Am I an absolute outlier?

[CrawlingCarpet]

I like the idea of 24 frets, but honestly, I never use those notes in a practical setting.

 

[XLunacy]

I believe the edge is where the interesting things happen... Embrace the "outlyingness" This is what art is about IMO

 

[Scarysharkface]

So, to preface this, I currently have seven basses, which, yes, is excessive. My horde includes a fretless six string custom Thor Bass, a fretless five string Ibanez, a fretted five string ESP, a fretted six string Ibanez, a fanned fret five string Ibanez, a four string Ibanez, and a four string ESP. The one thing all my basses have in common is that they all have at least 24 frets (one of my fretless basses has 30, technically). I cannot deal with playing on 20 fret necks. It screws with my entire usual play style. Yes, this means that I can't do Fender basses. At all. I know, that's an unpopular opinion, but I cannot be alone in the "I need 24 frets to do my job properly" camp. Or am I? You tell me! Constructive comments welcome.

I find that when I'm soloing on an instrument with 20 or 21 frets, I always run out of room. I don't use the upper register a lot, but I do use it.

John

 

[ElectricBass72]

I have 2 basses with 24 frets... Ibanez and ESP. The rest have either 22 or 20. I rarely go above 20... 24 frets is not mandatory, but it's nice to have on occasion.

 

[swarfrat]

I call shenanigans. Whens the last time any one of you solo'd in front of a paying audience?

 

[Jack Deth]

I call shenanigans. Whens the last time any one of you solo'd in front of a paying audience?

Have you watched any of Nolly Getgoods’ videos? There are even bands out there that have 2 bass players and no guitarist(s). I call shenanigans on your call of shenanigans. The days of Bass being relegated to 2nd class musician employed only to produce thumps along with the drummer have been over for at least 2 decades now (except when doing yesteryears’ covers).

 

[alex1fly]

I'd love to add 4 extra frets on the G string of my Fender P, for the occasional forays in the upper range of the instrument. Don't really have a need for 24 frets on the other strings, but a few extra notes for the overall instrument would be nice sometimes.

 

[Lebowitz]

Have you watched any of Nolly Getgoods’ videos? There are even bands out there that have 2 bass players and no guitarist(s). I call shenanigans on your call of shenanigans. The days of Bass being relegated to 2nd class musician employed only to produce thumps along with the drummer have been over for at least 2 decades now (except when doing yesteryears’ covers).

I am agreeing with you. Most Prog rock and even heavy metal now a days has you going into upper registers. Some stuff even demands 6 string.

 

[felis]

Most of my basses have 19 frets.

 

[Watchootognbout]

I call shenanigans. Whens the last time any one of you solo'd in front of a paying audience?

So no one can have aspirations to solo?
And woodshed in the upper 24 frets at home?

 

[Steadfast]

I call shenanigans. Whens the last time any one of you solo'd in front of a paying audience?

and we wonder why most music has become stagnant.

 

[zenrad]

So, to preface this, I currently have seven basses, which, yes, is excessive.

That's funny

To the point though, I do like my 24 fret basses but I have no problem with Fenders or my short scale. There are a couple of tunes I play where I need the extra frets, if they're in the set I bring the bass I'll need unless they just get called and in that case I make due.

I can't play fretless very well, I barely need 20 frets to sound as bad as I do on one

 

[MonetBass]

Both of my full-scale electric basses have two-octave necks. That wasn't my intention, but it ended up that way. I like having the options, and I like the symmetry.

 

[dasherf17]

So, to preface this, I currently have seven basses, which, yes, is excessive. My horde includes a fretless six string custom Thor Bass, a fretless five string Ibanez, a fretted five string ESP, a fretted six string Ibanez, a fanned fret five string Ibanez, a four string Ibanez, and a four string ESP. The one thing all my basses have in common is that they all have at least 24 frets (one of my fretless basses has 30, technically). I cannot deal with playing on 20 fret necks. It screws with my entire usual play style. Yes, this means that I can't do Fender basses. At all. I know, that's an unpopular opinion, but I cannot be alone in the "I need 24 frets to do my job properly" camp. Or am I? You tell me! Constructive comments welcome.

Just my opinion...I'm sure you're not... I don't think I'm alone in not knowing how many frets MY basses HAVE...
Then play on!

