Anybody only play fretless?

personally, I love fretless....but I would never consider only fretless

 

I play fretless about 50% of the time. I used to play it more like 75%-80%, but a recent addition of a 7 string cut into the fretless use somewhat.

I still prefer the fretless sound, but now I'm using it mostly for jazz and some R&B stuff. Both basses always go the gig, however.

FBB fretless 6



FBB fretted 7



Side-by-side at the gig

 

I played only fretless from '96-'98. I'd post a picture, but a.) don't feel like reposting it, b.) don't feel like it, and c.) it's a beater and not terribly pretty. My main bass for about the first 6 months of this year was my Breedlove Atlas fretless AEB - it a better match with what we were doing than my Jazz.

Maybe it helped with the old beater fretless that I hadn't developed my "fretless voice" yet, so I didn't emphasize the "Mwaaah" enough to cause problems. But then again, "Fretless Only" isn't a problem if you have a high enough level of creative freedom in your band or musical environment.

 

I'm moving in that direction, I haven't played anything with frets on a gig in 6 months or more.

 

I used to play a fretted '77 Precision, but since i got my Andre Van Der End Fretless, I haven't played anything since, and I'm really loving the fretless bass. I mainly play jazz & fusion.

Here it is:

 

I've considered switching to only fretless. I just got my first fretless a couple months ago and I can't put it down. The sound is just perfect for everything I want to do. Ever since I got the fretless I get tons of compliments as well. Mostly it's just people impressed I'm playing with no frets, alot of people don't understand it's not really much harder than a fretted if you know the fretboard well. I think it's easier to play actually, but I am a bit of a musical genius.

I'll still have the fretted around though, just to remind me why I love the fretless so much.

 

I recently got a fretless again and am loving it. I wouldn't do fretless only, because I love slap, but I would consider going to mainly fretless.

Well, since you asked for pics of basses from people that play only fretless, I originally didn't post a pic. But since everybody is posting pics, here is mine:

 

For a few years the only bass I had was a fretless. I picked up a fretted bass and played both for a while. Then I sold the fretless and was without for a few years. Now I have two Elrick 5 strings, a fretted and a fretless. Both are fantastic but I play the fretless 90% of the time. I don't know how to post pics so you can actually see them (They are always little attachment pics) so I spare you squinting to see the basses.

 

When I was in college all I owned was fretless basses. It wasn't until I started getting into slap that I broke down and got my first fretted bass.

Now a days, even though I have both I still consider my fretless basses as my main instruments. I have a new Carvin Icon IC4 fretless on order.....can't wait to get it!

 

I play a bit of both, but I think I lean slightly more towards the fretted side of things. Things can get a bit slappity-poppity at times, but I love playing fretless bass, because it is so easy to make vocal sounds and phrases.

If you look at Jaco, you could say he took a lot of influence from horn phrases. I pilfer vocal phrasing for melodic ideas!

 

I've been playing mainly fretless ever since I got my Guild. Sorry, no pics yet.
-Alex

 

My two main basses are fretless, a 4 string Standard Jazz and a Spector Spectorcore 5. My only fretted is a Franken P that gets played very little. My style lends itself very well to fretless and I find it very easy to express myself on the fretless. I play primarily country, blues and blues-country-rock and it fits well. I don't slap much, but you can slap on a fretless, it just sounds a bit different than on a fretted.

 

My primary instrument is an nscr5m
Eub.... I prefer fretless, especially for slapping, and intend on getting a decent fretless bass guitar sometime in the future..
pic added...

 

I can dial in a pretty sweet slap tone on my fretless. It's not great by itself, but in a band setting playing simple slap grooves it sounds fantastic. It's certainly different though.

 

i know a guy that has played only a 6 string unlined fretless MK III Wal since he got it new in 97' and im pretty sure that he was playing only fretless for quite a while before that, i think it the only bass he owns as well.


Dave

 

Since coming to college, I've been using my fretless pretty exclusively at home and at jazz band. Takes a bit to adjust, but it's rewarding to do.

 

For about 8 years I only played fretless. I bought a Warrior 6 string fretless and frankly couldn't afford any more basses for a while. It actually got the point where I had a hard time with fretted basses due to always playing exactly on the fret. Since then I have purchased a few fretted basses - an EBMM Stingray 4, an Alembic Epic 6 and a Pedulla Rapture 5. I still play the fretless, but only about 25% of the time. It didn't get old, I just wanted to venture back into scary metal bars. Steve

 

I've briefly owned two fretted basses in the last 30+ years of playing bass, a Starfire and a 72 Jazz. Never gigged 'em, rarely played either, don't plan to ever buy another one. Fretless is it for me, no doubt. These two are my main squeezes of the moment:

 

The only bass I have up here in Toronto is my fretless jazz. so I play Fretless 100% of the time!

I was considering getting a GT-7 and Defretting it.

So, I love fretless!

-Mark