I can see checking the board with a tuner and occasionally checking intonations while fretting, but I think it would be more efficient and practical to use a drone and listen for discordance. I don't have perfect pitch but I do have decent ears. Fixating on a tuner sounds a lot like fixating on the board itself, or for that matter fixating on a metronome. I only have enough brain cells left to do a couple things at once, so I have to ration them wisely. Fixating on things for me causes brain freeze, but that's just me....
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Best practice routine for learning fretless, for fretted player
- Thread starter BassicJazzy
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But, but, but...I've never played a fretted bass, lol. I own a Rickenbacker that sits there like a museum painting.
That Rick should be in a class case with a security system to make sure you don't get close enough to touch and/or damage it! Even breathing on it could affect the value.
It's like the cockpit crew of the new highly automated airliners, only two in the cockpit, a pilot and a dog. Pilot's job is to feed the dog, dog's job is to make sure the pilot doesn't go near the controls.
I'm busy practicing my fretted bass now, working on playing it without looking at it or actually touching it. "Soon, Grasshopper, you will be ready for the fretless, once you can do that perfectly, all day long, no beer or bathroom breaks!"
Found an old thread from 2023 on TB about "How popular is Fretless" and some of the folks who weighed in here on this thread are on it. Some interesting things on that thread. 1) Seems many who try fretless who did not start on it give it up. 2) Many or most consider it a niche instrument, or an entirely different instrument. 3) Intonation not as big of an issue if you have a good ear and are quick to correct mistakes. 4) Not many offerings from major builders. 5) Often played in pursuit of a sound or a challenge. 6) Generally considered to be declining in popularity.
Taking all of this into account, plus all of the input on this thread I started, here's my conclusion: 1) I don't play a bass because of its popularity. 2) I don't aspire to perfection, only to sound good and have fun doing it. 3) I would never choose it as my primary instrument, when frets offer so many advantages, like greater choice of basses, sharper sound, and accurate intonation. 4) I always enjoy a challenge, but I wouldn't spend the bank on it. 5) Since it will never be my primary instrument, I wouldn't sacrifice too much of my practice time on other instruments to learning it.
All that said, I do think it does deserve a dedicated week or two of solo practice time, before I just work it into the rotation schedule.
Taking all of this into account, plus all of the input on this thread I started, here's my conclusion: 1) I don't play a bass because of its popularity. 2) I don't aspire to perfection, only to sound good and have fun doing it. 3) I would never choose it as my primary instrument, when frets offer so many advantages, like greater choice of basses, sharper sound, and accurate intonation. 4) I always enjoy a challenge, but I wouldn't spend the bank on it. 5) Since it will never be my primary instrument, I wouldn't sacrifice too much of my practice time on other instruments to learning it.
All that said, I do think it does deserve a dedicated week or two of solo practice time, before I just work it into the rotation schedule.
Just my 2 cents on these staments:
I don't think fretless has a declining popularity, I'd think it was quite trendy during the eighties (and rather frequently used in pop music) but since then I'd think it has been rather constantly be used as niche instrument.
I don't disagree with your list of "fretted advantages" but on the other hand with fretless you gain much more expressivness — including sounding quite like a fretted bass, at least when playing fingerstyle, say Sting in the early Police...
Yeah, I hear you. The first point was really just regurgitated from the survey done on TB in 2023. I don't think anyone tracks stats on this so there is no definitive source that could validate this conclusion, but I threw it out there anyway. I agree with your second point, it is worth learning how to play it because it can get sounds and expressions that the fretted bass cannot easily do. I'm a finger style player, always have been, but will admit my dynamics on fretted are not up to the level that I desire. Looking to get a little of that from learning, and playing, the fretless.
As I said somewhere on this thread, for me it's about extending my capabilities, not so much about shifting to a new instrument. Some here on TB felt that if I'm not playing fretless I'm not playing bass. I've heard the same about playing jazz on an electric versus an upright. Still a worthwhile venture, folks!
I saw Sting with the Police around '82, relatively small venue in Chicago, we were about 20 feet away on side of stage. He was playing a Jazz, fretted. I think I lost about 10% of my hearing at that concert from being so close to the front of the main speakers. Worth it.
Got the bass set-up with chrome flats, had a full day's practice on it yesterday. Luthier reset saddles so it intonates directly on the fret lines. Tested the board with tuner, found it accurate but realized that pads were not going to work, fingertips required on fretting hand. If I used pads just a slight pressure to one side or other and notes would go flat or sharp by three dots on tuner. Jeez! Worked my way through scales up and down the board with C drone in background, found intonation wasn't too bad, but change in technique rendered me painfully slow relative to my norm on fretted. Strangest thing was that the board seemed really foreign to me from 7th to 12th fret line. My muscle memory and mental map just didn't recognize it. I imagine this will pass with time and more practice. Other thing I noticed was how much more sensitive the bass is on the plucking side, just lifting my fingers off strings gave out significant sounds. I had to put my muting technique on "high alert" and call out Mr Pinkie to mute all lower strings I wasn't plucking. I play with a light touch so normally Mr Pinkie stays in check most of the time, unless I get too fast and sloppy. I think some of that is due to the high sensitivity of the Soundgear basses, and the narrow neck, but this was way beyond what I find with my SR1350B, which too gave me problems at first but then got tamed. Perhaps the luthier set the action a tad low, he did comment on that when I gave him the bass and I told him "set it where you would like it." Anyway, I'm going to keep at it. I'll post an update in about a week. Meanwhile, my fretted basses will stay in the cases. Here's a pic of the bass as it stands now with the D'addario Chromes.
