Fretless Bassists

[iriegnome]

I was just reading a thread and it got me to thinking of famous bassists who have played fretless. I thought this would be a great way to discover those fretless treasures

[iriegnome]

Oh yea -
Tony Franklin - The Firm
David Gilmore - Pink Floyd
Sting - The Police

[lefty007]

You mean, Roger Waters, Pink Floyd. David Gilmour (not Gilmore) is the guitar player.

I'm guessing you mean to name famous bassists that play fretted most of the time, but that also play or have played fretless. . .

If that is the case:

-Darryl Jones used to play fretless a lot,
-Pino Palladino, of course,
-Lee Sklar
-Marcus Miller plays excellent fretless,
-Same for Victor Wooten,
-Tony Levin,
-Richard Bona usually plays fretted, but can obviously smoke on fretless,
-Les Claypool
-Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam)


Doesn't Tony Franklin play fretless ALL the time?

Those famous ones the play fretless ALL the time (just the big names, not the lesser known):

-Jaco
-Gary Willis
-Mark Egan
-Michael Manring
-Steve Bailey
-Kai Eckhardt (my favorite!)
-Bunny Brunel
-Alan Caron (not my favorite)
-Mark Sandman (RIP - from the band Morphine)
-Jack Bruce
-Yves Carbonne
-Percy Jones

[Throckmorten]

Patrick O'Hearn

[iriegnome]

Originally Posted by lefty007

You mean, Roger Waters, Pink Floyd. David Gilmour (not Gilmore) is the guitar player.

I'm guessing you mean to name famous bassists that play fretted most of the time, but that also play or have played fretless. . .

David Gilmour played the fretless parts for Pink Floyd not Roger.

[lefty007]

Originally Posted by iriegnome

David Gilmour played the fretless parts for Pink Floyd not Roger.

Didn't know that. . .

[Alvaro Martín Gómez A.]

Originally Posted by lefty007

Didn't know that. . .

From the horse's mouth: http://www.de.sch.gr/~adamopou/perso..._rcd_1992.html

[lefty007]

Originally Posted by Alvaro Martín Gómez A.

From the horse's mouth: http://www.de.sch.gr/~adamopou/perso..._rcd_1992.html

Les creo, parse, solo que no tenia ni idea. . . No que no, pues.

[Alvaro Martín Gómez A.]

Originally Posted by lefty007

Those famous ones the play fretless ALL the time (just the big names, not the lesser known):

-Jaco

Hmm... Jaco's output on fretted bass is higher than most people think. I'd say he played fretless most of the times, but not all the time.

[zongeek]

Can't believe no one has brough up Mick Karn!

Greg Edwards used fretless during his tenure in Failure.
Justin Chancellor has used a fretless.

I had heard a rumor that Billy Gould used a fretless on "King for a Day...". Never did know what track, but Joe (Zon) told me all his Zons were fretted? Anyone know anything about this?

[Alvaro Martín Gómez A.]

Originally Posted by lefty007

Les creo, parse, solo que no tenia ni idea. . . No que no, pues.

[Vandelay]

Stanley Sheldon, the bassist on "Frampton Comes Alive".

[bassksun]

Mick Karn

[Mojo-Man]

Originally Posted by GlennW

Bill Wyman
Freebo (Bonnie Raitt)

Freebo was a big influence on me.
Seen him alot. with Bonnie, when she lived in Cambridge Ma. 1976-1978.
Reason I bought my first fretless P-bass.

[ARCtrooper225]

steve DiGiorgio

[bassbrad]

Alphonso Johnson
Percy Jones
Ralphe Armstrong
are 3 players that pushed me to go fretless, I wuz diggin' them b4 Jaco.
also.....
Mo Foster
Jimmy Johnson
Bill Laswell
Ray Brown played a mean fretless back in the day he doubled.

[Garage Amps]

I'll give a shout out to Rick Danko. Nice fretless work on Stage Fright.

And since we are lovin us some Wikipedia, I'll link to a longer list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fretles...#Fretless_bass

[djlufkin]

I would suggest that Jack Bruce has been playing fretless primarily since the mid-seventies. He was of course an upright player originally.

Jeff Berlin's comment that all fretless players are stuck sounding like Jaco holds little water when we review the large number of players who have their own sound on the fretless, as documented in this thread. The problem has been that a lot of players don't stick with the fretless because, let's face it, it requires more work, and producers and guitar players seem to prefer the predictability of the fretted bass.

[iriegnome]

Who was Paul Simon's bassist for the Graceland tour. The band that backed him was Ladysmith Black Mambazo and I know the bassist used a Fretless Washburn bass, but I cannot remember his name.

[m.oreilly]

ah, then there is the guy with bad company in the '70s