Is fretless decreasing in popularity?

[cheapbasslovin]

Is not fretless decreasing in popularity, but an overall decrease on willingness to confront challenges, a preference for quick fixes and rapid satisfaction vs hard work. I see this mostly happening with men.

my 2 cents

Or popular music doesn't leave a lot of room for a bass instrument to intonate between half steps.

I have fretless basses, and every now and again I use them or record with them, but they rarely fit what I'm doing unless I design the work to make it so.

Back in the day I was in a 3 piece jazz-rock-funk sort of thing and it was perfect for that. Since then, not so much.

 

[Mastermold]

I’m going to be honest…I’ve had a couple and I just don’t think they sound all that great except in small doses. I especially don’t love the bridge pickup excursions where the idea is to cop Jaco tone. I do like old Stones and “Hey You,” though

Yeah I bought a Squier fretless several years ago to see if I could get along with the vibe. It never progressed past being a novelty for me so I didn't pursue it and ultimately traded away the bass for something else. But for those who are good with it, I enjoy listening to them.

 

[Jazzdogg]

Data might be more interesting than opinions and anecdotes.

I play both fretted and fretless 4- and 5-string basses, but know nothing about whether fretless is becoming more or less popular.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I can't think of any songs in the past twenty years played with fretless. Who can name the most recent recording that has charted?

 

[Jazzdogg]

I love my fretless. Most of the time people don't even know it's a fretless. But the fretless sound is there when I want it. Not every note has to be an advertisement. I get more raised eyebrows because it's a 5 string, because they can physically see that and then get judgmental. Many famous players play a lined fretless and you don't always realize. So tough to say is it more or less.

I played a fretless 5-string with one band for a decade and nobody in the band ever commented on the string count or absence of frets.

 

[Vanheusen77]

In pop music settings bass guitar in general is rare these days I would say.

 

[blowinblue]

If fretless bass guitars were indeed decreasing in popularity why would that possibly affect my opinion of them in general, or my decision to own a couple of them in particular?

M. M.

 

[Jazzdogg]

I believe that part of it is that there is no professional player right now that is featuring that instrument prominently. Once upon a time, there was Jaco then Pino, etc. Right now, if you look at the contemporary music coming out these days, it rarely feature fretless playing.

Based upon the contemporary music my wife streams, I find very little of it musical enough to pay attention to; popularity has virtually nothing to do with quality.

 

[thewildest]

Or popular music doesn't leave a lot of room for a bass instrument to intonate between half steps.
.

I appreciate that, personal choice; yet, if things were like you described, violins, cellos and double basses would have frets on them for 100 years already.

 

[JazznFunk]

One thing with the fretted vs. fretless talk and technique that hasn't been mentioned much is that if you have your left and right hand technique (and intonation) together, you ideally should be able to play fretless in a way that doesn't make people go 'ooooh.... fretless!' It takes time to develop that - especially with the muting and control over note duration and attack - and some people give up before they're able to choose when to make that 'mwaah' sing and when not to. You can get some great things happening with staccato grooves without the risk of fret clank and unintended 'buzz' from a poorly fretted note like you would on fretted. It can be far 'cleaner' in many ways in a studio setting if done right. One of the best compliments you can get as a fretless player is, at the end of the night, someone saying 'wow.... I didn't know you were playing fretless!'

 

[Avezzano]

I think that more than the fretless bass, it's the fretless type of sound demand that has been "out of fashion", lately. But owning a fretless is a must for every bassist (my opinion, obviously).

 

[Avezzano]

I can't think of any songs in the past twenty years played with fretless. Who can name the most recent recording that has charted?

May I respectfully point out that maybe you listened to fretless bassplayers so many times, but you could not even realize it, because that fretless basses were used... well... as a standard bass and not as a "meeeooow" tool?

 

[Tom Bomb]

I wonder where the fretless fits into — The Rising Popularity of the Bass Guitar
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[bassdude51]

This is an opinion question. So, I really don't know.

I own about 3,500 Lps and about 2,000 Cds and I'd guess that there are very few individual songs with fretless bass guitar in my collection. So, fretless has never been very popular, has it?

Of course there are more players on fretless than ever before because there are more bassists than ever before.

I'm going to guess that the popularity of owning a fretless is holding steady.

Maybe my opinion or observation but I rarely see or hear a live band or a recording with a fretless electric bass.

I like the sound of a fretless on occasion. What I like about the sound is the fact that the intonation is always off. No matter how good a fretless bassist is, the notes are not perfect. Thus giving the bass a natural/organic sound.

Because of GAS, many own 1 or more fretless basses but that doesn't mean that they can play them, does it?

IMHO IME YMMV

 

[Oscarharboe]

I think the reason of the fade away of fretless has its natural reasons.

Firstly, fretless got popular in the era of fusion and Jaco, then faded away already during the 80s when the jazz scene went back to its more traditional sound with upright bass. Being an upright player or doubler myself I allways get asked to play the upright rather than electric for the jazz sound. In pop music I allways play the fretted bass because thats often the most right sound for that.

In my opinion, the fretless is more sonically midrange oriented with often taking too much space where the guitar or piano usually sits, so I guess its not the best option for the mix. Also the introduction of synth bass in the 70s and 80s still competes strongly in the pop scene, so the question is more of where actually the fretless has its more natural and dominant place today? Its not rock, metal, pop, classical, prog or even jazz (except some fusion guys). Yes, there are pioneers like Gary Willis and on occasion Richard Bona, but none young leading jazz bass players that I know of do it today (only Esperanza Spalding and my greatest hero Donny Benet comes to mind play the fretless on occasion).

I love Jaco myself, and have a really nice Sire V7 fretless that I use for practicing Jaco or emulating synth bass lines on covers (check out my covers on my Youtube -channel - Oscabass if you want see how that can sound like). You guys that still enforce the fretless are heroes, Im very happy to watch all the great players on fretless on Youtube. Im sure it will be popular again soon, if its not already (relativily speaking).

 

[MultiScaleMale]

May I respectfully point out that maybe you listened to fretless bassplayers so many times, but you could not even realize it, because that fretless basses were used... well... as a standard bass and not as a "meeeooow" tool?

I'm just asking a question, I can't think of any. Can you?

 

[Avezzano]

I mean: one cannot just tell, because when you play a fretless note per note, without going glissando etc, you cannot distinguish fretted and fretless.

 

[BassyBill]

It depends on the context. In my two main bands over the last 20 years, I have always played mainly fretless with one and fretted with the other. But that’s mainly because they’re two very different styles of music.

 

[gstaats]

I try not to fret over it... or my playing

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I mean: one cannot just tell, because when you play a fretless note per note, without going glissando etc, you cannot distinguish fretted and fretless.

Right, but surely within two decades bassist X would have said that they used their fretless on song Y. I have a fretless that I play on a song or two, but I really can't think of any songs that have fretless. And "maybe they are hiding their technique to sound fretted" is essentially a "no".