Is a fretless necessary? Poll

[Moe Monsarrat]

I like 'em & have a bunch. Necessary? Probably not, but why limit yourself to only what's necessary? I mean you could only drink water. They're cool. They're sexy & beautiful. Bassists who don't play one are in awe of your prowess(if that matters). Chicks love them(that really DOES matter). Besides you can slide all over the place which is always fun. Get it? Get one.

 

[greenboy]

For me a fretted bass is not necesarry. I suppose a poll could disprove this ; } But so far I have not been compelled to play or gig with a fretted bass.

 

[zazz]

wot a stupid poll....u may as well ask..."keyboards..are they really necessary??"

wttf...!!

obviously guys that dont play fretless will say no...but what does that say....??

how many people play fretless?.....

wttf..!!

 

[cnltb]

Although we picture the rainbow as a belt consisting of seven stripes of certain colors, it is formed by infinitive amounts of smoothly blending tones, instead of hard and fast changes between just seven stripes. So is our aural spectrum. With a fretless, you just experience it that way. The choice is up to you.

Great discribtion, this!!

 

[marcopalla]

IMHO

REALLY necessary to practice
when I do an excercise (scales etc.) or a solo very well on my fretted, I try to do it on my fretless at the same speed.... very usefull for me!

Otherwise it dependos by what music you play and what tone you are looking for, defenetly if you don't try you can't know

​

peace,
m.

 

[:Kapral:]

I have a fretless bass and i don't really use it. I'm absolutely not into fretless, just had my old bass converted out of curiosity.

 

[rollo47]

Of course it's not necessary. Is an electric bass really necessary?

 

[Flintc]

I used to listen to an excellent jazz band consisting of sax, guitar, (fretless) bass and piano. No drummer. After a while, the bass player quit and the group became a trio. Probably sounded even better (fewer instruments to coordinate). They could probably have dropped the sax too.

 

[KENT ROSS]

I've played Country-Rock off and on for 35 years. I ALWAYS used a fretted 4-string...(I wasn't brave enough to try a fretless.) About 6 years ago I decided to be BRAVE and buy a 5-string....Then got a CRAZY idea,and thought Why not try a fretless? I ordered a Beautiful Carvin fretless 5-string...but when I'd play my gigs,I'd ALWAYS use the 4.Last Saturday we played a gig...and ALL I HAD WAS MY FRETLESS....I was shakey at first...but I REALLY enjoyed the sound I got,and I got LOTS of compliments on the music. I love my fretted...but I'm beginning to appreciate the things I can do on the fretless,such as "tronbone" slides on the march tunes my Dad loves to throw in.I don't think a fretless is NECESSARY for the music we play,BUT it sure is fun,and it SURE added a lot to what I was doing.

 

[ElectrAcoustic]

Is an electric bass really necessary?

It is if you want your music to have any cojones.. as for fretless, I love mine and use it regularly, though less often now that I'm playing more upright bass these days.. still, there's nothing like a great fretless sound to add some drama/emotion to a song.. and there isn't a simulator out there that can recreate the way your hand can naturally slide into and out of a note.. IMO

 

[rollo47]

It is if you want your music to have any cojones.. as for fretless, I love mine and use it regularly, though less often now that I'm playing more upright bass these days.. still, there's nothing like a great fretless sound to add some drama/emotion to a song.. and there isn't a simulator out there that can recreate the way your hand can naturally slide into and out of a note.. IMO

I realise this... was just answering a silly question with an equaly silly one.

 

[nuno.ka]

It is necessary for this:

 

[bradjonesbass]

Necessary for everybody? No. Necessary for me? Yes. I love using it on ballads, which is why I got it, but now I find I'm using it more and more for other things too.

 

[john turner]

i spend roughly half my time on fretless.

 

[pbass2]

I do lotsa sessions but haven't had a call for fretless in at least 10 years.
(I had a beautiful late 70's fretless P-bass that I kick myself regularly for letting go).
Granted, I'm doing mostly pop, rock, various americana vibes, etc.
In fact, the sound most people think of, I guess I'd say it's the fusiony/Jaco sound, is just something NOBODY wants that I encounter---they usually recoil in horror if a fretless gets pulled out. However, lotsa folks want upright, more and more it seems.
But, if I'm heading to a session and I don't know what I'll be facing, I may bring one just in case.

 

[Fretless1!]

Is a fretted necessary?

ROFL!!!!

A fretless might not be "necessary" but it's another nice tool to have.

 

[BigRedX]

Do you need a fretless?

Can you hear a fretless tone, and fretless slides missing from your basslines?
If so then you need one, if not then fretted will be the one for you.

I only started playing fretless 2 years ago I could hear the need for it in the basslines I was creating for the band I'd just joined. The extra expression you get with fretless is just so adictive. I now play 75% of our songs on fretless, and only the songs with lots of bass chords on fretted.

 

[Bassflute]

Fretless comes first in my book.

and there, there.

Cheers,
Cameron

 

[SteveC]

I don't think so...at least not around here. I don't get to do much jazz playing (right or wrong the style most associated with fretless) so I don't need one. I play occasional combo and big band gigs and no one has complained that I don't have a fretless or upright for that matter. I still get calls for gigs without one, so I don't worry too much about not having one.

It would be nice to have - I guess - but really, for what I do at this point, it isn't. People are more dissapointed that I show up without an upright than a fretless. I'm guessing it's because they really don't know the difference.