Fretless in rock?

Joesoef · #1 10-25-2010, 09:56 AM

We know that fretless are mostly used for jazz but are there any examples of rock fretless bassist? I only know that Jack Bruce now uses fretless warwick

LaklandBass · #2 10-25-2010, 09:57 AM

Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam. Pick up the album Ten.
He uses a 12 string on Jeremy, and a fretless Mike Lull on pretty much everything else.

**JayAmel** · #3 10-25-2010, 09:59 AM

Sting used to play a fretless P in the early Police days.

And Boz Burrell mainly played a fretless with Bad Company.

Raccio14 · #4 10-25-2010, 10:05 AM

Why the hell has nobody mentioned Les Claypool yet??
Freaking 6-string fretless slap-bass!

The Nameless · #5 10-25-2010, 10:09 AM

Tony Franklin. Boz Burrell of Bad Company. Pino Palladino. Roger Waters of Pink Floyd. Norwood Fisher of Fishbone. John Myung of Dream Theater. Lots of guys, includin myself, have used fretlesses for Rock and Heavy styles of playin. Little bit of distortion and the tone over the top!

15000volts · #6 10-25-2010, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaklandBass

Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam. Pick up the album Ten.
He uses a 12 string on Jeremy, and a fretless Mike Lull on pretty much everything else.

in Temple of the Dog he went fretless in almost every song to. I gotta say his tone is sweet in Ten and TotD, really mellow, but present. makes me GAS for a fretless everytime I hear him

The Nameless · #7 10-25-2010, 10:14 AM

I have a gear list of Jeff Ament's in an old issue of BP Magazine. Mike Lull fretless four, Zon fretless four and a fretless Wal 5! And some other fretted basses. This just after their second record, so don't know what he used it on, but a fretless Wal 5, let alone the others, must've sounded pretty sweet!

Jeff 66 · #8 10-25-2010, 10:18 AM

Colin Edwin of Porcupine Tree used a fretless Wal for a while. He seems to have switched to fretted basses lately, but I hear he still plays the Wal on tour for certain songs.

On Edit: Jeremy Plato of Cross Canadian Ragweed plays a fretless Dean Edge 6. It could be argued that they are more country than rock, but hey...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkFtl50kqYE&ob=av2e

JTE · #9 10-25-2010, 10:52 AM

In addition to the ones already listed, Rick Danko and Bill Wyman!!!

John

M0ses · #10 10-25-2010, 10:57 AM

JPJ played fretless with Zepplin on occasion. Definitely on In My Time of Dying.

Ezbass · #11 10-25-2010, 10:58 AM

All of the above and of course Tony Levin.

NWB · #12 10-25-2010, 11:04 AM

FWIW, I use a fretless in a classic rock band.

It works great.

If you're thinking of going that direction, I'd fully encourage it.

Makes me wonder why more rock bassists don't use one.

Oh yeah, Geddy Lee uses a Jaco fretless jazz on the tune Malignant Narcissism. I have a sneaking suspicion that we haven't heard the last of that bass and that it will show up on future Rush recordings.

4001 · #13 10-25-2010, 11:09 AM

Stanley Sheldon played a fretless Fender Precision in Peter Frampton's band and it's all over the "Frampton Comes Alive" album.

http://www.youtube.com/v/t8HTWZgd_UM?fs=1&hl=en_US
http://www.youtube.com/v/zLgeTtYwQ7o?fs=1&hl=en_US

ahbassman · #14 10-25-2010, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raccio14

Why the hell has nobody mentioned Les Claypool yet??
Freaking 6-string fretless slap-bass!

There were only 3 posts above you?

NWB · #15 10-25-2010, 11:22 AM

Another thought here is that a lot of rock tunes featuring fretless are played in such a way that it's not always apparent that the bass is a fretless one. You can make a fretless sound quite like a fretted bass so that the listener may never really know what's being used.

If a lot the hallmark fretless techniques like slides and vibrato aren't being used, you might not hear any difference from a fretted bass.

kath · #16 10-25-2010, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Nameless

I have a gear list of Jeff Ament's in an old issue of BP Magazine. Mike Lull fretless four, Zon fretless four and a fretless Wal 5! And some other fretted basses. This just after their second record, so don't know what he used it on, but a fretless Wal 5, let alone the others, must've sounded pretty sweet!

I am pretty sure , he never used a zon fretless (ever) or a mike lull fretless (ever) . His Fretless bass includes a Wal MK-II and initially a Washburn AB20 Fretless

pharmakon · #17 10-25-2010, 11:25 AM

Eddie Jackson from Queensryche used one on a few songs on "Empire". Maybe other albums, too..

pjmuck · #18 10-25-2010, 11:37 AM

Geddy Lee plays a fretless Jaco Pastorius signature bass. Not sure what tracks it's featured on, however.

coronado3 · #19 10-25-2010, 11:54 AM

mick Karn

Passinwind · #20 10-25-2010, 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JTE

Rick Danko and Bill Wyman!!!

Yep. Wyman started doing it on big hits a long, long time ago.