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Fretless Bass: Required Listening...

#81
I'll throw my short list in as well, even though most all have been mentioned already-

Pino- I love his fretless hits from the 80's, even his fretted riffs sound like fretless, he's so smooth!
Kai Eckhardt- amazing fretless chops and finesse, and beautiful tone. Check out the Curandero album Aras, its a beautiful record, killer fretless all over that album.
Gary Willis- check out his new band Triphasic, an awesome trio from barcelona
Michael Manring- Some of my favorite stuff is his old recordings as a sideman and with windham hill. check out Chairoscuro by Marshall and Anger. Check out the funky avocado by Michael Hedges
Richard Bona- I'm always looking for more cool videos of him playing fretless. The old intro on his website had a short piece that featured him burning up some fusion licks on his fretless
Yves Carbonne- Yves has a beautiful emotive feel. His intonation is surgical, and his chops are scary, and especially when you look at the bass he's playing. Plus he's a super nice guy.
Jaco- yep, that Jaco
Alain Caron I like his solo albums OK, especially 5, but I really was blown away when I watched him burn it down on his signature bass at NAMM one year


I feel like there are a bunch more I'm forgetting, oh well, can always add more later! :)
 
#82
wolfbass1025 said:
I'll throw my short list in as well, even though most all have been mentioned already-

Pino- I love his fretless hits from the 80's, even his fretted riffs sound like fretless, he's so smooth!
Kai Eckhardt- amazing fretless chops and finesse, and beautiful tone. Check out the Curandero album Aras, its a beautiful record, killer fretless all over that album.
Gary Willis- check out his new band Triphasic, an awesome trio from barcelona
Michael Manring- Some of my favorite stuff is his old recordings as a sideman and with windham hill. check out Chairoscuro by Marshall and Anger. Check out the funky avocado by Michael Hedges
Richard Bona- I'm always looking for more cool videos of him playing fretless. The old intro on his website had a short piece that featured him burning up some fusion licks on his fretless
Yves Carbonne- Yves has a beautiful emotive feel. His intonation is surgical, and his chops are scary, and especially when you look at the bass he's playing. Plus he's a super nice guy.
Jaco- yep, that Jaco
Alain Caron I like his solo albums OK, especially 5, but I really was blown away when I watched him burn it down on his signature bass at NAMM one year


I feel like there are a bunch more I'm forgetting, oh well, can always add more later! :)
Click to expand...

...dude, nice headstock in your avatar, looks somewhat familiar...

:ninja:
 
#85
buckminster said:
Well it's not the most amazing piece of technical bass playing, but it is a great example of fretless playing in a rock context.
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True... when you think of it, is any of the Floyd fretless stuff "technically amazing"? Gilmore/Waters may be no Palladino/Caron/Manring (insert your favorite fretless player here), etc... but the parts fit nicely into the songs - and isn't that what a bassline is supposed to do, fretless or otherwise? :)
 
#86
Buskman said:
True... when you think of it, is any of the Floyd fretless stuff "technically amazing"? Gilmore/Waters may be no Palladino/Caron/Manring (insert your favorite fretless player here), etc... but the parts fit nicely into the songs - and isn't that what a bassline is supposed to do, fretless or otherwise? :)
Click to expand...

I think we're arguing apples and apples here. I made the qualification about the technical aspect of the playing because some on this forum might not think the fretless work on those songs is worthy for inclusion in this list. Yes, the parts do fit nicely into the songs, so much so that it's hard not to hear the basslines from Pigs and Hey You in your head when you recall those songs.
 
#94
I'll add another of Pino's tracks: "The Lady in Red" by Chris de Burgh. Awesome melodic fretless line of course. I actually heard this before any of the Paul Young stuff.

And Tony Franklin's stuff with The Firm and Blue Murder is great. He posts here occasionally as 'fretlessmonster' ...

And Mick Karn, as some others have posted is awesome.

Cheers,
Liam
 
#96
buckminster said:
Oh yeah and any of Tony Levin's fretless work. I haven't heard his solo albums, but his fretless work with Peter Gabriel is absolutely beautiful.
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Are there any recordings, besides one track on the Security album, where Tony played fretless with Peter Gabriel?

I know in concert he strapped on his NS upright for a few tunes during the Growing Up tour, and he played a fretless Steinberger L-2 to cover John Giblin's parts during the 1980 tour...but I can't recall anything besides that Security number where Tony recorded his fretless w/ Gabriel.
 
#100
Nakedfish said:
(cough)...Sledgehammer (cough)
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Huh... I don't think I ever realized "Sledgehammer" was played on fretless. Damn, my membership in the Tony Levin Appreciation Club may be rescinded if I don't straighten up & fly right!

But yeah, then "Sledgehammer" definitely oughta be Required Listening for Fretless, because of how unique & atypical it is of fretless bass sounds/recordings.
 

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