|  | | 
07-05-2007, 03:37 PM
| | | | Great Fretless Performances?
Sign in to disble this ad
Hi Folks,
I've been playing bass for 2 decades and have finally decided to play fretless exclusively. I've heard all the Jaco I can hear over the years and am looking for others to inspire me. Besides the more obvious ones (Jaco, Pino, Mick Karn, and Percy Jones), which specific records have what you would consider great fretless bass playing, regardless of genre?
I've recently been playing along to and transcribing Patrick O'Hearn's fretless basslines on Frank Zappa's Live In New York cd and they are quite impressive, so that's my record of the moment which has the great playing I'm talking about. What are your picks?
Last edited by Crackalack : 07-05-2007 at 03:39 PM.
|
07-05-2007, 06:07 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: May 2007 Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada | | ALAIN CARON!!!!!
Look for the album "Caron, Eckay, Lockwood" He is one of the best, if not the best IMHO. He used to play for Uzeb. He is also a rediculous slapper. www.alaincaron.com
And he's from Montreal, and he's french!!!!
__________________
Ampeg Club member #13/Sole SVT-5 Pro user
BAN WAR MARINE :D
|
07-05-2007, 06:53 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: Metro NYC | | | Go listen to a bunch of Jimmy Haslip with Yellowjackets. Not all of his stuff is fretless, but a lot of it is.
Check out Mark Egan too (early Pat Metheny, Elements).
Beyond that, I'd respectfully suggest that you avoid the trap of listening only, or even mainly, to fretless players. Fretless bass versus fretted bass is MUCH less important than good bass playing versus mediocre bass playing. Listen to good or great bass players, regardless of whether they have "speedbumps." Listen to upright players, and tuba players too.
It's only one man's opinion (i.e., mine) ... but I've noticed over the years that bass players who get too focused on playing fretless, as opposed to playing bass, or, better, playing music, can SOMETIMES tend to fall prey to what I might call "fretlessism," the main symptom of which is overuse of fretless mannerisms (e.g., excessive mwah on every single note, sliding all over the place, etc.). Few things are more musically irritating, to me anyway. IT'S LIKE TYPING IN ALL CAPS.
I'm by NO means saying this is you--how could I?--I'm just saying don't restrict your horizons too much. (This is a little bit of personal experience talking, too, FWIW. I had my own, mercifully brief, "Jaco clone" period, and I cringe to hear some of the stuff I did back in the day.)
__________________
"I think; therefore I am." --Rene Descartes
"I think I think; therefore I think I am." --Ambrose Bierce
"I am ... I said." -- Neil Diamond
B1500 Club #18
ABG Club #89
|
07-05-2007, 07:37 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Wellington, New Zealand | | | Graceland - By PAul Simon has some nice fretless by Bakithi Khumalo |
07-05-2007, 08:28 PM
| | |
Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesM  Graceland - By PAul Simon has some nice fretless by Bakithi Khumalo | There are some amazing lines on that album. Really interesting grooves and even some fretless slapping! |
07-05-2007, 08:29 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: West Suburban Chicago | | | Christian McBride has a great fretless sound!!!
__________________
Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple. - Charles Mingus
Women and rhythm section first. - Jaco Pastorius
I drank what? - Socrates
|
07-05-2007, 08:38 PM
|  | TalkBass: Usurping My Practice Time Since 2002
Endorsing Artist: Lyt Pedalboards Beta tester: Source Audio Moderator | | Join Date: May 2002 Location: Connecticut | | Franc O'Shea's "Alkimia" is some of the best and most innovative fretless playing I've heard in a long time. Quote:
Originally Posted by DrMWP Christian McBride has a great fretless sound!!! | I love McBride's fretless tone- I like him on fretless just as much if not more than on upright. |
07-05-2007, 08:38 PM
| | | 
Mick Karn
Percy Jones
Richard Bona
Jonas Hellborg
Pino Palladino |
07-06-2007, 12:24 PM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Lindsey Go listen to a bunch of Jimmy Haslip with Yellowjackets. Not all of his stuff is fretless, but a lot of it is.
Check out Mark Egan too (early Pat Metheny, Elements).
Beyond that, I'd respectfully suggest that you avoid the trap of listening only, or even mainly, to fretless players. Fretless bass versus fretted bass is MUCH less important than good bass playing versus mediocre bass playing. Listen to good or great bass players, regardless of whether they have "speedbumps." Listen to upright players, and tuba players too.
It's only one man's opinion (i.e., mine) ... but I've noticed over the years that bass players who get too focused on playing fretless, as opposed to playing bass, or, better, playing music, can SOMETIMES tend to fall prey to what I might call "fretlessism," the main symptom of which is overuse of fretless mannerisms (e.g., excessive mwah on every single note, sliding all over the place, etc.). Few things are more musically irritating, to me anyway. IT'S LIKE TYPING IN ALL CAPS.