 

[OregonMike]

So, to preface this, I currently have seven basses, which, yes, is excessive. My horde includes a fretless six string custom Thor Bass, a fretless five string Ibanez, a fretted five string ESP, a fretted six string Ibanez, a fanned fret five string Ibanez, a four string Ibanez, and a four string ESP. The one thing all my basses have in common is that they all have at least 24 frets (one of my fretless basses has 30, technically). I cannot deal with playing on 20 fret necks. It screws with my entire usual play style. Yes, this means that I can't do Fender basses. At all. I know, that's an unpopular opinion, but I cannot be alone in the "I need 24 frets to do my job properly" camp. Or am I? You tell me! Constructive comments welcome.

If it bugs you, invest in a pbass or similar and make yourself play that one for a while. Put all the others away, out of sight. The 'I can't' is mental obviously.

OregonMike

 

[Deleted member 96522]

So, to preface this, I currently have seven basses, which, yes, is excessive. My horde includes a fretless six string custom Thor Bass, a fretless five string Ibanez, a fretted five string ESP, a fretted six string Ibanez, a fanned fret five string Ibanez, a four string Ibanez, and a four string ESP. The one thing all my basses have in common is that they all have at least 24 frets (one of my fretless basses has 30, technically). I cannot deal with playing on 20 fret necks. It screws with my entire usual play style. Yes, this means that I can't do Fender basses. At all. I know, that's an unpopular opinion, but I cannot be alone in the "I need 24 frets to do my job properly" camp. Or am I? You tell me! Constructive comments welcome.

I see the logic of your opinion. Being able to play up to 2 octaves on a single string does have its sonic symmetry and tonal advantages; and a bass with 5 strings or more vastly expands on that idea.

 

[MovinTarget]

I *prefer* 24+ frets, but food for thought (and I'm sorry if this has been covered in the prior 7+ pages)...

Some traditional pickup placements would be impossible with those extra 3-4 frets in the way. I'm thinking some of the classic styles where there is mudbucker right up on the neck heel of a Gibson.

-OR- even if one could put the pickup in the traditional spot, certain styles would be more difficult (i.e. slapping/popping)

I AM NOT SAYING YOU ARE WRONG, only that other than boutique/custom builders, manufacturers have to cater to their (mass) buyers' wants/needs be it a classic look/sound or the expected accessibility.

 

[MikeSpector]

So, to preface this, I currently have seven basses, which, yes, is excessive. My horde includes a fretless six string custom Thor Bass, a fretless five string Ibanez, a fretted five string ESP, a fretted six string Ibanez, a fanned fret five string Ibanez, a four string Ibanez, and a four string ESP. The one thing all my basses have in common is that they all have at least 24 frets (one of my fretless basses has 30, technically). I cannot deal with playing on 20 fret necks. It screws with my entire usual play style. Yes, this means that I can't do Fender basses. At all. I know, that's an unpopular opinion, but I cannot be alone in the "I need 24 frets to do my job properly" camp. Or am I? You tell me! Constructive comments welcome.

I also have seven basses(although they arent anywhere near the level of that Thor bass you have. DiGiorgio plays Thor fretless sixer,I believe). Anyway,none of my basses are similar at all really. I have a couple 21 fret basses but my fivers and my Jackson are 24. My 5 stringers (a Spector and a Yamaha) both have 24 but the string spacing is radically different. The Yammy is 19mm so jumpimg to the Spector really can make you feel like your fingers are going tie into a knot. My Jackson seems like you could park your car between the first two frets and that is where my basses differ again. I guess my point is that I own a handful of basses that are very different when it comes to the fretboard and I play them all regularly which took some getting used to. At first I was going to just go with Spectors but I am stubborn and figured it could only make me a better player by forcing myself to play them all.
That being said,I refuse to play a short scale bass which people think is weird. I dont care how nice the bass is,if its a short scale I am gonna pass.

 

[Gene Doctor]

I could easily deal with a 24 fret neck. . . . but I wouldn't have any idea what to do with the upper 12!!!

My fingers and hands are too big to play accurately or comfortably above the 15th fret, so anything above that is wasted on me.

 

[TJL]

If your "style" constantly has you up at the 24th fret, are you sure you are not just a frustrated guitarist? LOL.