Am I overthinking this?

[Mugre]

Regal and a few others make acoustic resonator basses. The honky midrange helps make them audible against acoustic guitar and maybe a tambourine. Since it's blues, it just may be an appropriate sound.

 

[Kukulkan61]

Get a Squier Fretless P or J bass, they are pretty good and cheap, then if you decide fretless ain't for you you can flip it and if you don't get back what you paid it doesn't matter cause your not out a lot of money to begin with...

 

[buldog5151bass]

I play a solid body bass for all kinds of music. At this point, I would think no more than two basses. Don't worry about the style of body - what feels and sounds good to you?

 

[Brother Goose]

Fretless basses are usually the first to go and are a great value used- buy a decent one in a similar configuration as our main fretted bass.

I'd also pass on the acoustic bass unless you'd really like to play on the couch or covet a somewhat "tubby" sounding instrument. (I'm not a fan of most ABG's piezo pickups- alternately harsh treble and blossoming bass)

 

[MDBass]

Hi people,
I'm wondering if I'm starting to overthink things - situation is that after pretty much stopping playing 3-4 yrs ago at 60 or so that I'd still like to play and a friend would like to see if we can put something together again.

Now at 64 I'd like to take a side road in the spirit of "now or never" and try to learn Fretless. After reading about the Sires M7 I started thinking of selling my Jazz Dlxe 5 to fund an M7
Lined Fretless and any leftover to save towards an Acoustic Bass.

I mentioned the idea of a Fretless under his Slide Blues to my friend and he likes the idea
but then I had an errant thought - what about a Fretted M7 and an Acoustic Fretless? A fair bit of the material likely to be on his Acoustic, might fit nicer.


What do people who actually know something think : )

Maurie.

Acoustic bass guitars are (in my view) virtually useless. They aren't loud enough to play with others.

Get your fretless and spend the rest on an affordable fretted bass. Then you have both.

This.

Even those costing thousands of dollars aren't remotely loud enough to compete with acoustic guitars unless they're plugged in, not to mention the built in feedback issues; I toured with an artist for years who was a Martin endorser, so I know of what I speak

If you really want the option of that kind of tone, just make sure whatever fretless you buy also has a piezo and you'll be good to go

 

[Jeff Scott]

...Vibrato can be achieved one of two ways: the same pushing or pulling strings across the neck as on a fretted bass, or sliding the fingered note back and forth towards the bridge and nut.

The second method is by far the preferred way to do vibrato on a fretless. The technique is more a gentle "swaying" of the fretting finger but more aggressive sliding works for this, too, depending on what one is trying to achieve.

 

[jamro217]

The second method is by far the preferred way to do vibrato on a fretless. The technique is more a gentle "swaying" of the fretting finger but more aggressive sliding works for this, too, depending on what one is trying to achieve.

Absolutely, Jeff, my wording may have been vague. Rather than give a thorough synopsis on fretless technique (in one paragraph, no less), I was just pointing out the major differences and common pitfalls encountered by newcomers. Thank you for clarifying this point. Have a great day. By the way, I enjoy listening to your band.

 

[el_Bajo_Verde]

Acoustic bass guitars are (in my view) virtually useless. They aren't loud enough to play with others.

Get your fretless and spend the rest on an affordable fretted bass. Then you have both.

But acoustic basses have a unique amplified sound that you won't get from a solidbody electric.

 

[Wfrance3]

Hi people,
I'm wondering if I'm starting to overthink things - situation is that after pretty much stopping playing 3-4 yrs ago at 60 or so that I'd still like to play and a friend would like to see if we can put something together again.

Now at 64 I'd like to take a side road in the spirit of "now or never" and try to learn Fretless. After reading about the Sires M7 I started thinking of selling my Jazz Dlxe 5 to fund an M7
Lined Fretless and any leftover to save towards an Acoustic Bass.

I mentioned the idea of a Fretless under his Slide Blues to my friend and he likes the idea
but then I had an errant thought - what about a Fretted M7 and an Acoustic Fretless? A fair bit of the material likely to be on his Acoustic, might fit nicer.


What do people who actually know something think : )

Maurie.

My 2 cents worth....

I'm 51 and had a fretless mid-life crisis episode, that turned out ok. Her's the short version.

I was really sirened in by the very cool tones you would find in, say, Clapton, Tears in Heaven. Was all about it, and sunk some cash into a nice electric fretless. It was great, but short lived. When it comes down to it, my playing situation lends itself more to the non-fretless tone. I found myself trying to cop a fretted tone with my fretless more times than not. It was pretty sexy being able to slide up to a note and that still has it's appeal, but mostly I learned I'm just not a fretless player. I sold it and got a nice neck-thru [EDIT fretted] 35" 5-string electric that I strung up with flats and could not be happier.

Also, in the midst of all that, I also picked up a nice AEB, that is a 5-string fretless. I still have it, and while I don't play it all that often, It's great for getting more into the territory of an upright and I do really like it. I have coated round wound strings on it and it sounds awesome.

