Does a fretless translate well to........

[druedrue]

Hi, im new to the forums, and currently bassless for the last 3 years(due to much international moving and travel). Have a guitar that was a gift and generally play bass lines on it. Anyway, I love playing fretless, well at least I used to. Im about to get a new bass ind im on the whole fertted fretless debate with myself. What I need to know is... does a say fretless fender jazz translate well to a Rocco or Jamerson sound? Im a huge Jaco fan but also love lots of other motown and funk stuff. Can I make it sound like an old p-bass, well not exactly I know but kinda close. Any input is appreciated. Thanks.

drue.

[Depth_Charge]

Sure you can, there are fretless P's out there, but why do you want a Jazz to sound like a P, doesn't that defeat the purpose? I dunno...

[bassplaynmatt]

In my experience the sweet singing fretless basses don't translate well to the funk world unless your doing a super modern low down 5 string kinda funk like Alfonzo Johnson sometimes does with your right hand near the bridge. However, the fretless G&L I had sounded almost exactly like the fretted ones which worked fine for bridging the gap but really didn't cut it in the fretless department. I feel that if your really serious about playing the different styles then you need two basses. Like Clarinetists play Bb, Eb, and A horns in Orchestra settings and Sax players use Tenor Alto Soprano and Bari for jazz. Nothing makes a job easier than using the right tool!
BTW I've always considered this reasoning a good excuse to own at least two basses at all times.

[Aaron Saunders]

Good intonation, flatwound strings, and responsible use of your EQ. Yeah, you'll be fine -- helps a lot to have a P-bass pickup (or something dark like a Bart) in the neck position.

[Alvaro Martín Gómez A.]

Coincidentally, two days ago I put on YouTube a video of myself playing a Tower Of Power tune on my fretless bass. Maybe you can judge from that:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNlNxNgkE5k