I have been playing a fretted p- bass since I started playing bass but I would like to expand my horizon and try out a fretless bass guitar but I wanted to learn how to play it the right way and avoid mistakes so if there are any fretless bass players here can you please explain what I need to do to play fretless bass
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Engine207
Losing faith in humanity...one call at a time.
This is probably bad advice...but when I was learning (unlined) fretless, I just played everything the way I would on my fretted. It sounded like trash, but I listened and listened, then adjusted until it got better. And it did. I didn't worry about slides, vibrato or that stuff until I got my pitch squared away.
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For me it is a little different, in that my first bass was an unlined fretless. I have played guitar for many years, but always craved and gravitated towards bass lines. I did several things to help. First, weather you have dots, lines, or both, check them against a tuner all up and down the neck on all strings. This will give you an idea as to if the intonation is set up correctly. Once you know where your fingers go, start with scales. Second, give yourself something to look at. I watched a lot of tv with the sound off and captions on while I played scales. Go slow!!!!! Listen to each note of the scale. Once you can find a note in a scale, and play without looking too often, play by ear. If you type in ''Jazz standards channel" on youtube that's a good array of standards to play along with. Whatever you like, play along, even if you're just plunking on one major scale. Practice your scales with a drum beat or metronome. Finally, record yourself. Doesnt have to be a professional recording. heck, use your phone. it's only for you. you will learn a lot, and then feel like you're not learning anything. This is when you pull out the recording of yourself 3 months ago, and today, to see just how far you've come. Namaste.
How to master the fretless bass? First, practice until it sounds like you're NOT playing fretless. Then, practice like you ARE playing fretless! 
As much as possible, play along with recordings or backing tracks, to develop your ear.
As much as possible, play along with recordings or backing tracks, to develop your ear.
This is actually really good advice.How to master the fretless bass? First, practice until it sounds like you're NOT playing fretless. Then, practice like you ARE playing fretless!
As much as possible, play along with recordings or backing tracks, to develop your ear.
I would get a clip on tuner rune scales and be mindful of your pitch. Start with a lined fretless and treat yourself later with an unlined once you get used to the subtle left handed control such as how hard to press to get different blooming, how to roll your right hand off the strings in different pickup locations and near the neck for different tone, how to effectively use vibrato to transition or accentuate certain notes and most of all have fun with it. I feel fretless is one of the most rewarding aspects of playing bass it really makes even bad note choices sound good lol. But seriously enjoy it the sounds you produce as you get better will make you slow down in a way to enjoy the sound think "slow down and smell the roses" this is a perspective I wish I knew with fretless a while ago that has helped me with my pasages and expression. Fretless gives you another dimension of expression and gives a voice like quality to your playing use this, study it and have fun!
Make sure your bass is intonated correctly. So when you learn finger memory, it's actually correct for correct pitch. Practice scales in their different shapes, use a tuner to help develop your ear to be in tune. Eventually it will drive you nuts to hear how many songs are out of tune, or maybe it already does. Learn anything you can, especially songs you already knew on the fretted bass.
I too prefer the fretless because I don't have to slide around, I can play it like a fretted bass. And I like the extra dimension of expression, adjusting how much mwah I want, etc. Playing it feels so much cleaner and simple. When I go back to a fretted bass, the frets feel rickety, clangy, and just a hindrance.
I too prefer the fretless because I don't have to slide around, I can play it like a fretted bass. And I like the extra dimension of expression, adjusting how much mwah I want, etc. Playing it feels so much cleaner and simple. When I go back to a fretted bass, the frets feel rickety, clangy, and just a hindrance.
Practice slowly and with a drone pitch. This app works well, but I'm sure there are many.
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Set the app to play a drone and use that as the root of the scale.
Practice octaves and fifths, they're easier to hear intonation problems than other intervals.
Keep hand position consistent, and also playing posture.
And, as is with the drone, play along with other sounds and music as often as possible. This will take time, be patient. When you start to use fretless on a gig make sure you can hear yourself clearly. Get your eyes off the fingerboard as soon and as often as possible; force yourself to use your ears.
Don't be so concerned about 'mwah' and slides (they get old pretty fast). Get to the right note on time.
You will never be perfect, never. The goal is to make your mistakes as small as possible and get out of them quickly and gracefully.
Good luck. It's worth the effort.
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Set the app to play a drone and use that as the root of the scale.
Practice octaves and fifths, they're easier to hear intonation problems than other intervals.
Keep hand position consistent, and also playing posture.
And, as is with the drone, play along with other sounds and music as often as possible. This will take time, be patient. When you start to use fretless on a gig make sure you can hear yourself clearly. Get your eyes off the fingerboard as soon and as often as possible; force yourself to use your ears.
