Please somebody critique my fretless approach.

Meddle · #1 02-15-2011, 03:31 PM

Ok I know nothing of playing fretless bass. I only defretted a bass because nobody wanted to buy it so I figured I could slot it into the bass arsenal by defretting it on the cheap. I did make sure the neck was ok, and with a fresh set of strings on it now it sounds perfectly acceptable.

So here is a brief video of me mucking around with some different licks and classical phrases I have picked up:

Fretless noodles.

I'm not even saying I'm a good bassist when presented with frets, so I cannot vouch for any aspect of my fretless playing being decent. I used to play violin and viola for the longest time, so if anything its more akin (vibrato wise) to that experience.

Thanks in advace!

FretlessMainly · #2 02-15-2011, 05:14 PM

That's good stuff; b5ths and b9ths and some interesting choices. Keep at it for sure, you seem to have something of a knack for coaxing some fretless tones out of a bass.

I would suggest that you practice without the chorus (at least some of the time), as that will muddy the perception of the intonation, which you want to be sure is spot on (it sounds pretty good for the most part).

Skitch it! · #3 02-15-2011, 07:26 PM

Nice playing and interval ideas. Intonation is pretty good, but as FretlessMainly above recommends, leave the chorus off for intonation practise, it's a better perception of where your at pitch-wise without it.

The only thing, playing a lot of single string movement lines is a tricky part with intonation, a lot of repositioning on different fingers, it's achievable and sometimes you haven't any choice in that anyway, you have to single string it. Finding a position that plays your intervallic ideas over a couple of strings so your hand is in a 'familiar' position will help the intonation there.

But good stuff all round, nicely played, cool ideas

Meddle · #4 02-18-2011, 06:29 PM

Thanks for the advice, I was expecting a common savaging! The chorus pedal is safely out the effects chain. My band don't like it and I only use/used it because I thought it was in some way authentic to fretless playing. Also it does buy me a certain liberty with intonation I would otherwise be more cautious about.

**Pacman** · #5 02-18-2011, 07:50 PM

Let me offer this, and this isn't fretless specific, I suspect you play fretted the same way. You're only using three fingers on your left hand - why are you doing that? The only time during the entire video I saw you use your pinky was on the harmonics. That's throwing away a very useful tool....

maturanesa · #6 02-18-2011, 10:10 PM

i like the intonation. My only modest suggestion would be to play with a metronome, or following a tempo in your head when you play alone. Its more enjoyable to hear and for developing groove...

unclejane · #7 02-19-2011, 05:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meddle

Thanks for the advice, I was expecting a common savaging! The chorus pedal is safely out the effects chain. My band don't like it and I only use/used it because I thought it was in some way authentic to fretless playing. Also it does buy me a certain liberty with intonation I would otherwise be more cautious about.

Speaking of that, you might try practicing with a little reverb (a non-modulating type like plate reverb, etc) or delay when solo. Reverb leaves the prior notes around a little bit which really highlights when your intonation is off, especially if you're doing lots of intervals like 4ths, 5ths etc...

Chorus and flange are evilly seductive on the FL, I have to really restrain myself from using them when screwing around with my roland micro cube for sure

.

LS

Meddle · #8 02-19-2011, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pacman

Let me offer this, and this isn't fretless specific, I suspect you play fretted the same way. You're only using three fingers on your left hand - why are you doing that? The only time during the entire video I saw you use your pinky was on the harmonics. That's throwing away a very useful tool....

Yeah I get your drift. I do my exploring with the 3 main fingers I guess. I use my pinky a lot with fretted bass. I taught myself a lot of Iommi guitar parts as a teenager using the proper pinkie-index technique as he played the original parts. However I do not have the confidence to stab at notes with my pinkie and it the notes properly.

I do not subscribe to the pinkie-as-useless camp. I read a quote from Keith Richards that said "three fingers, five strings and one a$$hole" which to me is throwing out 25% good usable material right there.

Erick Lam · #9 02-20-2011, 04:18 PM

The ring finger is probably the one I use less on the fretting hand.

About fretless, I play it exclusively and I dislike slides, especially those short 2 fret slides. I understand the novelty but it just sounds sloppy or lazy. At least make sure you get to the note on time and not behind. When one uses them too much, they lose their impact. The fretless sound is more than enough by itself without adding slides every other note.

Pretty good play overall though.

My 2 cents.

FretlessMainly · #10 02-20-2011, 08:58 PM

I understand your point about overusing slides from the standpoint of effectivenss to the ear, but my own style of fretless playing heavily incorporates hammer-ons-, pull-offs and slides to acheive the slur in different fashions. Many of the lines I play would sound absoultely horrible if each note were to be plucked with the right hand. On average, I would say that for every 10 notes I play, only 6-7 or so are actually plucked with the right hand.