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Dove right into fretless...

#21
I had a very similar experience... I was fed up and was about to pack it in altogether. My band had just split up (again) and I was feeling pretty jaded... then a friend introduced me to the album 'Liquid Glass' Hanno/Karn.



Well I was blown away... enough to pull the frets on my 62 Jazz!

I'm just knocked out by fretless, the freedom and the expressive quality are just two.
No way am I a Mick Karn, and folks don't really notice I'm playing fretless most of the time, I play mainly Drum & Bass. I did play fretless back in the eighties with a jazz covers band.

Anyways... here's my two beauties!

Link Removed

Link Removed

You wont look back.
 
#22
bh2 said:
I had a very similar experience... I was fed up and was about to pack it in altogether. My band had just split up (again) and I was feeling pretty jaded... then a friend introduced me to the album 'Liquid Glass' Hanno/Karn.



Well I was blown away... enough to pull the frets on my 62 Jazz!

I'm just knocked out by fretless, the freedom and the expressive quality are just two.
No way am I a Mick Karn, and folks don't really notice I'm playing fretless most of the time, I play mainly Drum & Bass. I did play fretless back in the eighties with a jazz covers band.

Anyways... here's my two beauties!

Link Removed

You wont look back.
Click to expand...


Thanks.

For making me drool over that 62 Jazz!!! :D

And thanks for the link. I'm really getting into any and all fretless examples I can get my hands on.

I did briefly play a fretless about 25 years or so ago, so I'm not entirely unfamiliar with one, but I didn't stay with it long. And of course with so many more years experience (both on bass and in life) I have so much more insight into what moves me to play one.
 
#23
Sundogue - I think you'll like the fretless and enjoy it, it sounds like you are now there is a lot to learn on it or to me there is anyhow. I'm amazed on how the sounds are different on the way you try and pluck or pick the strings and the way you fret the strings right on the line or slighty before the line. I'm still learning it and learn something everytime I pick one of the 3 fretless up I have. I've got a 4th in the works. and all 3 fret boards are differnt woods so it really is different 2 are lined and 1 is not also. I have DR Black beauties on the ebonol fretboard on my squire and I seem to really like them I'm not sure what new string I'm going to put on my Fender yet I run a lot of DR strings so I may put a set of them on there.
 
#24
penguineman said:
Sundogue - I think you'll like the fretless and enjoy it, it sounds like you are now there is a lot to learn on it or to me there is anyhow. I'm amazed on how the sounds are different on the way you try and pluck or pick the strings and the way you fret the strings right on the line or slighty before the line. I'm still learning it and learn something everytime I pick one of the 3 fretless up I have. I've got a 4th in the works. and all 3 fret boards are differnt woods so it really is different 2 are lined and 1 is not also. I have DR Black beauties on the ebonol fretboard on my squire and I seem to really like them I'm not sure what new string I'm going to put on my Fender yet I run a lot of DR strings so I may put a set of them on there.
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree. Funny thing is for most of my playing years I was VERY into the tone of guys like Squire, Geddy Lee, Entwistle, et al.

What changed? Just years of cover band hell I suppose. My wife has very eclectic taste in music and I found myself listening to a lot of her stuff because I was so fed up with music I never listened to anything on my own. There was so much I heard of the things she listens to that has nothing to do with pop culture and everything she puts on crosses over so many genre boundaries that I was finding myself really into some different kind of music.

Lots of African and Latin rhythms under some very haunting vocals or synth or electric violin and such. SO very different from what any band I was ever in played.

Once I dove into this whole fretless thing I began listening to even some old stuff I played previously with a new ear.

Now everything seems to sound fresh. Even the the old classic rock is being heard in a new way. But it's mostly due to the fretless that has gotten me out of my funk (or maybe back into funk? ;)).
 
#25
I'm glad it has helped get you back into music again. I had layed the bass down over the summer for a while and have since started hitting it hard again. since it got cold and kindda hard to go outside and do stuff I have a lot more time to practiceI've got several different bands wanting me to join them or even fillin if there bass player needs time off or what ever and a couple differnt people Iknow wanting to start new bands but like I told the wife I've never been much into the bar scenes and enjoy just playing on my own or just jammin with friends. we are trying to getthe church too start a prayes and worship band but alot of the members are older and just don't like the idea at our small church. I like the fretless a lot, there are just days where my hands just don't want to work right and I can pickup the fretless and play and practice for hours it just seemd to me anyhow that it doesn't take the pressure to fret the strings as it does with a fretted Bass (hands been injured to many times over the years). anyhow my friend enjoy it I hope you do as much as I do and hopefully it will keep you motivated for a long time to come.
 
#27
Sundogue said:
Plastic wood. It isn't really like regular wood filler/putty and does not compress. It also doesn't take stain very well, so despite me wanting to darken the lines, they are still quite noticeable.

I used Tung Oil on the Rosewood fingerboard.
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Yes, you want something that does not compress otherwise the slots weaken the strenght of the neck. Or at least doen't compress more than the rosewood does.

Tung oil would make a good coating. Being a sealer it will give you a bit of Jaco-like tone but still not as harsh as the Jaco epoxy treatment does. My Rosewood fretless is just au naturel.
 
#28
bassbenj said:
Yes, you want something that does not compress otherwise the slots weaken the strenght of the neck. Or at least doen't compress more than the rosewood does.

Tung oil would make a good coating. Being a sealer it will give you a bit of Jaco-like tone but still not as harsh as the Jaco epoxy treatment does. My Rosewood fretless is just au naturel.
Click to expand...

The slots weren't very deep, but my main concern over using that filler was that when the neck is under tension from the strings, I didn't want the fret lines to "raise up" where they were filled.

Yes, the Tung Oil is easy to apply and also over time if I need to re-dress the fingerboard, it's easy enough to do.
 
