Practicing Fretless Bass Intonation

4OnTheFloor · #1 03-15-2013, 04:31 PM

I just got a Warwick Thumb BO4 fretless in a trade for my fretted one. So far I really dig the tone and trying to properly intonate. I have set up the saddles to intonate at the dots so now trying to get my ear up to snuff. Here is how I'm practicing:
Keyboard - M9(looper) - amp
Fretless - Amp
I play a scale or passage an the piano then double it on fretless.

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How did you practice when you first got into fretless? I am looking for tips/suggestions to make sure I'm not wasting my time. Speaking of which, back to practice.

Jim Carr · #2 03-15-2013, 04:34 PM

Play with music. Listen. Use consistent fingering technique.

kirkdickinson · #3 03-15-2013, 08:27 PM

I have Finale Notepad. I put scales and things in there, then play along with it. I made up an exercise that I posted in another fretless thread that I work on as one of my normal warm up exercises.

Here is a ZIP file that has my exercise in DMajor against a D drone. In the Zip file is a PDF of the notation, MP3 at I think 90BPM, a midi file, a finale file and a Garageband file.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/r8j7c6v70esg8nt/D-Drone.zip

I just put this together from memory and haven't actually played it, so I hope there are no mistakes.

I used a String Bass sound because I find that when I am working on my intonation, that is easier to hear.

Kirk

Burwabit · #4 03-15-2013, 08:47 PM

curious about this too. youtube had some stuff of course. subscribed to see thoughts.

pnchad · #5 03-15-2013, 08:52 PM

play with your ears not your fingers

you can get a convincing fretted bass sound out of a fretless but you can't the other way around

play stuff you know where it's one position and play tight without thinking 'fretless' at all, just play the tune without any gliss or slides

it only takes 20 or 30 hrs to get comfortable

if you play FL exclusively for a while, when you go back you'll HATE the speed bumps

Grateful · #6 03-15-2013, 09:39 PM

I practice with a tuner going. Figure out how far off the side dot each note is and then just build muscle memory.

The problem with playing along with music, is that the recordings (especially off the internet) are often off-key a little. So you end up learning wrong....

4OnTheFloor · #7 03-16-2013, 02:06 PM

Nice, wow thanks guys. Especially Kirk for the exercise. This is all good info, keep it coming, thanks.