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Is fretless decreasing in popularity?
- Thread starter darwin-bass
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FullumMusic
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- Oct 13, 2022
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- Audio/Music software developer, contracted with a company you've heard of and deving my own stuff.
Aye. 100% I think most uses of Fretless bass in music go unnoticed because the best fretless players just play the bass and like you said, only do the crazy fretless sounds to amuse others, or when absolutely necessary and not more."featuring" a fretless player on fretless usually only happens when we hear those great singing lines with all the mwah, vibrato, fretless-schmaltzy stuff with which the instrument has been mostly associated. but you don't have to play a fretless for a long time to know that it can be effectively used in most situations calling for 'a bass'.
all of the fretless players i know do the 'fretless thing' to amuse others. otherwise, it's just another bass instrument with obvious advantages over fretted EBs --- e.g., you can make a fretless sound like a fretted, but you can't make a fretted sound like fretless!
a lot of the posters on this thread think of fretless as something only a 'jaco' would do, a "niche" instrument with a sound no more valuable than an "effect" --- i think you'd have to actually play one in a variety of circumstances to know any better.
edit: a lot of the examples in this thread are featuring 'the fretless sound', but many of the examples are just bass parts which happen to be played with a fretless EB:
Examples of Fretless bass in "pop" songs
I have a fretless on order and my goal is to play it straight ahead as much as possible. Taking bets on how quickly that goes out the window and every note I play becomes an unnecessary vibrato slide bend.
I don't see the point of a fretless of you're going to play it straight on and never take advantage of the sounds a fretless can make. Might as well just play a fretted bass.
Unless, you like to brag on the internet that you're better than everyone else because you don't need frets to play perfectly. I guess there's always that.
Unless, you like to brag on the internet that you're better than everyone else because you don't need frets to play perfectly. I guess there's always that.
playing a fretless gives you those choices, options. you don't have that with fretted.
i play fretless because it's easier to play! it requires less physical effort. pretty simple.
i have stated that POV on TB, repeatedly."projection" is when you ascribe to others those things/qualities that you yourself might be 'guilty of' if you were in the same situation.
i've never bragged about my fretless playing --- on TB or anywhere else. indeed: i've felt like i've had to 'hide' my ax (sometimes) from those folks who might make assumptions about the instrument before i've had a chance to use it. (not dissimilar to the dynamics/content found on this thread!
) i have defended fretless lots of times, mostly on TB.OTOH, i've bragged about my fretless instruments = they're good-looking, they play nicely, and just like most folks here, i like to 'show 'em off' when it's time for pics of cool axes.
i'm aware that some bass players hold fretless/players out as some sort of high achievement. i'm not gonna say that playing fretless doesn't require some skill(s), but i also don't think the process takes any more 'juice' than it does to play any instrument well.
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FullumMusic
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I hardly think Steve Bailey is playing fretless "straight" is for the sake of bragging about how perfect his intonation is. It's about playing what's needed for the song, and when some sort of fretless specific sound is needed, he plays it, and when it's not, he plays the notes as needed. Playing fretless for the sole purpose of always going wherweeeewoowowowowowvreeevrooommmmm is putting the tool before the song. Playing a fretless straight most of the time is akin to only playing the perfect 3 notes in a measure instead of filling in each measure with all the 16th notes and every note in the chord voicings. We're not bragging about the perfect 3 notes in the measure or perfect fretless intonation. We're just playing what the song needs.
No need to defend anything. I've seen maybe a handful of off-putting comments over 2 yrs. I don't even remember who made them or when. But they gave the impression of being a little arrogant and condescending. And half of them may not even have been intended to come off that way (but they did). Not a big deal. Nothing that made me look at the instrument or the folks that play them, any differently.
^case in point^
The insinuation that fretless is loosing popularity because people are too lazy to learn them. That's one of those comments I was referring to, that you see once in a while.
The insinuation that fretless is loosing popularity because people are too lazy to learn them. That's one of those comments I was referring to, that you see once in a while.
It depends on what you mean by 'time', when I got my first one in 1977 I had never even heard of them and had been playing for ten years at that point, I didn't seek it out either, I just traded a bass for it because I liked the bass (CAR fretless Fender P). I think every bass player should own at least one.
I think a strong argument for playing your fretless when the song doesn't necessarily have to be fretless, is what pilots call "seat time".