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Oh, one thing I forgot, the luthier showed me that the bass had been played before, had some wear at 24th fret line, edge of board. So much for "brand new in box" from GC! Luthier said it had probably been returned by another customer, since it shipped direct from Musicians Supply warehouse.
Oh well, no biggie. Wear was minimal. He oiled the board and you can barely see it. Still a great bass for $475.
Oh well, no biggie. Wear was minimal. He oiled the board and you can barely see it. Still a great bass for $475.
I'll only add that the whole looking at your hand/the board thing is ridiculous. Every, and I mean every, fretless player I've ever seen looks at their board. Yes, practice sight reading, but don't feel like you're going to hit by a bolt of lightning from Fretless Zeus.
One thing I do is to play along to drones. You'll know immediately if your intonation is good or not.
Play your fretless however it's fun for you. I don't go for a ton of mwah the majority of the time, for others it's a feature and the main reason they love playing fretless. You do you.
One thing I do is to play along to drones. You'll know immediately if your intonation is good or not.
Play your fretless however it's fun for you. I don't go for a ton of mwah the majority of the time, for others it's a feature and the main reason they love playing fretless. You do you.
Can't emphasize this enough. Try to get it to sound like a fretted bass. Adding vibrato is easy to do later on.
Play aong with recordings of songs you know, also recorded tones, scales and held chords.
Have an always-on tuner, not to rely on, but to check your ear as well as finger placement, especially for notes you cant easily check against open strings or harmonics. I hope its obvious this is for practice only.
I've been using cello chord drones in various keys and beside practicing scales in various forms and arps, plus been playing the things I know, and after only 2 days I'm getting the hang of it. Yesterday it felt alien to me, today not so much, tomorrow should be better. The main thing is I've tamed the beast. SRs are really lively and sensitive and I got this one calmed down. If I had to rethink my choice of strings I might have gone with tapes instead of chrome flats, but now I live with the brightness of the chromes.
Intonation is not as much of an issue for me after making slight adjustments to technique as is translating my muscle memory to the new board. My ears are faster to detect off pitch hits than any tuner. Note: I learned by ear, been playing since '72, not a noob. Thanks for your input though.
I find I'm enjoying the fretless. I'll report back in a week.
I agree, find a good drone app, especially one allowing you to program in chords, and just wing it. Don't look at shett music
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Yes, I agree. MusicDroneFantasies on Youtube is excellent. They have various drones and I like the cello drones in major and minor chords, available in most of the keys I play jazz in. Right now I've linked to C Major and Minor, F Major and Bb Major. The drones go for about 15 minutes each.
*NO AFFILIATION* but I'm finding cello drones in the DroneTone app really helpful. Its chords are completely arbitrary. YMMV
Just posted a recap on new thread with OP asking about which fretless to buy to learn, but here's a summary of week one on the SR370EF. I found the bass very easy to play and not hard to adjust to after getting over the mental image of a fretboard I did not recognize (lack of frets). That only took 2 days. Picked up speed over next two days and found some weak areas in my mental map, mostly in upper register (I don't play up there often enough). Did not have a problem maintaining proper intonation, used chord drones and mainly my ears to maintain proper pitch. Bass held its tuning while in gig bag overnight, tuners are solid. Tamed the dynamics of the bass, very lively, high output p'ups. Muting not an issue after day 3. Speed increased by day 4 and familiarity with the board became acceptable. By day 5, almost as native feeling as my fretted basses. Sound is outstanding, EQ and preamp are good, not great. The bass is a joy to play. Mostly I play in single p'up mode, not hum bucking or power p'up mode. Action and neck are outstanding. I wonder what a higher level fretless would be like to play? I may outgrow this. Definitely a fretless fan from now on.
I'm on 10th day of playing the SR370EF and the only issue I'm having it that this bass is at least twice as loud as any of my other basses. I am trying to figure out why? Are all fretless basses significantly louder than their fretted counterparts, or is it just this bass, these proprietary off-brand p'ups, or perhaps just a really robust active preamp? My set up is pretty low, and I'm using chrome flats. I'm wondering if I should lower my p'ups a bit?
Is the volume knob maxed? If so it's probably adding unnecessary gain. Unlike on a passive bass turning down the volume doesn't affect the tone. Just set the volume to whatever works.
