I am so glad I bought the Glarry instead going in the deep end with a Tony Franklin. I can play unlined fretless and I can stay in tune, but frankly, I don't need the challenge of an unlined fingerboard. Lined or not, it is very easy to go out of tune playing fretless. The lines make it much easier for me to self correct. Your mileage may vary, but I have no shame in my game:we get no bonus points for difficulty of execution, so I am happy to have the help of lines.
You make a good point and, if it works for you, that's all that matters.
Personally, lined or unlined makes no difference; although I have never had the "need" to play a lined fretless. I am but a humble 4-string fretted bass player, at heart. But I do like the "where did all the frets go" stuff too; preferably with neck markers (dots).
So, compared with fretted bass playing: Is it harder?; yeah. Would lines help?; kinda. So your dots work?; kinda. No dots?: kinda, but sorta harder kinda. ***?
Well, this is what happened. Not that long ago, I was playing bass in a band. It was early days but we had rented a dedicated rehearsal room. The material was basically contemporary rock covers, so I started out with what I do best: 4-string fretted bass work. However, it soon became apparent that a 5-string fretted bass was required so, while introducing that, I decided to throw a fretless into the mix.
Having at least the three basses at each rehearsal, I decided to rotate their use, rehearsal after rehearsal, which worked pretty well. In this respect, my unlined dotted fretless was perfectly adequate, until...
... well, you see, the rehearsal room had bright lights, so we could see that we could all see what we were doing. But it also has, softer, not so bright lights, as I soon found out whilst rehearsing.
Midway through a song, fretless in hand, I watched as one of our three guitarists (who wasn't playing at that particular moment) crossed the room and switched the bright lights off.
Now, don't get me wrong; I like the soft lights except that, without warning, I couldn't see my fret dots, so my fingers were now, in effect, playing "fretless in the dark" as I call it.
And, no, lines wouldn't have helped; it was dark. Of course, I am assuming that on a lined fretless bass, the lines are to be seen, not felt (as I said, I've never played one).
As for playing "fretless in the dark", the problem was short-lived. My fretless basses are now equipped with portable clip on adjustable neck lights (as typically found on traditional music stands).
Okay, it's a bit weird, but ***!
