Sean Malone of Gordian Not, Cynic , and Liquid Tension Experiment is pretty much a beast. If you want to hear a good example of a fretless used in a metal band, Cynic is probably one of the best examples for thatCynic is very experimental, Gordian Knot is more accessible, as is LTE, whose first album features a 27 minute song. Pretty crazy, very progressive stuff.
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Fretless players
- Thread starter LadyLoveStingRay5
- Start date
Alphonso Johnson and Ralphe Armstrong are 2 omissions from the list.
any of us could add our favorites, or think of players who could have been highlighted, but i think scott did a fine job, over all --- cool list, fun video. i agree with @LadyLoveStingRay5 that esperanza spalding is "pure genius" and coulda/shoulda 'made the cut'.
hey, it's about fretless players. what's not to like?!!!
hey, it's about fretless players. what's not to like?!!!
I recently discovered Sean Malone through Cynic- it is very experimental like you said but his playing is tasteful and not flashy or obnoxious, always supporting the song. Definitely helped set the standard for using fretless in metal, among others
Here's another great example of his playing
Is he related to David Gilmour?
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I guess no list/rundown will ever satisfy everyone, but leaving Esperanza Spalding out is bordering on negligence. Perhaps they thought she was a little over-qualified to be just a bass player?
Yeah, that's definitely a fun fact about Wyman but there's no way in hell I'd put him in any top fretless player list (or even any top 20 list of anything - he does the job, but he's not anything really special), or even really consider him a 'fretless' player. But these two tend to go heavy on the hyperbole, so I'm not surprised they put him in there.
Yeah, but Boz wasn't exactly a bass dynamo. He didn't even know how to play bass when he joined King Crimson, Fripp had to show him.
As much as I love Jaco it was Boz Burnell and Tony Franklin than inspired me to become a fretless only player.
I met Gary Willis at a masterclass once. Our jazz school made us pay to hire him. I played the only standard I knew with him without having read, which was Autumn Leaves. Afterwards we talked about mountainbiking, our mutual hobby. I asked if I could play his bass for a bit and he let me. I learned that day that having his bass doesn't make you sound like him. It's also in the fingers. Ended up buying his signature bass anyway later in life. Don't regret it. Even though I don't sound exactly like him, the bass has an awesome sound to build my own voice on.
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Passinwind
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- Dec 3, 2003
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Playing bass isn’t about being a dynamo, it’s about playing what works with the song
True enough, but IME it is also good for one's mental well-being to have the occasional opportunity to 'unleash' and test a few boundaries
Well, I guess since others have, I can provide content of these fretless lines playing that blew me away- mind you it isn't highly technical, but so apropos for these beautiful compositions-
