Fretless helps Fretted

CrashClint · #1 06-03-2008, 11:00 AM

Though I have been playing a fretted bass for close to 30 years I am kind of new to the Fretless Bass. I picked up my Fretless Roscoe SKB3005 with fretlines just over a week ago. First thing I noticed while playing is how sloppy my fretting hand has gotten. For the last nine days I have only played the fretless, playing a couple hours each day. I have pretty much slowed things down and concentrating on finger placement on the fingerboard. With the exception of playing it on a Sunday Worship set I mainly have been playing a bunch of scales.

Well, last night I went to band practice and since my fretted Roscoe LG3005 hasn't gotten much love lately I took it with me. The necks on both the Roscoes are pretty much identical Maple/Purpleheart 35" scale. At practice we always warm up with a little free jam. In just a little over a week of playing the fretless and now playing my fretted I noticed my left hand technique was right on, with less fret buzz. When it was time to solo a little, I was surprised on how much speed I had picked back up on my fretting fingers.

If any of you long time fretless players have any tips, I would love to hear them!

jgroh · #2 06-03-2008, 11:08 AM

I dont have any tips for you because I am in the same boat. I recently got a fretless after playing a fretted for 21 years. I did have a hard time keeping it in tune, but I am getting better with that. I noticed my left hand is getting more precise. There are lots of things I still cant do with the fretless, like chords or double stops, but I love the expression you can get.

Thunderthumbs73 · #3 06-03-2008, 11:14 AM

Yep, it helps. Keep playing with the fretless for the benefit you describe. Once you're comfortable with the fretless, then play that fretless WITHOUT looking at the fretboard at all. To keep yourself from cheating, close your eyes. Then play all the stuff you like, but with eyes closed.

The point is to wean yourself (if it ever was) from the visual aspect as a guide to playing fretless, moving to a place where aural aspect of fretless and your fine-tuned ear is what gets it done.

I've played stages and low light situations (at night, in a bar, etc...) where I couldn't see the fretboard worth a darn, but my ears kept me in the game, and the low light wasn't a gig-wrecker!

Good luck!

kesslari · #4 06-03-2008, 11:20 AM

Timely thread. I'm in the same boat, as well. Really loving what the fretless is bringing to my playing.

BassChuck · #5 06-03-2008, 01:07 PM

Count me in on the same trip. 35 years of fretted. Now, all I practice is the fretless, no need to deal with the frets in practice. I play with one group on fretted, one on fretless.

nysbob · #6 06-03-2008, 11:51 PM

There's nothing like that first gig you ONLY bring your fretless to. It's exhilarating and terrifying.

Two of bands I play with are exclusively fretless - and there's no doubt in my mind that it's my favorite instrument. It's made me a much better and more disciplined player.

Alvaro Martín Gómez A. · #7 06-04-2008, 01:18 AM

Going in the opposite direction, I'd like to mention three things I always do on fretted aiming to fretless:

- Avoid staring at the fingerboard (And I don't mean "never look at it". Just do it when strictly necessary - and the lesser the better).

- Fret the strings exactly behind the fretwire, not in-between.

- Never use two fingers (most likely pinky and ring) to play a perfect fourth interval, unless I'm going to play a chord (Even a three-note power chord on the top three strings can be played with just index and pinky).

From my experience, I can tell you that playing your fretted bass that way will benefit your intonation on fretless tremendously.

4Slater · #8 06-08-2008, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrashClint

Though I have been playing a fretted bass for close to 30 years I am kind of new to the Fretless Bass. I picked up my Fretless Roscoe SKB3005 with fretlines just over a week ago. First thing I noticed while playing is how sloppy my fretting hand has gotten. For the last nine days I have only played the fretless, playing a couple hours each day. I have pretty much slowed things down and concentrating on finger placement on the fingerboard. With the exception of playing it on a Sunday Worship set I mainly have been playing a bunch of scales.

Well, last night I went to band practice and since my fretted Roscoe LG3005 hasn't gotten much love lately I took it with me. The necks on both the Roscoes are pretty much identical Maple/Purpleheart 35" scale. At practice we always warm up with a little free jam. In just a little over a week of playing the fretless and now playing my fretted I noticed my left hand technique was right on, with less fret buzz. When it was time to solo a little, I was surprised on how much speed I had picked back up on my fretting fingers.

If any of you long time fretless players have any tips, I would love to hear them!

I've been playing fretless bass since 1992.

The most difficult technique is vibratto.

Not the up and down kind. That's easy. It's just like having frets.

But on the G-string you'll have difficulty shaking the note up and down.

This is where the East-West shake comes in. Learning this will help you immensely.

just You Tube Tony Franklin or any other fretless giant and you'll see the Cello like vibratto.

This doesn't translate back to fretted basses.

But you'll develope your ear even more and eventually never pick up "that thing" with all the metal on it again.

The best thing about being fretless is having that much more virsatility.

At first it makes you more basic which is good. But after a while you will graduate to a new level of understaning your positions. You'll end up not looking as much. It's like snatching the pebble from the master's hand...

CrashClint · #9 06-08-2008, 02:54 PM

thanks for the advice 4Slater, I am going to you tube now to check out some videos!

sflajimmy · #10 06-08-2008, 09:46 PM

Quote:

The point is to wean yourself (if it ever was) from the visual aspect as a guide to playing fretless, moving to a place where aural aspect of fretless and your fine-tuned ear is what gets it done.

I think it's Steve Bailey that recommends students practice in the dark or with their eyes closed and I used think it was a stupid suggestion but I can "see" the benefit for the reasons you mention here. I have always relied on looking at fretboard instead of relying on my ear and it makes me lazy.....