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Fretless doubts... Should I continue?

#61
bebass said:
Interesting. This past Friday I ordered myself a fretless Cort. I had a fretless once and liked it but was not very good at it and sold it. Then I took one in on trade for the store and played around on it for a few minutes then decided I didn't care for it. But I thought I would try again.
I believe it is an unlined fretless and the one I had before was lined. This will make it more of a challenge to me but since I play as much by ear and feel as I do technically I am hoping to adjust. This thread is actually encouraging.
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Everyone's different :) I was pretty much in the same situation: I started on a Squier VM fretless with lines, and it did not work at all for me. Did not feel like practicing at all, did not like the tone, did not like the lines... I went for an unlined fretless precisely because I thought it would be "easier" for me despite the additional challenge of not having lines. And so far it worked out: it's difficult to play in tune for sure, but after few weeks practice it's much easier than what I thought it would be!! Good luck to you!
 
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#62
gregouille23 said:
This is so true, playing fretless definitely helps cleaning up your technique.
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This! Your fretted technique will get better from playing a fretless bass. And your improved fretted technique will lead to better fretless playing. The two can become a very powerful dynamic

It can’t be emphasized enough that going outside your usual box makes you a better player.

It doesn’t even need to be a bass for it to benefit you as a bass player. I had a small epiphany recently. And it came from my stumbling on the world of cigar box guitar.

Having a melody instrument with only three or four strings to work with along with multiple tunings made me start thinking more deeply about chord tones and voicings than I had in a number of years. And being exposed to so much roots and blues music, which is a big (but not the only) part of the CBG thing, moved my musical thinking out of the usual genres it generally travels in. And that made me noticeably better on bass in the process.

A couple of friends asked me if I was now doubling down on practicing, or if was taking lessons from somebody again. I told them “Nope. I just started playing cigar box guitar.” :thumbsup::laugh:
 
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#63
I believe there are two types of fret less electric bass. One, the Jaco style, heavy on the Waa-factor and two, where you play it like a fretted adding the odd slide in and out of notes and accenting riffs. ... Maybe if you stick with it you'll find your own voice in there.
 
#64
For a short period in the 70s my fretless PBass was my only bass. I gigged with it and did session work with it. After about a year I decided to get a fretted PBass. I had no problems with the fretless but I found that as a rule I preferred the sound of the fretted bass. I wish I’d kept the fretless, it was beautiful and very easy to play.
 
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#67
To echo some others, I would stick with the fretless. Not every note I play on a fretless is spot-on but I like the sound of the fretless and my intonation is good enough that I stick with it.

Woodshedding may help. I have noticed that if I get away from a fretless long enough I hit more sour notes. There's probably something to that.
 
#68
Alternatively, there are the hybrid fretless/fretted basses, which work great if you have to sing, of jump around at some gigs, or some tunes (fretted), then at other jazzier or more musically oriented gigs, they work great where you might solo, or need to play with a more subtle touch, or sound.
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#72
i've played fretted bass since 1973 ish ... seems about every decade i get in the mood to try fretless ...

earing training is probably most important ... that being the case , always being able to hear yourself very well is paramount .. !! if you use your ears and get used to the ' feel ' of where the notes are ... there's no reason to stare at your hand .. !!??

again , now i have a fretless ... it's a parts bass , so the neck could come or go .. !

i can't play one live ... tried ... i am deaf in 1 ear , and sing lead/backups ... for me , getting the vocal monitors and my bass amp mixed perfectly never happened well enough so i could hear both for tuning reference . !? play a note out of tune on the bass = vocal follows ... or visa versa ...

at home in the studio = fun
 
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#76
The hand position is extremely important for any fretless player (any non fretted instrument violin, string bass, whatever).
Because the fretboard has diminishing interval as you go up the neck, the position of the fingers must automatically adjust to play in tune, so adapting a proper fretting hand muscle memory and technique goes a long way to avoid constantly looking at the neck, one that is not quite so critical on fretted instruments.
 
#77
gregouille23 said:
Hi there,

Earlier this year I ended up getting a Tony Franklin fretless bass, a bit by accident. The deal was just too good to pass up. I never was too much of a fretless fan and besides I play 5 strings basses exclusively but this bass is different. I suddenly enjoyed playing fretless and became better at it. It was a challenge, but I enjoyed putting the work and noticing the improvements. My ears got much better as well in the process.

A couple of months ago, I decided to take it to band practice just to give it a shot. I ended up playing the whole evening with it. It went awesome, and the other band members seemed to enjoy it as well. I asked them to tell me the minute I am sounding off, and despite asking again a few times, they said it sounded great :hyper:

2 weeks later, next band practice. This time I played much less with the fretless. I felt it was getting in the way of the "performance". By that I mean my eyes were almost glued to the fretboard and as such, I felt that I had to put too much effort to play in tune (including looking at the fretboard) and that this was to the detriment of playing together as a band. I felt the fretless did not add enough to the band as a whole compared to the efforts I had to put in. I felt selfish basically because for my pleasur (playing fretless), I was hurting the band by being less present, making less eye contact with the others and so on...

Since then, I kind of went back to fretted only and felt much better the next rehearsal. I even decided to sell the fretless and get a regular 4 string P. But now I am starting to doubt... On the one hand I like fretless, on the other hand there is so much I feel I should learn and having 2 young kids and a full time job doesn't give me much practice time in the evening. So I cannot do everything at once...

Anyone had a similar experience? I am sure practice is the way out from this situation, but still I would like to hear from fellow fretless players how it went for you.

Cheers!
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You have to be honest with yourself. Bottom line is, you simply cannot walk up onstage in front of people and play out of tune. If you're not there yet, just spend more time woodshedding, even if it takes years.
 
#78
Fretless is all about the ear, and the feel.

If you're looking at the fingerboard, you're not there yet.

And it's just a different way to play, like more or less strings, funk/slap, touchstyle/tapping, etc..
I do notice I tend to play flatter fingers on fretless for sure.

It's not either or, it's both!
Keep playing both.

My 2 cents for whatever it's worth.
Dirk
 
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