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Fretless players: When do you play your fretted?

#41
I prefer a fretted if I have to play chords and double stops. It takes too much work to play them on a fretless at high speed with proper intonation.
I find hard to get a huge, sharp tone on fretless. I prefer fretted for this.
Oh and I don't like the sound of detuned fretless. It gets muddy so if I downtune it's always on fretted.
I play fretless most of the time these days.
 
#42
For me, the decision about playing fretted or fretless depends mostly on the playing environment. If it's loud and fast, with pounding drums and bad lighting, then I play fretted. The subtleties of the fretless would be lost anyway, and I'd rather make sure that I'm hitting the notes. If the environment is quieter and lower energy, I always prefer fretless to get the tone and movement. I mostly play fretless, because I prefer quieter bands and gigs. But then, I'm 56. I still enjoy listening to hard/heavy music, but I don't really enjoy playing it any more.

Also, I've been doing harmony background vocals for years, but lately I'm doing more lead vocals. I'm finding that it's hard to sing lead and play fretless bass (and get the notes right!) at the same time. So, I'm starting to "go back" to playing more fretted bass in those situations. I figure that, singing lead, it's more important to sing well and play a simpler bass part well, than to try to show off and do poorly at both.
 
#43
Bruce Johnson said:
For me, the decision about playing fretted or fretless depends mostly on the playing environment. If it's loud and fast, with pounding drums and bad lighting, then I play fretted. The subtleties of the fretless would be lost anyway, and I'd rather make sure that I'm hitting the notes. If the environment is quieter and lower energy, I always prefer fretless to get the tone and movement. I mostly play fretless, because I prefer quieter bands and gigs. But then, I'm 56. I still enjoy listening to hard/heavy music, but I don't really enjoy playing it any more.

Also, I've been doing harmony background vocals for years, but lately I'm doing more lead vocals. I'm finding that it's hard to sing lead and play fretless bass (and get the notes right!) at the same time. So, I'm starting to "go back" to playing more fretted bass in those situations. I figure that, singing lead, it's more important to sing well and play a simpler bass part well, than to try to show off and do poorly at both.
Click to expand...

I must agree with the singing/playing fretless point of view, after all, it's impossible to sing and play the bass.

And I also understand the point about loud gigs. It would be very hard to check your intonation if you're having a hard time hearing yourself clearly. I just came from my first jam session with my fretless and all we did was play classic rock songs from chord charts. My main concern was the tone of the fretless wouldn't be as good for this as my fretted P with flats, but after some careful EQing the difference between the two was hardly heard. All of the slight fretless nuances were lost in the mix - except for "Come Together", which sounds awesome with a fretless, but for that one I dialed in the bass to have a lot more bite. Anyways, I could have simply brought the fretted to that jam and really wouldn't have sounded different, but I just wanted to see how well I'd follow chord charts and keep in tune... I needed to focus a lot more, but it was a good exercise and helped to train my ear a bit more.

A lot of my reason to start this thread was to see if I needed to keep my fretted, because I honestly couldn't see a gig where I'd prefer it over the fretless. And I still don't really, the gig tonight worked great with the fretless and for the odd song that I knew a bit better and could add to it, it killed. But singing would certainly throw a wrench into that plan, as well as loud gigs where I'm having difficulties hearing myself.
 
#45
My fretless P fits so well with what I do with the band I'm in, that I really only play my Jaguar anymore when I'm working on something at home that I feel demands a fretted instrument, at least for the time being.
Sometimes I work out an unfamiliar song on the Jaguar first, or I will play it when I'm recording with a friend of mine.
 
#47
I'm another Fender TF owner. I also have a Fender Steve Bailey fretless. I have a fretted TF, and a GTBD-7 for when I have to show a guitar player, or another bassist a part that I have to teach them. It's hard to "show" someone how to play a song or passage, if the fretless has no lines!

Otherwise, I only use the fretted basses about 5% of the time.
 
#48
The real gut check for me was about ten years ago, when I was playing in a rock band in which three of the other members were experienced pro recording engineers. I started out playing fretless with them, because I was most comfortable with fretless. The stage mix was good, and I thought I was hitting the notes in tune just fine. But they kept telling me that I was off. Then they made me listen to recordings of the whole band together, from out in the audience. I was often way off, and you could really hear it out there. It was a real lesson. I played fretted the rest of my time with that band and that fixed it.

The point is that what you sound like to yourself on stage can really fool you. The percussive nature of the drum's notes can throw off what you are hearing. You may think you're close enough, but out front, your note can be heard in sharper contrast to the other instruments.
 