I'm by NO means saying this is you--how could I?--I'm just saying don't restrict your horizons too much. (This is a little bit of personal experience talking, too, FWIW. I had my own, mercifully brief, "Jaco clone" period, and I cringe to hear some of the stuff I did back in the day.) | Oh I hear you on the "fretlessism" thing. I'm not a fan of players who make it a point to always do the slides, etc. I'm most impressed by players who kinda make it seem like they're playing fretted, then boom, you realize they're playing fretless. I'm more in to the earthy tone and freedom of a fretless than anything else.
Regarding Mark Egan, I almost forgot about him so thanks for the info. He's a monster for sure. And since you mentioned tuba, any tuba recordings you'd recommend?
Last edited by Crackalack : 07-06-2007 at 12:26 PM.
|
07-06-2007, 12:25 PM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by DrMWP Christian McBride has a great fretless sound!!! |
Any specific recordings where I can hear his best fretless playing? I only know him as an upright player. Thanks. |
07-06-2007, 12:29 PM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Crackalack Forgive my ignorance, isn't he an upright player? | Yes but he also plays electric fretted and fretless. He is a monster on the electrics, a double monster on the upright. |
07-06-2007, 12:30 PM
| | | |
__________________
The bass between, the tears we cry,
Is that laugher that keeps us coming back for more.
|
07-06-2007, 12:41 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: Metro NYC | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Crackalack And since you mentioned tuba, any tuba recordings you'd recommend? | Well, I was partly joking, but mostly serious. I'm not a tuba expert, exactly, but I've heard some hip things. You might check out the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, for starters. Howard Johnson used to have an occasional brass band called Gravity that I saw a couple of times and dug. I used to really like Arthur Blythe's band that had Bob Stewart on tuba (along with Bobby Battle on drums, Abdul Wadud on cello, and Kelvyn Bell on guitar). And there's a guy I've heard once or twice named Marcus Rojas who I thoguht was pretty good.
__________________
"I think; therefore I am." --Rene Descartes
"I think I think; therefore I think I am." --Ambrose Bierce
"I am ... I said." -- Neil Diamond
B1500 Club #18
ABG Club #89
|
07-06-2007, 12:56 PM
|  | Hip No Ties | | Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: New York, NY | | | Some great fusion & pop players listed here...
One player whom I've come to appreciate a lot, who plays predominantly in a rock context, is Colin Edward of Porcupine Tree. Using his fretless Wal, he generates these huge, massive, thundering grooves...that are often quite nicely slippery - in the best fretless sense of the term...
MM
__________________
Truly knowledge is power. And knowledge of spiritual things is spiritual power.
|
07-06-2007, 01:26 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: May 2000 Location: Berkeley, CA | | | Bill Laswell gets an enormous sound out of his fretless Precision bass. At least in recent years he's kind of the polar opposite of Jaco, focusing on hypnotic, repetitive, mantra-like lines. Gigi's "Illuminated Audio" and the Laswell/Jah Wobble collab "RadioAxiom: Bass-The Final Frontier" have some great examples of his ambient dub stylings.
Ralphe Armstrong's fretless work is also amazing--check out Eddie Harris' "Eddie Who" for outstanding straightahead jazz, or Jean-Luc Ponty's "Enigmatic Ocean" for more adventurous fusion. |
07-06-2007, 01:46 PM
|  | I Know Nothing | | Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Columbia River Gorge, WA. | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Lindsey You might check out the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, for starters. Howard Johnson used to have an occasional brass band called Gravity that I saw a couple of times and dug. | +1 on both of those (should that be +2?). Johnson was in Jack DeJohnette's band for a while too. It was a cool double whammy, with Rufus Reid on bass. I can't vouch for the recordings, but the live show was smokin'. |
07-06-2007, 02:15 PM
| | uncle petey? | | Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: outer banks, nc | | | +2 on the Steve Bailey...+1 on the Frank Zappa Performance..
I don't know the particular recordings but Les Claypool uses a 6 string fretless effectively...
Oh, and don't forget about just listening to upright guys. There's no problem with that. I listen to a good bit of Duke Ellington, Miles, and Ron Carter's stuff. I like the freedom of the fretless too, I find the frets to be harder to play...but I'm weird.
__________________
"I'm not yelling...In fact, I'm meditating right now."
|
07-06-2007, 02:20 PM
| | | | Um some of the greatest fretless is upright in witch case Charlie Haden, Dave Holland and Larry Grenadier when he played with pat metheny |
07-06-2007, 02:47 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Boston & Arizona, USA | | | Kai Eckhardt has been known to do some pretty impressive things both with and without frets. I am a fan of the things he did with John McLaughlin. |
07-06-2007, 03:31 PM
| | Registered User
Seymour Duncan/Basslines SMB-5A Endorsing Artist | | Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Cuernavaca 1 hr S Mexico City | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Crackalack And since you mentioned tuba, any tuba recordings you'd recommend? | Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Lindsey Howard Johnson used to have an occasional brass band called Gravity...I used to really like Arthur Blythe's band that had Bob Stewart on tuba... |
One of my FAVORITE Taj Mahal LP's features a QUARTET of tubas!! Included are Howard Johnson AND Bob Stewart . . .
1971 "The Real Thing" | | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | | | | 
Posting Rules
| You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off | | | |