Also, if you do pull the trigger on a fretless, i find the lines are not all that and a bag of chips. The're useful to a degree, but in pretty short order I found myself not looking at the lines, and using the side dots. For a while, I used them as a reference if my pitch sounded off. More about instant visual reference of whether it's a bass out of tune issue, or a not being in the right spot on the neck issue...

If you are checking out a lined fretless, forgive if you already knew this but; you play ON the line, not behind it like a fretted bass. That's how fretless basses are intonated, so just in case you didn't know....

Hope this helps and good luck with your decision!!

 

[CaseyJ]

Maybe you should just buy a cheap fretless for the test drive. I defretted a $80 Peavey bass I bought off Craigslist. IT worked for my fretless needs.

 

[Manticore]

Everyone should have a decent quality version of both a fretted and a fretless basses.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

I only play fretless these days so I say go for it

Re acoustic fretless basses, the only good ones come with a 42" scale and an endpin.

 

[Qlanq]

For fretless, try out Squier P or J- They will not disappoint you.
For an Acoustic/Electric, I wound up lucky with a British-Hudson branded AEB that is a joy to play.
The guy in the shop was trying to find one and failed.
The one I bought from them was the best one in the shop.
I played them all.
Good luck mate, finding a really good ABG is rather difficult.

 

[RandM]

Thanks guys,
I should say that I've always liked Fretless - but In the 15 yrs I've been playing Bass it didn't suit the music I was doing. After finding that Bass was where I wanted to be and learning the basics on cheapies I wanted to get some decent gear and explore. After trying a few things I ended up with an Eden WT550 and the Jazz but the Bass I actually tried and wanted first was a MIJ Tobias 5 str lined fretless I found. At the time I'd just joined a C/Rock band as that covers a lot of feels and grooves that would help me develop and thought jumping into a completely new genre, learning a whole new to me set of songs quickly PLUS learning Fretless would be too much and so got the Jazz.

Also Fretless is something I want to learn for myself - the blues thing is incidental and just something I can use it for, not the main reason for going Fretless.

The other parameter I'd like to stay close to is that I want 5 str - so a 35" scale for a tighter B.

Oops gotta go - thanks again guys - back later.

Cheers Maurie.

 

[BAG]

surprised at the opinions on Acoustics are you talking about straight Acoust. or ones you can amplify? I may have given a wrong impression - I didn't mean Acoustic Gigs,
it's one with a PUP I'm thinking of : )

Unless you're spending some pretty big dollars any acoustic bass you buy will not have as good action and playability as an equal priced electric. Unless you want that acoustic look you might as well plug in an electric. The acoustic is also harder to tame in regard to feedback if the volume gets up a bit as well.

As others have mentioned, get a fretless that is similar in neck and body specs to what you are already playing and the transition will be so much easier.

 

[Bushrod Johnson]

Acoustic bass guitars are (in my view) virtually useless. They aren't loud enough to play with others.

Get your fretless and spend the rest on an affordable fretted bass. Then you have both.

Disagree: Recently played a gig with my Tacoma Thunderchief (plugged in) with the rhythm and lead plugged in also and we received more complements from the crowd and other players present that ever before. The consensus was that "that acoustic bass sounds great".

 

[AngelsBassBall]

I would advise to just get a Fretless electric and go for it. I will add that a lined fingerboard is useless for ease of learning. They are less expensive but I don't feel like the lines help a player learn any better than non lined with fret markers.

I am also a fan of abgs but only for sitting on the couch or porch and playing solo.

Best of luck on your journey!

 

[Reedt2000]

Here is a lined fretless jazz bass for less than $250

Fender fretless Jazz Bass

I would not sell your current fretted bass and pickup something like this. I did a SUPER quick search on Ebay and found this. There are plenty of inexpensive, decent, fretless basses out there. No need to sell something you know you like. I also agree that unless you're buying an upright, acoustic basses are not worth it.

 

[singlemalt]

Keep your bass, buy a used fretless jazz. Put some TI jazz flats on it, if it doesn't come with a set already installed. You should be able to do this for under $500.

If you give it up, sell the fretless and keep the TI's.

Acoustic electric basses are a joke, a fashion fail of the nineties, ridiculous relics of the MTV Unplugged era.

Everybody should spend some time on the fretless road.

 

[Engle]

As a lifelong fretless player, I'm duty-bound to say go for it. I agree with @two fingers that the majority ofacoustic bass guitars aren't worth the wood they are made from in terms of tone, volume, projection or nuance, and this only gets worse when they are fretless, IME.
All I would recommend, FWIW, is to choose an instrument similar to that which you played for most of your fretted playing. Just to keep physical references like nut/octave/bridge position and string spacing in familiar territory.
Good luck, and all being well, welcome in advance to the smooth side...

Agreed - acoustic bass guitars are useless acoustically, but I have a fretless one with tapewounds that sounds pretty damn cool plugged in!