Beginner started with fretless,Am i right?

[NooB_Me]

hi,i'm a very2 beginner to bass,but have played a little bit of guitar... and i really like the looks of fretless and try to learn it for my very first lesson... any pros/cons?

[Funkize you]

Why not? Most people will tell you to start on a Fretted, or if you wanna play a 6 to start on a 4 and work your way up... Blah blah blah... So STORY TIME:

One of my friend's aquired a (At the time) VERY nice bass, an Ibanez BTB1006 (Or whatever their High end 6 stringer is) And I decided to play it (Me playing bass wasent even a dirty thought back then) And my friend was VERY impressed with my playing, Not the actual music coming out of me, but my technique... He said I was muting the strings perfectly, Not clipping the B and C strings, and just playing with a wonderful technique... Now I have gotten hooked on bass by around that time (2+ years ago) So I had no money, first bass, a rogue 4 stringer, total crap. But I loved it.

I started playing and I was fine, chuggin along to songs learning to slap, got into better musicians... Everything was coming together. Then I get some money and decide to splurge on a Nice 5 string (55-94) And as soon as I got it MAJOR clipping of the B string and smackin it for NO reason, it was just "In the way" and I didnt think much of it, Eventually I got accustomed to it and again started playing Much better.

Time passes, so I buy my first 6 string (I've always wanted a 6) so what happens? MAJOR muting problems, Smacking the C string all the time for no reason (Running into it) and bad technnique again... So eventually I get used to it and all is well...

But whats the point of my story? Well, When I first played a bass (The Ibanez 6) I liked it, I played it well and knew I always wanted a 6. Why did I play it so much better the first time? Because I was aware of the bass. My hands KNEW that B string was there, my hands KNEW that the C string was there, and I KNEW if I didnt find a way to mute them all, then It would sound bad. If you've always wanted a 6 string, START with a 6 string (Fretless) Because you will start playing it right, You wont have had time to learn on a 4 string and aquire "Bad Habits" (Fretted) and have to re-adjust and change your Technique to play the bass correctly.

Hope this helps...

Long story short, If you want to play fretless, play fretless.

[Munjibunga]

If your have a good ear for pitch, it might be excellent. If not, start with frets.

[Funkize you]

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[TVBBass]

Originally Posted by Joshua

Wee kiddies start on violin; there's no reason you can't start on fretless!

Yeah I started on the Cello about 5-6 years before i pickd up a bass, (fretted now fretless),
IMO by starting on a fretless instrument you actually have a great advantage, it made sure I was a very acurate player from the beginning (which is a big plus if you move on to fretted too).
It teaches you to be more critical of your own tuning and teaches you to REALLY listen to every thing you play.
Obviously this would be a bad idea for some one who's tone deaf but having a good ear isn't something you have to have imediately, It's something which you develope and when you have developed the skills you will be much better off for it!!

TVBBass

P.S. plus being brought up playing classical music first, I learnt that a note is not always where the fret is. For example in a major scale the seventh should always be slightly sharper than it would sound on a piano to get the true leading note pitch. Other notes will need to be sounded slightly flatter (e.g. minor 3rd of a minor scale)than on a fretted bass to get the "perfect" pitch (just something to bear in mind for when you progress on a fretless instrument)

[elros]

If you start on fretless, you will have to worry about intonation as well as playing the right note at the right time.

I started on a yamaha fretted 4 string (which I still have, 12 year later) and as I made progress with music theory and started finding the "pocket", I got an old Ibanez and pulled the frets out. I've been a fretless fanatic for the past nine or so years.

Sure, you may start on fretless. But I do not recommend it.

[nonsqtr]

Fretless is good. I started on fretless. Played it exclusively for the first three years or so. Good choice. And welcome to TB!

[superbassman2000]

i started on fretless too, and it wasn't very hard...its nice to have...i've also found it easier to coax a fretted tone out of a fretless rather than vice versa, which is why i bought the fretless.