WOW! Fretless messed me up!

Brass Nut · #1 03-26-2007, 06:59 AM

After receiving my fretless a few mos. ago, I noticed that I've evolved to playing it exclusively for awhile now.
Well, yesterday afternoon the wife and I stop in at this club and found some old friends of mine setting up for a anniversary party.
The Bassist, Rob, had bought a bass from me awhile back and handed it to me and asked, "miss it?"
While talking I started playing it (with power on - Ugh!) and what an awful sound! Never heard so much buzzing in my life!
I quickly looked and discovered it was me!
Appears from playing the fretless I've developed the technique(?) of fretting too much on the fret! Only lasted a couple minutes and (mostly) went away.
Really surprised the tar out of me! Of course my first impression was "what the heck did he do to my old bass?" Fortunately I looked before opening mouth and inserting foot (for once).
Anyone else ever experience this when they first went fretless?
Kind of shocking at first.

IAmTheDood · #2 03-26-2007, 07:03 AM

well fretless your supposed to be right on the fret, not behind it right???

I've played fretless in the stores .. but am not ambitious enough to go to it

lemur821 · #3 03-26-2007, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IAmTheDood

well fretless your supposed to be right on the fret, not behind it right???

I've played fretless in the stores .. but am not ambitious enough to go to it

Since there isn't a fret you have to put your finger where it would be if it were there. And it is pretty confusing.

BassChuck · #4 03-26-2007, 08:45 AM

After playing fretted for over 30 years I switched to fretless, and I love it. I play the darn thing at least 2 hours a day... more if I can find the time.

That said, my playing gig is with a R+B band and while I know there are some guys who are doing that music with fretless, the leader of the group has it in is head that fretless will mess up his and the other singers intonation... leaving an account of personalities aside, what that really means is that if I walk on stage with the fretless I'm automatically in fault of everything from intonation and timing all the way to the effect of China's growning economy. The fretless stays at home.

So, after many hours of playing the fretless, I have to do a little extra 'warm-up' on the old fretted before the gig. No big deal at all, basically just getting used to the feel of the instrument... but until I do, yea.. there will be some fret buzz.

Milk eWay · #5 03-27-2007, 12:34 PM

i have noticed this when i went a while without playing a fretted.

There is a fix to this, just make sure you play a fretted a couple minutes each day.

Also what basschuck said. Warmups do wonders!

beggar98 · #6 03-30-2007, 12:48 PM

This is a tricky area. To play a fretless perfectly in tune, your fretting finger goes *just* behind the fretline, so that the edge of the pad of your finger touches the fretline. If you place your finger directly on the fretline, you'll be a little sharp.

Proper technique on a fretted bass should mean fretting just behind the fret, not halfway between two frets.

I'm not saying there isn't an adjustment, it just shouldn't be that bad if your technique was right to begin with.

lemur821 · #7 03-30-2007, 07:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beggar98

This is a tricky area. To play a fretless perfectly in tune, your fretting finger goes *just* behind the fretline, so that the edge of the pad of your finger touches the fretline. If you place your finger directly on the fretline, you'll be a little sharp.

Theoretically, and depending on the bass. Under real world conditions all you can say is that the note is somewhere near the line, not that you're looking at it anyway. Frets tend to interfere with your approach to the note. While on my fretless I might start a little sharp and move down with no problem, on a fretted being a tad sharp is trouble (because you're wandering over the fret). It takes a while to start feeling where you are in relation to the fret rather than just listening.

beggar98 · #8 03-30-2007, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemur821

Theoretically, and depending on the bass. Under real world conditions all you can say is that the note is somewhere near the line, not that you're looking at it anyway. Frets tend to interfere with your approach to the note. While on my fretless I might start a little sharp and move down with no problem, on a fretted being a tad sharp is trouble (because you're wandering over the fret). It takes a while to start feeling where you are in relation to the fret rather than just listening.

Very well said. I guess the real key is to play a fretless with your ears, not your eyes.

SLaPiNFuNK · #9 03-31-2007, 03:02 AM

Thast my biggest problem with lined frettless basses... i get in the habit of playing just behind the lines

doctorjazz · #10 04-02-2007, 07:00 PM

I don't have a problem with buzzing per se, but whenever I switch back after a long time playing fretless, the usual fret noise seems a lot more obvious and irritating.

Swift713 · #11 04-04-2007, 08:16 AM

It takes a different kind of "attack" for your fretting hand to make the frets work. It's more on/off. Frets really feel weird after getting used to fretless, like speed bumps.

groove pump · #12 04-04-2007, 09:04 AM

I've never had the courage to try my fretless on stage just because I'm already trying to keep my drummer on tempo, hold my own against two guitar amps that chronically wander up toward 'eleven', and also sing some backing vocals (half deaf and multi-tasking). With the frets on the board, I can let my left hand run on a little more cruise control than with the attention demanding fretless.

Practicing with that fretless is really healthy for me, though. I find that I have to be much more deliberate in my choice of notes - a lot less 'going through the motions' than when I'm sometimes using the fretted four. I don't see myself playing out with the fretless soon unless I get in on a trio that plays at moderate volumes.