• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Exclusively fretless??

#41
I used to play nothing but my fretless Ken Smith bass on gigs. To save fingerboard wear, at rehearsals I would use a fretted version. The Fretless becomes more of your voice, and in Jazz where you can express your voice more, go for it, play fretless. But if you get into some kind of funky jam, dont expect a metal poppy sound from slapping. Though I slap on my fretless basses all the time and love the sound.

The only gigs I did not play fretless on exclusively were musical shows (where there was a lot of reading charts).

My old band I used to play a lot of fretless live, for some tunes would switch to fretted, and on our recordings, half of some tracks are fretted and switch to fretless.

When it comes down to it, its your voice, play what you want!
 
#42
That's been my experience too. I can use fretless in any music I play and it only sounds like a fretless when I want it to. It really hasn't been hard to do. And while some can't get a "classic" slap sound, I can. And I can get slap sounds with movement too so it can be even more versatile than a fretted bass IMO without the limitation.

Years ago when I used my Zon Legacy Standard fretless 5 as my main bass I'd get people coming up to me during a break and doing a double take because they had no idea from their vantage out in the audience that I was playing a fretless. That's how convincing the sound was. Just my experience. While it may take some longer than others to get to this point, again, with the right bass and the right technique it can be a complete non-issue.

Or not.
 
#45
I slap the MB2 and Deep5. I dig the sound, but it isn't the same as a fretted bass. Same with the Roscoe fretless. Actually the RAs with an envelope filter gets some great slap tones. But it is its own vibe. Part of the reason that at a nostatic gig I'll have a Rob Allen along with a fretted bass. For some tunes I just prefer the ping and attack that frets give. But I have played whole gigs on one or the other. If I had to pick only one I'd go fretless, but thankfully I don't have to make that choice.
 
#46
nostatic said:
Well, for that budget I'd get this:

mb2.png


which can funk it up nicely: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

and this

pj2.jpg


And likewise: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Can easily do both for $3K if you get the RA used.
Click to expand...

I'd like to have just one "cover every gig bass" - I'm lazy - but there certainly is something to be said for that fretless vibe - especially in a jazz setting. I think for me it would have to be a "Rob Allen" type of bass as a normal fretless doesn't give the same "upright" vibe and I want that more than say a regular fretless bass.

This is probably the most common sense suggestion. Rob Allen for jazz and other fretless needs and a J/J or P/J of some kind for everything else. I might go with a Sadowsky instead of Fender to have another option - active or passive.
 
#50
I think I'm going to go the nostatic route. I was going to look for "the ultimate" 4 - like a Roscoe LG3000 or something like that, but it make more sense to go this way. A Rob Allen MB-2 for jazz and other fretless stuff, and a Fender American Deluxe P for everything else. I've got lines on a couple MB-2's and I think my local Fender dealer can set me up with the other. With any luck I can do them both for about $2,600 and with 2 basses have vitrualy any gig covered.
 
#52
As you can tell from my registered user name, I do enjoy playing fretless and did play it exclusively for about 4 or 5 years. One I night I sat in with a group whose bassist was hospitalized and I did not have my rig with me and actually used his fretted bass for the gig. It made me realize how much I did miss playing a fretted.
Now I play fretless about 60 % and fretted the rest of the time. I'd never play one exclusively again.
 
#53
fretlessguy said:
As you can tell from my registered user name, I do enjoy playing fretless and did play it exclusively for about 4 or 5 years. One I night I sat in with a group whose bassist was hospitalized and I did not have my rig with me and actually used his fretted bass for the gig. It made me realize how much I did miss playing a fretted.
Now I play fretless about 60 % and fretted the rest of the time. I'd never play one exclusively again.
Click to expand...

Interesting.
Guess I need to scoop up a nice fretted P bass to see if this makes sense.

This is not GAS... just following another TBer's advice. :ninja:
 
#55
As far as slap on fretless goes, I just turn down the volume a lot, so i can slap harder - imo, the best way to get slap going is more agressive technique.

And as far as chordal stuff goes, it's practice practise practice; 4ths can be pain, but you can utilise two fingers instead of barre approach and overcome this.

Dunno...for me, fretless gives me more than fretted bass; so many notes dont sound right when they are 'constrained' to frets, with fretless, i can play some of them bit sharper and get the tension of resolving certain notes way better, etc etc...

It's like comparing analog and digital - on fretless, sliding from one note to another is analog, you get all possible notes in between - while on fretted, it's like digital, you get either 1 or 0.
 
#56
Duplo42 said:
As far as slap on fretless goes, I just turn down the volume a lot, so i can slap harder - imo, the best way to get slap going is more agressive technique.

And as far as chordal stuff goes, it's practice practise practice; 4ths can be pain, but you can utilise two fingers instead of barre approach and overcome this.

Dunno...for me, fretless gives me more than fretted bass; so many notes dont sound right when they are 'constrained' to frets, with fretless, i can play some of them bit sharper and get the tension of resolving certain notes way better, etc etc...

It's like comparing analog and digital - on fretless, sliding from one note to another is analog, you get all possible notes in between - while on fretted, it's like digital, you get either 1 or 0.
Click to expand...

you are allowed to bend notes... :D
 
#57
Lots of slap talk-maybe I misrepresented myself mentioning slap. I use it in maybe 3 tunes so it's not a big deal. It's nice, but not the end of the world.

Still debating. Get a super nice fretless, or get a really nice fretless and a really nice fretted and maybe be more versatile. Decisions, decisions.
 
#59
René_Julien;10800569 said:
Sounds simple to me, the second option. ;)
Seems like you are not eager to leave fretted playing behind.
Click to expand...

I think you are correct. And if I HAD to choose, I think a better choice - for me - would be fretted. But I think the 2 nice basses instead of 1 REALLY nice bass is probably best? There IS something to be said about one really nice bass. I'll have to debate with myself for a while.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back