JazznFunk
Supporting Member
My first bass was a converted fretless my teacher loaned me, so I've played it from day 1. Was never intimidated by it. I now play fretless 4 and 5 string as well. Pick up a used Squier Classic Vibe fretless Jazz bass that you know will have a well-planed board. Lines or no lines, it doesn't matter at first when you're getting your ear together. That being said, you must ensure that the bass is set up and intonated properly so you aren't learning improper positions when/if you go without lines, and when you are using the lines as a visual guide at first. For those who say 'a fretless bass doesn't need to be intonated', I roundly say you're wrong. You want those positions and markers on the side of the fingerboard to be accurate, and you also want it to play in tune above the 12th relative to those positions too.
As an upright bass player I will say this: anyone who says 'don't look' at a fretless electric fingerboard is lying when they say they never have to do it. On upright, you have PHYSICAL landmarks and a general overall sense of positions without needing to look. On an electric bass, the tolerances are tighter and there are no major physical landmarks to help if you get out of position and need help getting back in the moment. On upright, we can use open strings as a pivot. That does work somewhat on electric, but not quite as well. In short, look if you need to, but don't feel bad when you do. Even Pino Palladino looks at his fretless MusicMan fingerboard when he has to. Fretless electric is a different beast, but I find it easier than fretted because you can execute a lot of things much more cleanly without frets.
As an upright bass player I will say this: anyone who says 'don't look' at a fretless electric fingerboard is lying when they say they never have to do it. On upright, you have PHYSICAL landmarks and a general overall sense of positions without needing to look. On an electric bass, the tolerances are tighter and there are no major physical landmarks to help if you get out of position and need help getting back in the moment. On upright, we can use open strings as a pivot. That does work somewhat on electric, but not quite as well. In short, look if you need to, but don't feel bad when you do. Even Pino Palladino looks at his fretless MusicMan fingerboard when he has to. Fretless electric is a different beast, but I find it easier than fretted because you can execute a lot of things much more cleanly without frets.
