My understanding (which may be wrong) is that the key thing is intonation, making sure you're in tune and pitch with the other instruments you're playing with.

It is my understanding to that instead of playing in the box between the frets on a fretted bass, your finger actually "becomes" the fret while playing fretless.

My understanding is that you can do smoother glassindos and vabrotos and their is even the mwah factor (which I'm not so sure what that is or how it's achieved).

But with these techniques and characteristics of the fretless how does one approach playing the instrument? Do I play it (style wise, not technique wise) like a fretted bass?

My style is a mixture of sublime and band of gypsies, a funk, 60's rock, and reggea kind of fusion thing going on. I slap rarely but never through a whole song, just as added flavor ever so often when jamming.

Can I play voodoo child (slight return) on the fretless? In other words as long as my intonation is good can I play blues, punk rock, reggea or hard rock on a fretless is what I'm getting at! Can I?

Basically can I play the fretless like a fretted bass and just kick over my amps and set it on fire? Can I rock out on a fretless? Any advice?

My understanding (which may be wrong) is that the key thing is intonation, making sure you're in tune and pitch with the other instruments you're playing with.

Intonation is essential, on any instrument.

It is my understanding to that instead of playing in the box between the frets on a fretted bass, your finger actually "becomes" the fret while playing fretless.

Yep.

My understanding is that you can do smoother glassindos and vabrotos and their is even the mwah factor (which I'm not so sure what that is or how it's achieved).

You understand a lot ;)
But yep. And Mwah is that sought after tone on fretless. Much like a swell, it literally produces a MWAHHH sound. Not like a kiss, just like it's spelt.


But with these techniques and characteristics of the fretless how does one approach playing the instrument? Do I play it (style wise, not technique wise) like a fretted bass?

Start with a tuner. And scales. Make sure EVERYTHING you play is in tune.

My style is a mixture of sublime and band of gypsies, a funk, 60's rock, and reggea kind of fusion thing going on. I slap rarely but never through a whole song, just as added flavor ever so often when jamming.

Can I play voodoo child (slight return) on the fretless? In other words as long as my intonation is good can I play blues, punk rock, reggea or hard rock on a fretless is what I'm getting at! Can I?

Of course you can. You can play anything if your intonation is good. You can play emo music if your intonation is bad.

Basically can I play the fretless like a fretted bass and just kick over my amps and set it on fire? Can I rock out on a fretless? Any advice?

Of course you can. Have you ever seen Jaco?

Well, the fretless bass is just a bass. It's not an exotically different instrument like a krumhorn (!) or something. You still have the basic concerns you have on any bass. You still have to choose good notes and play them in good time, with good tone and good feel. It's still bass playing, so don't look at it as some massively different thing. You can play any kind of music you want on a fretless, if you like the way it sounds. Paul Simonon played fretless in the Clash. IIRC, Chuck Schuldinger played fretless in a death metal band (I think that's the guy I'm thinking of).

That said, there are some differences. Intonation is one, as you correctly recognize. You do have to pay more attention to that on a fretless. You also have certain expressive inflectional possibilities (like glissando, "mwah," etc.) that you typically don't on a fretted, which you also recognize. In addition, the attack of the note can sound different, because on the neck end the note is being terminated by flesh and wood, both of which are softer than the metal of a fret. Thus there are certain nuances of sound that can be harder to get on a fretless than on a fretted.

As for style, that's up to you. The sound you want to hear will govern that. But yeah, you can rock out on a fretless if you want to. Fortunately, there are no Fretless Police to stop you.;)

Intonation is essential, on any instrument.



Yep.



You understand a lot ;)
But yep. And Mwah is that sought after tone on fretless. Much like a swell, it literally produces a MWAHHH sound. Not like a kiss, just like it's spelt.



Start with a tuner. And scales. Make sure EVERYTHING you play is in tune.



Of course you can. You can play anything if your intonation is good. You can play emo music if your intonation is bad.



Of course you can. Have you ever seen Jaco?

Thanks alot, just wanted to confirm things!

Until the P(recision)-Bass came out, every bass was fretless. :)

Chuck Schuldinger played fretless in a death metal band (I think that's the guy I'm thinking of).


As for style, that's up to you. The sound you want to hear will govern that. But yeah, you can rock out on a fretless if you want to. Fortunately, there are no Fretless Police to stop you.;)

Steve DiGiorgio was the bass player, Chuck Schuldiner was the guitarist/mastermind.

While there is no "Fretless Police", there is fretless on some Police songs!

That being said, it's still a bass. You can play it in any style. I can play "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" on a fretless (matter of fact I was earlier today) so I'm sure you can figure it, too!

Steve DiGiorgio was the bass player, Chuck Schuldiner was the guitarist/mastermind.

You are correct, sir! The name just slipped my mind. (At least I was ... sorta ... in the ballpark.)

Until the P(recision)-Bass came out, every bass was fretless. :)

How can you disrespect the mighty mandobass that way?!;)

http://www.mandolinarchive.com/perl/show_mando.pl?2539

:eek:

Thanks again guys. By the way, how exactly do you produce mwah?

It's derived, if I understand properly, from a well-setup bass with the right strings. It's literally the string buzzing against the fretboard; the 'mwah' is the natural decay that results from having the string so close to the fretboard at one end.

As far as I can tell, it's the equivalent of controlled, musical fret buzz. :)

I have the Tony Franklin Signature model fretless. Mine does not have it's strings touching the fingerboard as described but has been setup pretty well and when I play notes on it, especially open notes with long sustain, there are 2 distinct tones coming from it - a deep clean tone and a slight growl.

I'm not sure if that's mwah or not, but it's not a tone I can get from my fretted basses.

And I thought "mwah" was more an inherent sound quality as a result of not having the strings in contact with steel frets than it was something you "got" by how you played the fretless. I noticed the difference the first note I ever plucked on a fretless.

As for how to approach playing one, strap one on, tune up and jam some tunes you know really well. You'll probably be surprised just how fast you find the right spots for the notes on those songs, and just expand your fretless playing from there. The first song I seriously cranked out on a fretless was Pearl Jam's Hail Hail for example, and boy did that sound shocking the first few times. But it was fun getting it right, which you'll have lots of with a fretless too :)

How can you disrespect the mighty mandobass that way?!;)

http://www.mandolinarchive.com/perl/show_mando.pl?2539

:eek:

I remember a guy I knew a LONG time ago used to play a thing he called the MandoCello. It was an solid body instrument bigger than a guitar but smaller than a bass. That the same thing just different name?

I remember a guy I knew a LONG time ago used to play a thing he called the MandoCello. It was an solid body instrument bigger than a guitar but smaller than a bass. That the same thing just different name?

No, the mandocello is a different member of the mandolin family, which has four members that exactly parallel the violin family:

Mandolin = violin (GDAE)
Mandola = viola (CGDA)
Mandocello = violoncello (CGDA an octave lower)
Mandobass = bass viol (EADG, naturally)

Cheap Trick did a great song called "Mandocello", named so because Rick Nielsen played a mandocello on it.

Ok, hijack over, back to fretless...