Don't be so concerned about 'mwah' and slides (they get old pretty fast). Get to the right note on time.
You will never be perfect, never. The goal is to make your mistakes as small as possible and get out of them quickly and gracefully.
Good luck. It's worth the effort.
A strobe tuner can help, because they react to pitch-changes in real-time. This certainly helped me fine-tune things. I'm a big fan of the Turbo Tuner ST200 (since replaced by the ST300), but there are others on the market that also work nicely.
Try not to pay too much attention to the visual markers, other than a vague, "is my finger in roughly the right area?" The sooner you start relying on your ears, the better.
Try not to pay too much attention to the visual markers, other than a vague, "is my finger in roughly the right area?" The sooner you start relying on your ears, the better.
My fretless is an unlined fretless and sits over in the corner gathering dust. Why? Cause I tend to drift out of tune if there are no "fret" lines.
Yes I glued lines, I marked dots , several ways, and finally gave up. Gotta have good ears to play a no lined fretless, mine are 82 years old and playing by ear never was one of my strong points.
Make sure you buy a lined fretless.
Yes I glued lines, I marked dots , several ways, and finally gave up. Gotta have good ears to play a no lined fretless, mine are 82 years old and playing by ear never was one of my strong points.
Make sure you buy a lined fretless.
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Engine207
Losing faith in humanity...one call at a time.
One thing to consider if you choose lined. My first fretless was a lined Squier. My mind saw fretlines and wanted to play between them, like I do with fretted. But on a fretless, the pitch falls on the spot where the line is, not between them. I had to either learn to mentally separate my left hand technique (I just could not erase decades of muscle memory) or go unlined. It was better for me.
Bag the lines - get a bass w side dots.
Don't fall for the temptation to slide and slur just cause fretless lets you.
As others have said - play it just like a fretted bass - with accuracy and use your ear for micro-tonal pitch adjusting in real time. Vibrato helps.
Don't fall for the temptation to slide and slur just cause fretless lets you.
As others have said - play it just like a fretted bass - with accuracy and use your ear for micro-tonal pitch adjusting in real time. Vibrato helps.
I don't know if I count as a "fretless player" (got it almost exactly a year ago) but I'll play it in public in less than 2 weeks, so maybe?
I got the Suzuki Method recordings and books. My son is using them for guitar and his ear grew amazingly in just a few months, so I figured I'd try it. I learn the pieces by ear on fretless and play along with the recordings. I'm getting better; my problem is partly that even when I know I'm off, I don't have time to fix it before the next note.
The other thing I do is just play anything I learn on fretted on the fretless, too. That really helps.
I'm getting better slowly.
I got the Suzuki Method recordings and books. My son is using them for guitar and his ear grew amazingly in just a few months, so I figured I'd try it. I learn the pieces by ear on fretless and play along with the recordings. I'm getting better; my problem is partly that even when I know I'm off, I don't have time to fix it before the next note.
The other thing I do is just play anything I learn on fretted on the fretless, too. That really helps.
I'm getting better slowly.
I play fretted bass and upright bass, I had a theater gig with some fairly complex fretless playing. I have a fretless precision with no lines. I was not able to use the same fingering system I used on the fretted but found the upright bass/simandl 1-2-4 system to work best. I'm sure I could have learned it the other way but I went with the attitude of "Which fingering system helps me play most in tune and most accurately in the shortest amount of time" and I found the 1-2-4 system to work best for me.
Put your hand on it and just play. Eventually everything will fall in place.
Play stuff you know, record yourself.
To me there is no point in playing fretless if it doesn't sound like a fretless.
Play stuff you know, record yourself.
To me there is no point in playing fretless if it doesn't sound like a fretless.
Buy one and play it. I hated frets and all the associated clanks and cracks. Changed to fretless (unlined) at 16 and never looked back. I bought fretted P bass last year and had fun with it. Then I bought an upright. Your ears will tell you when you are in the wrong place, besides, nobody cares what notes you play or if you're in tune, just keep thumpin'.
It took me a full 2 years of full playing, having played fretted for ages, before I nailed each note perfectly without covering up bad intonation with slides up down to the note or doing vibratos to cover it up. Playing together with pianos and set instruments (other fretted) posed no problems but as fast as you're on your own your relative pitch hearing can't rely on the others as a tuning pitch fork. That one took the longest. I recorded tracks silently without listening to other tracks, just a metronome and then listened back ... and jeeeeezzzz ... how off I was! Honed it and woodshed it til today where I can probably play in tune all the way through with bad monitoring or no combo amp on stage. I e without hearing myself properly. Just train and excercise your hearing.