#49
I'm new to fretless and find myself having
to force myself to pick up my fretted ones.

I am determined to overcome this feeling
however because I'm not ready to hang up
my fretted basses,

Tabdof
 
#50
Bruce Johnson said:
The real gut check for me was about ten years ago, when I was playing in a rock band in which three of the other members were experienced pro recording engineers. I started out playing fretless with them, because I was most comfortable with fretless. The stage mix was good, and I thought I was hitting the notes in tune just fine. But they kept telling me that I was off. Then they made me listen to recordings of the whole band together, from out in the audience. I was often way off, and you could really hear it out there. It was a real lesson. I played fretted the rest of my time with that band and that fixed it.

The point is that what you sound like to yourself on stage can really fool you. The percussive nature of the drum's notes can throw off what you are hearing. You may think you're close enough, but out front, your note can be heard in sharper contrast to the other instruments.
Click to expand...

That's scary.

A lot of folks have no idea what they sound like
from the audience's perspective.

Tabdog
 
#51
I've played 100% fretless for the last 25 years in all kinds of music. Most of the time people wont even notice. Key is to have a bass setup not only for the typical fretless mwah. For me that means ghs roundwounds and a average to high action.

Main downside is how to handle myself in those situations where I don't have my own instrument at hand. Happened to me last weekend when I walked into a nice jam by accident. I really stink on fretted, but didn't want to sissy out. Took me 10 minutes before I could muster some usefull sounds.

Intonation in loud live situations can be a problem. I make sure my monitoring sound alows me to hear intonation well (enough highs) loud guitars in the same range can really mess that up. I also check my hands very often when I'm in doubt.
 
#52
tabdog said:
That's scary.

A lot of folks have no idea what they sound like
from the audience's perspective.

Tabdog
Click to expand...

Listening back objectively (opposed to the subjective, "in the moment") can be real eye opener. I've found recording most of my sessions, where I can match the bass and piano, to provide a useful barometer between the two. I know that once in a while I'll be a little off but will adjust quickly, and that 90% of the people wont notice. I'm usually more concerned with sitting well in the mix and find there's someone I can ask if the bass is loud enough.
 
#53
Needless to say I get to play a lot of different basses some fretless some not from 4-7 strings. I am not a good player by any means. The ones that give me the most problems playing them are the fretted 4 strings. I am mostly a 5 string fretless player. It is fairly easy for me to ignore or lightly use extra strings but man I miss the "B" string if it isn't there. I do like fretted for the faster rock tunes.
 
#56
Bruce Johnson said:
The real gut check for me was about ten years ago, when I was playing in a rock band in which three of the other members were experienced pro recording engineers. I started out playing fretless with them, because I was most comfortable with fretless. The stage mix was good, and I thought I was hitting the notes in tune just fine. But they kept telling me that I was off. Then they made me listen to recordings of the whole band together, from out in the audience. I was often way off, and you could really hear it out there. It was a real lesson. I played fretted the rest of my time with that band and that fixed it.

The point is that what you sound like to yourself on stage can really fool you. The percussive nature of the drum's notes can throw off what you are hearing. You may think you're close enough, but out front, your note can be heard in sharper contrast to the other instruments.
Click to expand...

See, it's this kind of post that worries me, LOL. Other than playing a fretted bass, is there anything that can be done to prevent situations like this? Any specific EQing perhaps?

I don't even really understand what could cause this...
 
#57
There was a period in my life when I was in music school and all I owned was fretless basses. Not one fretted bass. BUT....along came slap! Broke down and got some frets! Today most of the gigs I do don't lend well to using a fretless all night, except for some of my blues/swing gigs. Otherwise maybe for a mellow tune here or there. I usually only bring one bass to these gigs, so 9/10 times it is the fretted one.
 
#58
I have spent almost all my playing time on fretless. I try to pick up my fretted SRX Stringed (BEAD) on the weekend for a few songs so I keep some calluses on my fingers. My fretless are strung with flats and nylon coated and I found my calluses disappearing in a short time. I found the difference between playing fretless and fretted is like the difference between driving with and without power steering. I guess you younglings wouldn’t understand. Ha Ha Ha.
 
#60
DiabolusInMusic said:
I own a Squier VM fretless jazz as well, I find that it is such a hunk of trash I barely play it, I try to set it up every week and I just cannot get a decent action out of it without having horrendous fretbuzz (on a fretless!!) even after doing some leveling of the neck.

So as a fretless player, I play my fretted all the time...
Click to expand...

hmmm..never owned one but played several and liked them when I did....hmmm...
 

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