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Dove right into fretless...

#41
My favorite Jaco stuff is what he did with Joni, probably his most creative period IMHO. Very musical and lyrical, a perfect foil for Joni. :) And, a lot of it is not that difficult to learn to play.

Here are some more of my favorite fretless bassists:



I have seen all these guys, gotten to know them a bit personally, even played a couple of their basses! :cool:

Playing with a drummer (or even a decent drum machine or loops) does help with creativity; to me, metronomes are not much use for bringing the groove to music, I have a good internal sense of time, but they are handy to have in a darkroom.
 
#42
Jeff Scott said:
My favorite Jaco stuff is what he did with Joni, probably his most creative period IMHO. Very musical and lyrical, a perfect foil for Joni. :) And, a lot of it is not that difficult to learn to play.

Here are some more of my favorite fretless bassists:



I have seen all these guys, gotten to know them a bit personally, even played a couple of their basses! :cool:

Playing with a drummer (or even a decent drum machine or loops) does help with creativity; to me, metronomes are not much use for bringing the groove to music, I have a good internal sense of time, but they are handy to have in a darkroom.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the clips.

The drummer I've played on and off with for over 10 years now is one of the funkiest, syncopated, grooviest, percussive musicians I've ever had the pleasure of playing with. I could sit and just listen to him play all alone by himself...he's that musical with his drum kit. He's so damned inspiring that EVERY time I play with him he just brings out something musical in me that I didn't even know I was capable of playing.
 
#43
So what is everyone's favorite string for fretless? Thus far I've had Circle K's rounds, D'Addario rounds, Sunbeams (rounds), Chromes (flats) and I'm digging the D'Addario rounds so far.

I'm really looking for a nice roundwound, preferably nickels. I'm not too concerned about fingerboard wear and more concerned about tone. I'm open to groundwounds, but not flats. I dig flats, but not on my fretless.

So what is everyone using on their fretless basses?
 
#44
Sundogue said:
So what is everyone's favorite string for fretless? Thus far I've had Circle K's rounds, D'Addario rounds, Sunbeams (rounds), Chromes (flats) and I'm digging the D'Addario rounds so far.



I'm really looking for a nice roundwound, preferably nickels. I'm not too concerned about fingerboard wear and more concerned about tone. I'm open to groundwounds, but not flats. I dig flats, but not on my fretless.



So what is everyone using on their fretless basses?
Click to expand...

Sadowsky hands down. I was a TI player for years until I tried Sadowsky's flats and I was blown away.
 
#45
Sundogue said:
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.
Click to expand...

I'm at work and youtube is blocked, but I'd suggest looking for a vid of Pino Palladino playing Give Blood by Pete Townshend, if you can find one. That's the song and the sound that got me onto the fretless path.
 
#47
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. 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.
Click to expand...

I played pretty much nothing but fretless for about 10 years, and right now I have 3 fretless and only 2 fretted basses in the house (how did that happen?). That said depending on the gig I'm primarily on fretted but have used fretless on "wrong" gigs plenty of times.

If you really want to get out of a rut, take some lessons with a good teacher (Ant Wellington is great). A few years back I decided to essentially start over with the instrument, after about 30 years of gigging on and off as a bassist, and before that, as a guitarist. Was the best thing I could have done for my playing and approach to music.

You might also try finding a 5-string, stringing it E-C, and working up some basic chords.
 
#48
nostatic said:
You might also try finding a 5-string, stringing it E-C, and working up some basic chords.
Click to expand...

Well, it is a 5 string. And it was a 6 string at one point and I still have the 6 string set (low B with a high C). I may mess around with that.

I might also put the 6 string nut and bridge back on but tune it as a guitar (low E to high E). Who knows. My bass has seen more different incarnations as one single bass than most players have basses. :D
 
#50
I have a Yamaha RBX kicking about and was using it as a spare/backup. It plays and sounds decent but I had a hankering for a fretless. Last weekend, I got the pliers out and threw on an old set of fender flats and once it`s finished, I will have myself a nice fretless to give my playing a good kick up the behind.

If you have a spare bass lying about, not getting used, go for it!
 
#52
nostatic said:
Fwiw I think guitar stringing is a mistake. The beauty of extended range bass tuned in 4ths is constant symmetry. Once you learn a few chord shapes you can cover a lot if ground. Of course chords in fretless are a whole nother ball game
Click to expand...

Well, that is true about the beauty of an extended range bass.

As far as stringing it up like a 6 string guitar being a mistake, well...I've had it strung up like that when it was fretted and it was hardly a mistake. It was nice to play full guitar chords on my bass (especially because the spacing was so tight...made it easy).

My Yamaha is whatever I want it to be. It's been a 5 string fretted, a 6 string fretted, strung up BEADG as a 5 string, as well as EADGC as a 5 string, and also EADGBE as a 6 string and BEADGC as a 6 string...about 5 different paint jobs on the body...and now it's a 5 string fretless. None of which cost me much of anything aside from my time and inclination at any given moment. All of that from one single bass and never having to purchase a different one. I like experimentation.

The only "mistake" I make with this bass is hitting the wrong notes sometimes. :D
 
#53
Sundogue said:
So what is everyone's favorite string for fretless? Thus far I've had Circle K's rounds, D'Addario rounds, Sunbeams (rounds), Chromes (flats) and I'm digging the D'Addario rounds so far.

I'm really looking for a nice roundwound, preferably nickels. I'm not too concerned about fingerboard wear and more concerned about tone. I'm open to groundwounds, but not flats. I dig flats, but not on my fretless.

So what is everyone using on their fretless basses?
Click to expand...

I've always used rounds on my fretless...
A lot of peeps say they damage the board but in nearly 40 years I've not managed to do that, some groove marking but nothing that interferes playability or sound wise.

Rotos RS 66's... I can't get on with flats or tapes.
 

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