new name to me. Not a big fan of fretless myself, but well worth watching.

A lot of intelligent commentary throughout the video, and he does play a standard Jazz bass on a couple of tracks (fretless, of course)

[Beedster]

9 hours ago, Hellzero said:

But, he's honest (and quite sympathetic too) and says he can be out of tune sometimes ... well most of the time.

 

And the interviewer is asking such stupid questions about the way to play fretless to a guy who obviously can't play fretless!?!

 

Amazing!

 

That about sums it up 👍

[Beedster]

9 hours ago, Hellzero said:

If you want to hear a lefty 12 strings (no octave) fretless bass player in tune and having something to say, better watch this:

 

 

He appears to know what he's doing 👍

[Beedster]

44 minutes ago, musicbassman said:

Not a big fan of fretless myself, but well worth watching.

 

I'm a big fan of fretless in ensemble playing, but why do nearly all fretless soloists appear to produce the same nasal and vibrato-rich tone, almost irrespective of instrument and genre (dare I say the J word.....)? 

[Hellzero]

And why do fretted players overuse slap?

 

It's exactly the same question, Chris. 😉

[Beedster]

3 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

And why do fretted players overuse slap?

 

It's exactly the same question, Chris. 😉

 

I don't think they do mate, yes there's certainly a lot of it, but there's other stuff also. But I struggle to find solo fretless that doesn't have that tone. I even listened to a demo of a beautiful acoustic fretless a few weeks back and, you guessed it, Jaco  

 

Very happy to be proved wrong  

[Hellzero]

Never been to a show or a store, Chris?

 

It's slappity slap everywhere.

 

Try Dean Peer, as he is a different fretless player, a harmonic master user:

 

 

But that mwah nasal tone is also the signature of fretless bass and what 99% of the players/listeners are waiting for.

 

That said, I recorded an album with my now definitely over duet (as the guitarist with whom I played during 10 years sadly died last year) with both fretted and fretless basses (Leduc U-Basse fretted 6 and Leduc Masterpiece fretless 6), and afterwards people were telling me that I had a superb fretless tone on some tunes that were played with the fretted U-Basse, but it was also the idea... So reversed engineering here. 😉

[Chris2112]

I happened to stumble across this video a while ago and found it equally bizarre. Clearly, he is not a fretless player and probably should have asked for the interview to be kept brief with a spec sheet in front of him. The short clip where he is playing is pretty hokey. 

 

That said, I found this particular bass a really odd place to start with fretless, if you're not a fretless player. The Thumb is idiosyncratic enough without having two more strings than you'd normally have on a Thumb. I play both lined and unlined fretless and I do prefer a lined board when the going gets tough. Whenever I see these heavily figured boards on an unlined fretless I always wonder if the figuring there wouldn't just distract you from getting your fingers in the right place. 

 

Obviously the guy has spent thousands and thousands on this bass without the chops to get to grips with it, but that's nothing new. Everyone will have seen players who have walls of Alembics yet nothing more exciting than three chord blues. I hope he is getting on better with it now but I expect that it's probably being used as an ornament. 

[fleabag]

I got a couple of minutes in, but after he kept saying ' basically ' and ' whatever '  it was time for a cup of tea. Then he hit that low open string - click, gone

 

Everyone has the right to waste their money, and he's a champion.

[TheGreek]

Why make a music video and not play? That low F# will get virtually no use so pointless having it IMO.

 

I struggled to stay with this - the rambling and lack of any intelligent answers made this a video I won't be revisiting.

[Hellzero]

Urm, urm, that's not that much better with the fretted sibling... 🤦🏻‍♂️

 

 

So to become an endorser nowadays, simply don't learn music...

 

That said, I like it when he starts playing with a plectrum, sounds like a washing machine finishing its cycle. 🤔🤘🤪

[Hellzero]

 

Please don't pìss in your pants.

Edited March 8, 2023 by Hellzero

[fleabag]

But can he make toast ?

[TheGreek]

30 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Urm, urm, that's not that much better with the fretted sibling... 🤦🏻‍♂️

 

 

So to become an endorser nowadays, simply don't learn music...

 

That said, I like it when he starts playing with a plectrum, sounds like a washing machine finishing its cycle. 🤔🤘🤪

 

I'm not even going to look at it 🖕

[tauzero]

The fact that neither of them can pronounce "Warwick" is another point against.

[greentext]

22 hours ago, Hellzero said:

So the guy never played a fretless, decided to have one built by the deliriously expensive Warwick Custom Shop AND, that's where it's totally weird, without anything (dots, lines, ...) to help him being accurate, because he also decided to trust his ears, which aren't the best ones, that said.

haha yh this was going to be my point exactly, clearly has more money then sense to order TWO seven string basses that he clearly cant play either of them very well at all. Now i'm not one for burning people down on ability BUT why are Warwick and other channels giving this guy such a platform when he just isnt a good player. 

 

I appreciate him admitting he is learning fretless on a 7 string with no line (god why) but why if you really dont have a clue whats up are you showcasing the bass on Youtube, let someone else play it so show what it can do... I dont know very very odd interview. I watched some of his other videos of him playing, seems to be consistently poor and looks like he owns the basses just for the extra clout he can get online. 

Edited March 8, 2023 by greentext

[greentext]

Also if we are talking other awkward bass interviews, this one from Thomann with Stuart Zender is the cringest of the cringe and just everything about it is terrible.

 

 

[Bleat]

I'm going to have nightmares tonight about being sat between Stuart Zender and JK in a pub unable to move, then that other bloke walks in with his god awful Warwick 7 string fretless.

 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

39 minutes ago, greentext said:

Also if we are talking other awkward bass interviews, this one from Thomann with Stuart Zender is the cringest of the cringe and just everything about it is terrible.

 

 

This is genuinely unnerving. 

[fleabag]

38 minutes ago, greentext said:

Also if we are talking other awkward bass interviews, this one from Thomann with Stuart Zender is the cringest of the cringe and just everything about it is terrible.

 

 

 

 

Did you say it was an interview ? 

All i heard was bleugh bleugh, thak, thak thak, bleugh bleugh.  Drummer losing his timing.

[greentext]

7 minutes ago, Bleat said:

I'm going to have nightmares tonight about being sat between Stuart Zender and JK in a pub unable to move, then that other bloke walks in with his god awful Warwick 7 string fretless.

 

haha you and me both 

[greentext]

2 minutes ago, fleabag said:

Drummer losing his timing.

the drummer is the cherry on top of this poo poo sandwich of an interview, absolute scenes 

[fleabag]

Indeed

I thought people spoke in an interview. 

[Bleat]

1 minute ago, greentext said:

haha you and me both 

 

Hopefully mine will end at the bit where Zender pulls his signature pedal out of his pocket and repeatedly demands in a loud German accent that Warwick guy gives us a demo of it.