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Is fretless decreasing in popularity?

Overall popularity of fretless

  • Has decreased over time

    Votes: 76 21.9%

  • Is about the same

    Votes: 110 31.7%

  • Has increased over time

    Votes: 29 8.4%

  • Who knows, who cares.

    Votes: 132 38.0%
  • Total voters
    347
#61
darwin-bass said:
Were they more common in music a while ago? Have players gravitated away from them?

What do you think.
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Jogobass said:
...
I don't care about how popular it is. It's my voice as a bassplayer.
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JazznFunk said:
...
My love of fretless started from day one.
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Likewise. I really don't give a hoot what 'the masses', the 'hive mind' or even 'the TB Massive' have to say. I started from day 1 playing fretless, some time in 1983/4. The most fretted basses I've owned at any one time is 1 (one) and for most of that time, 0 (zero). It does take dedication to learn to play in tune and it does take discipline and experience to hold back on the slides, glisses, mwah, etc. so often used to disguise bad intonation. Fretless bass will never provide instant gratification - maybe that's why it will never win a popularity contest.
 
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#63
wilberthenry said:
The increase in popularity of upright basses, especially in the americana genre, seems more real than an increase in fretless electric bass guitars. I get a lot more requests to play upright, even though I am far more proficient on EBG. I have never been asked to play a fretless EBG.
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Definitely parallels me! ;)
Except your last sentence. I have been asked to bring the fretless at times. This is more when I’m playing more fusiony Jazz or there is a space consideration. At blues, Jazz or Americana jams, my choice is the fretless. I don’t like to play upright in loud situations.
 
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#64
Michael Jewels said:
I think there is more interest in fretless, but it is short-lived.

Players are lured by the challenge of playing fretless, but don’t invest the time necessary to play up to their fretted proficiency , and simply give up.

Some aren’t attracted to fretless at all.

It’s the same with acoustic bass guitars; some love them, some don’t.

Different strokes.

Mike
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Yep, that's me. Tried a nice 5-string OLP- no joy, sold it on. Then I tried this beautiful old Yamaha BB350F fretless 4-string. Sounded sweet when played by others but for me a way to sound way worse, allowing me to mess up pitch as well as my usual messing up the tempo. Luckily both sold quickly so I was not out any money. It's educational, finding my talent limit. Love the fretless sound except when I try it.
dsc07096-1.jpg
 
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#65
Couldn't say what the rest of the planet thinks but I love playing a fretless.
I have uprights and a few very good fretted bases and recently got a $100 Glarry fretless "P" (this one is quite decent) and it's been my main player (just home playing and basement jams) since I acquired it.
 
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#66
Not sure. Maybe manufacturers don't make a good ROI on them, so they don't always push them or advertise for them as much? Personally I'm always on the lookout for when it might work, and love it when I hear something where it would make the song more interesting (to me, anyway), but to be truthful, that's kind of rare. I actually find more opportunity for it in the adult contemporary genre more than any other.
 
#67
Williethump said:
Yep, that's me. Tried a nice 5-string OLP- no joy, sold it on. Then I tried this beautiful old Yamaha BB350F fretless 4-string. Sounded sweet when played by others but for me a way to sound way worse, allowing me to mess up pitch as well as my usual messing up the tempo. Luckily both sold quickly so I was not out any money. It's educational, finding my talent limit. Love the fretless sound except when I try it.
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Heh - I have that bass' cousin, the BBN4F. Has two soapbar humbuckers on it though. Not the greatest fretless, but I bought it because back in the early 2000s it won the Bassplayer Shootout for the "Cheap AF Fretless" category lol

I still have it, still record and play live with it, but its quality isn't the greatest. The knobs are way too sensitive on mine; one millimeter turn either way and the tone goes wild. Takes like a half hour to dial it in properly. Maybe it's time for an upgrade...
 
#68
Matthew_84 said:
Quite honestly, playing fretless can help improve your ear and help you to know if you’re playing off or not (if you’re paying attention and caring anyway).

It mostly comes down to requiring a good and consistent fretting technique anyway.
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I'd love to play fretless, but I've had too many situations at gigs where the sound is not great and being able to hear yourself is difficult. I play with IEMs about 90% of the time, now, so it wouldn't be an issue, but those other 10%? Naw. If I can't hear myself very well, having bad intonation on stage is not good. Granted, if you had perfect technique and muscle memory, you might be able to get around this. But...yeah, probably not.
 
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#71
Ampslut said:
Same here, If I wasn't also the lead singer, I'd play fretless 100% of the time. As it is though, worrying about my bass intonation is just one too many things from my old brain to do.
Ty1P6GQh.jpg
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Even Sting and Danko went to fretted basses for live use after using fretless while singing lead for a time - it's hard! As for popularity, the late 80's/early 90's were probably the heyday for them in popular music. I think we could see a comeback of sorts tough, in the same way you're hearing more slap in pop music again (well, a little more...). Like slap in pop music now, it will probably be done in sort of a "retro" or dare I say "ironic" kind of capacity. Mind you I'm talking pop music. In other genres I have no idea how much fretless is happening--prolly more than I think.
I do miss my 70's fretless P I had. Don't know how much I'd actually use it now, but it was just soooo damn cool.
 
#75
In my case, the one gig I had where I did play fretless has been usurped by another much bigger gig where I don't. During lockdown, I had a bunch of virtual gigs where I could play fretless here and there. Anyway, it seems my best hope for being able to play fretless again is to hope for another pandemic, which....I'm not doing.

Fretless is, and has been for a long time, a niche thing. It's not going to take over the world, and it's not going to go away. Like that relative of yours that isn't anyone's favorite, but is always around, whether or not you understand them, fretless is just gonna be there lurking in the fringes for the foreseeable future.
 
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#77
Michael Jewels said:
I think there is more interest in fretless, but it is short-lived.

Players are lured by the challenge of playing fretless, but don’t invest the time necessary to play up to their fretted proficiency , and simply give up.

Some aren’t attracted to fretless at all.

It’s the same with acoustic bass guitars; some love them, some don’t.

Different strokes.

Mike
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If I got another fretless it would likely be an acoustic bass guitar, with tapes.
 
#78
I have always preferred playing fretless but I think the overall popularity of fretless (not just among bass players) will never match where it was in the early 1980s, when fretless bass was prevalent on many pop hits. That was fretless bass’ big moment and I think it has declined in popularity (amongst the music world in general) ever since.

Now if you’re just talking about its popularity amongst bass players, it’s probably just as popular as it ever was.
 
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