#29
The more I play it, the more comfortable I've become. I've played it for almost a week now and it is becoming so easy to play I'm not really thinking about "how" to play it now.

I have kind of gotten back to where I was with my playing before I defretted it. Just about. ;)
 
#31
Rich McCoy said:
I pretty much went through what the OP went through.
I became disillusioned with trying to be in a band and now spend more time being an enthusiast.
Click to expand...

I've been in bands for over 35 years now. I just got fed up with the entire entertainment culture. I realized I'm not an entertainer, I'm a musician. If playing bass in a band happens to entertain, fine...but I now am just getting back into playing a musical instrument for one reason...the music.

I don't care if I am in a band. I don't care if what I do has commercial appeal. I don't care about drawing crowds by appealing to the lowest common denominator so the venue has sufficient funds to pay me and want to hire me back. I just don't give a crap about any of that anymore. I understand it (inside and out) and completely get the whole marketing angle and the business side of it all. Screw it. I just don't care any longer. Not interested.

I am just going to learn to be a better musician and maintain my contacts. If something worthwhile comes along and it happens to be appealing to me on my terms, I'll do it. If not? Oh well, been there, done that...far too many times to even want to remember. So if nothing worthwhile happens then I'm no worse off. I don't need to play out for the income. I simply enjoy playing good music for others. But if the music sucks for me, then it doesn't matter to me if it is appealing for everyone else. I have better things to do with my time than that.

Life is short. Too short. Shorter than most of us are willing to face, and yet we all (to varying degrees) sell ourselves and others short. We believe that we can just keep walking on the treadmill thinking the view is going to change. It won't. The only way the view is ever going to change is to be the change ourselves.

So, I just jumped off it and I'm finding the walk outside is far more interesting. The ONLY reason I am even playing bass at all anymore is because I want to explore fretless. Anything else that happens is just icing on the cake.
 
#32
Sundogue said:
I've been in bands for over 35 years now. I just got fed up with the entire entertainment culture. I realized I'm not an entertainer, I'm a musician. If playing bass in a band happens to entertain, fine...but I now am just getting back into playing a musical instrument for one reason...the music.

I don't care if I am in a band. I don't care if what I do has commercial appeal. I don't care about drawing crowds by appealing to the lowest common denominator so the venue has sufficient funds to pay me and want to hire me back. I just don't give a crap about any of that anymore. I understand it (inside and out) and completely get the whole marketing angle and the business side of it all. Screw it. I just don't care any longer. Not interested.

I am just going to learn to be a better musician and maintain my contacts. If something worthwhile comes along and it happens to be appealing to me on my terms, I'll do it. If not? Oh well, been there, done that...far too many times to even want to remember. So if nothing worthwhile happens then I'm no worse off. I don't need to play out for the income. I simply enjoy playing good music for others. But if the music sucks for me, then it doesn't matter to me if it is appealing for everyone else. I have better things to do with my time than that.

Life is short. Too short. Shorter than most of us are willing to face, and yet we all (to varying degrees) sell ourselves and others short. We believe that we can just keep walking on the treadmill thinking the view is going to change. It won't. The only way the view is ever going to change is to be the change ourselves.

So, I just jumped off it and I'm finding the walk outside is far more interesting.
Click to expand...

Really well said. I haven't been doing it as long as you but I came to the same point. It's about the music and only about the music.
 
#34
Such a cool story Sundogue!! Thanks for taking the time to share the experience.. :)

Sundogue said:
.... and so I have to be conscious to also play it so it still sounds like a fretted bass when needed.....
Click to expand...

Yes, this is entirely possible. Played a gig with a guitarist I'd worked with for 6 years, and a drummer I'd gigged with probably a dozen times or so. Brought a lined fretless bass & I played the first set with restraint... and neither one of them knew it was fretless. Until I let the cat out of the bag (meow :D)
 
#35
Chad Michael said:
Such a cool story Sundogue!! Thanks for taking the time to share the experience.. :)



Yes, this is entirely possible. Played a gig with a guitarist I'd worked with for 6 years, and a drummer I'd gigged with probably a dozen times or so. Brought a lined fretless bass & I played the first set with restraint... and neither one of them knew it was fretless. Until I let the cat out of the bag (meow :D)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've been playing it lately going over some material I've played fretted over the last couple of years and depending on how the fretless is played and how one EQ's, it is pretty easy to keep the traditional fretted sound intact.

Obviously, some things like bright slap, or that clanky Squire sound that actually uses frets as part of the sound, it is more difficult to cop that tone, but overall, there doesn't need to be a decidedly different tone with fretless unless it's wanted.

Most guys I've played with over the years are aware I've switched to fretless and they are all pretty cool about it. Looking forward to playing with them sometime in the near future just for fun.
 
#36
Anyone have any specific recommendations of examples of fretless players I can find on YouTube and learn a few?

Not just players but specific songs played by guys who are fretless players. They need not be killer tunes that show off incredible talent, just some good fretless bass on some good songs.
 
#38
Good to hear a story like that. I started playing bass over 25 years ago when I first heard Mick Karn. Then, 5 years ago, I finally got hold of a fretless for the first time ever, and found I just couldn't get on with it. :-(
 
#40
Jeff Scott said:
Click to expand...


Thanks. Checked out many other Jaco video clips too. Funny thing about Jaco...he sounds the same on fretted or fretless. Of course we all sound the same no matter what we play. I don't sound any different on fretless than I do on fretted either. I suck at both. :D Not really...but our own individual styles do come through on most any instrument.

For whatever reason I never play as well on my own as I do with a good drummer. I miss my old drummer. He inspired me. I should hook up with him sometime just to jam out some fun original stuff. We could always write tons of great stuff together.
 

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