Heres a question I never thought I'd hafta ask. My nine year old stepson wants to learn to play bass. Hes got pretty good natural timing and pretty big hands, for a nine year old. Heres the question, would it be easier for him to learn on a fretted or a lined fretless instrument. I figure, hes not gonna have the feel for the instrument right off, so he'll have to watch the fretboard anyway, and the fretless has flatwounds and it far smoother to play than my fretted basses. Oh, and he likes the fretlesss SX over the Spectors. Whats wrong with him?

I guess the question is, do you guys foresee any problems with starting at square one with a fretless? And I know, we probably all learned on a fretted bass, so give your reply a little thought before answering. I know I have. I just dont wanna screw the poor kid up.

i dont think there should be any problem...if anything, but teachign him on a fretless it will hone his intonation much better as a beginner and make playing and technique better in the long run....go for it i say!

Fretted basses are probably easier to learn on, but I don't think a fretless would hold him back. String players all start without frets and they turn out fine (sort of:hmm: ).

I don't think starting on a fretless would be bad, but it would be hard. Taking that he is only nine, I think all the hard work and practice involved in a fretless vs. a fretted, he may get disappointed and give up. He may not be like that though.

Since you have basses, let him try and learn on both at the beginning switching between the two (if you have both fretted and fretless bass(es)) and see what he wants to learn on.

To me it seems obvious that starting with the fretted would be easier. But that doesn't mean that's what he absolutely has to start with. It kinda depends on what the ultimate goals are. If the goal is to play fretless eventually, then I guess you might as well start with that now. If not, then not.

First goal here is that he have success and enjoy the instrument. If he has the temperment to stick to a challenge, then get a fretless and some tape and mark the neck for him so he can get a feel for what is in tune as well has hear it.

If someone is around that can correct him and/or play with him then the fretless is a pretty cool thing to do. But otherwise I think a fretted would be best at least until he feels he can play OK.

I don't suggest fretless for a beginner because he has to work on the sound and be able to play clean without buzzing on the frets.

If he plays fretless he won't be working on that ,he won't be working on stretching his hands and using 4 fingers-4 frets properly and he might play out of tune all the time without knowing it!

I suggest a short scale fretted bass.

SB

If he has the desire and motivation to maintain a regular practive schedule, fretless would be a perfect way to start. It isn't harder than a fretted bass, especially if you have no experience on either. Think of it as being similar to learning to drive a stick shift vs. and automatic ....

There is this mystique in the bass world that fretless is somehow much more difficult, which it really isn't. It's just that many players who start on fretted basses develop habits that don't translate well to a fretless.

Young players learn to play "fretless" instruments all of the time (violins, viola, cello, DB) without a problem, no reason a fretless EB should be any different .... :cool:

There is this mystique in the bass world that fretless is somehow much more difficult, which it really isn't. It's just that many players who start on fretted basses develop habits that don't translate well to a fretless.

Young players learn to play "fretless" instruments all of the time (violins, viola, cello, DB) without a problem, no reason a fretless EB should be any different .... :cool:
I don't think it's a "mystique," really. To me it's indisputable. On a fretless, you have to worry about your intonation; on a fretted the frets largely do that for you. It's a real difference, and for a beginner a particularly big one, I'd say. This doesn't mean a beginner shouldn't start on a fretless--as I said, I think it depends on your goals--but I don't think it's fair to say there's not much difference in difficulty. IMO there is, and we might as well say so, in the interests of full disclosure.

As for learners of violin, viola etc. being able to deal with fretlessness with no problems ... well, the good one learn to deal, certainly, but "no problems"? Certainly there are problems, as even a cursory listen to the average beginning violin student will show (it can be pretty painful). The average guitarist can probably play more in tune within 3 days than the average violinist can within 3 years. And there are violinists who've played for years and years and still can't play in tune. There are some professional upright bassists, some fairly well known, who can't seem to play consistently in tune either. Some fretless EBGers, too. Good intonation isn't a trivial thing to attain.

Once again, none of this is to say a person can't or shouldn't start out on fretless EBG. I just think it's only fair to admit it's harder at first. I don't think we help anybody by softpedaling that.

Just my $0.02.

I agree with a lot of what has been said.

I'm not sure about flatwounds, because using roundwounds would build up Calyuses (I think, and i'm pretty sure it's spelt wrong)

lined fretless would be fine as far as I'm concerned. Violinist, Cellist, and Double Bassists all played unlined fretless.

Harder as it might be I think starting him out on a fretless is a lot like teaching him to drive a stick rather than an automatic. After learning on the fretless moving to fretted will be a breeze.

My concern would be more about the actual size of his hands and whether or not the instrument is suited to his hand size. Although fretless isn't necessarily harder for an adult, it does demand accurate finger placement (hence the intonation issue) and is less forgiving if you hands need to stretch quite a bit to physically hit the right spots (particularly 5th fret and lower where the fret spacing or sweet spot spacing is wider).

All for starting on a fretless just be sure his hands are big enough to get him to where he is comfortable expanding his skills. At nine he has a long way to go (I would never take on teaching a child that young on this instrument and would probably teach him piano first) and provided you don't set him up for frustrations he will adapt on his own if he is excited about the instrument. My experience back when I was still teaching was that often a bad instrument or one that was not well suited to the students physical attributes would discourage thier progress enough to sour them on the whole thing.

Take into account his physical attributes and make sure you start him on an instrument that he CAN play. Fretless or not this is something I think you need to consider when introducing a young person to music. If his hands are truly big enough to get aroung, say, a fretless Fender Jazz comfortably then he should be alright. If not consider a Squire or another bass that is more the three quarter size to accomidate his smaller stature.

These are just observations as I would be the last one to suggest how you should approach this with your son. Good luck though, music is still one of the greatest gifts we can give to our children.

I don't think it's a "mystique," really. To me it's indisputable. On a fretless, you have to worry about your intonation; on a fretted the frets largely do that for you. It's a real difference, and for a beginner a particularly big one, I'd say. This doesn't mean a beginner shouldn't start on a fretless--as I said, I think it depends on your goals--but I don't think it's fair to say there's not much difference in difficulty. IMO there is, and we might as well say so, in the interests of full disclosure.

As for learners of violin, viola etc. being able to deal with fretlessness with no problems ... well, the good one learn to deal, certainly, but "no problems"? Certainly there are problems, as even a cursory listen to the average beginning violin student will show (it can be pretty painful). The average guitarist can probably play more in tune within 3 days than the average violinist can within 3 years. And there are violinists who've played for years and years and still can't play in tune. There are some professional upright bassists, some fairly well known, who can't seem to play consistently in tune either. Some fretless EBGers, too. Good intonation isn't a trivial thing to attain.

Once again, none of this is to say a person can't or shouldn't start out on fretless EBG. I just think it's only fair to admit it's harder at first. I don't think we help anybody by softpedaling that.

Just my $0.02.
Valid points, for sure. As someone who started on DB and having played fretless all of my musical life, perhaps my statements are too general in nature. When I say "no problem", I don't mean to minimize the learning curve which is admittedly longer on a fretless bass. But it is easier to learn fretless playing if you haven't yet learned to rely on frets for intonation. And granted, playing a fretted bass is much more forgiving than a fretless ......