These are perishable skills. The more of your time is spent on fretless, the better you get at it. And woodshed time is great, but stage time matters too and theyre not 1:1 interchangeable
These are perishable skills. The more of your time is spent on fretless, the better you get at it. And woodshed time is great, but stage time matters too and theyre not 1:1 interchangeable
If I may say something personal, on the occasions I have to bring with me a bass, I just decide on the inspiration of the moment. When I decide to grab a fretless, I do it less and less for the Jaco factor (that currently is practically reduced at zero) and more about a technical challenge with myself. To get out of my comfort zone, to have a different sound and approach to the instrument self. The reason why today a fretless-skilled player just plays "the bass" without sliding all over the fretboard, to me is that the glissato and mwaaah approach simply is not anymore required, fresh, trendy, whatever. So you don't feel compelled to emulate something that simply is not on the air. There's no Pino Pallaldino (with Paul Young) and his Stingray fl, there's no Jaco or Alphonso Johnson, Miroslav Vitous etc. Similar to the guitar sounds you hear today: you rarely listen anymore to chorused Strats as it was all over in all the songs during the first eighties. My 2c.
When I started in 1977 my first objective was to get my intonation good enough so no one could tell I was playing a fretless bass, I had never heard of Jaco. I still play them pretty straight with an occasional slide or vibrato.
I'm actually not sure! I think the popularity on a site like talkbass, fretless will wax and wane.
All I can say for myself is that once I played one for myself, it was exactly how I wanted myself to sound. I sold all the rest
I'm now down to one bass for the past 3 years on my 6 year playing journey, and totally content with it.
All I can say for myself is that once I played one for myself, it was exactly how I wanted myself to sound. I sold all the rest
I'm now down to one bass for the past 3 years on my 6 year playing journey, and totally content with it.
When I was growing up, the most prominent fretless player who I heard and did not know was Pino Palladino in the 80's. It was not much of my cup of tea back then since I was a teen and more into Def Leppard, Police (yes Sting did play but it was more subtle). In my freshman Year in college, I was amazed what Jeff Amnet did on Pearl Jam's TEN album.
I played several instruments before I picked up bass. I hated the trumpet, loved the saxophone and tried to learn guitar. When my friends started a band I picked up the pass because they had 3 guitarist. The main focust of music we played and most of us listened too really did not include fretless bass players (except for Pearl Jam). So when I wanted to expand what the instrument could do I stumbled on to Jaco and then heard how it could really sing.
Eventually when I got my fretless. as time went on, I realized that I could play the same songs we wrote on it but way different. I could play the songs the same, but I you have more options to voice it differently. I am still not that proficient enough to jam 100% of the time, but I practice on it before I pick up the fretted.
So for the music I listen too there is very little fretless players over the years. However, from accessibility to being able to get a fretless and the material (online) on how to play it is drastically easier now than it was back in the early mid 90's.
So, I think it is very easy to get into playing fretless. Are there more fretless players in the music I listen to today then I did back years ago, no.
Anyways, here is my 2¢ from a non professional bedroom player.
I played several instruments before I picked up bass. I hated the trumpet, loved the saxophone and tried to learn guitar. When my friends started a band I picked up the pass because they had 3 guitarist. The main focust of music we played and most of us listened too really did not include fretless bass players (except for Pearl Jam). So when I wanted to expand what the instrument could do I stumbled on to Jaco and then heard how it could really sing.
Eventually when I got my fretless. as time went on, I realized that I could play the same songs we wrote on it but way different. I could play the songs the same, but I you have more options to voice it differently. I am still not that proficient enough to jam 100% of the time, but I practice on it before I pick up the fretted.
So for the music I listen too there is very little fretless players over the years. However, from accessibility to being able to get a fretless and the material (online) on how to play it is drastically easier now than it was back in the early mid 90's.
So, I think it is very easy to get into playing fretless. Are there more fretless players in the music I listen to today then I did back years ago, no.
Anyways, here is my 2¢ from a non professional bedroom player.
This is sort of valid for me too. I started playing bass in '75, on a '72 Fender Jazz. I knew Jaco, obviously, but I only tried to rip off the frets after having seen an "Area" concert in Rome with the excellent bass player Ares Tavolazzi. I had a meaningful chat with him backstage and obtained his tricks and suggestions on how to do that. For years it was the only bass I had.
Also, Jaco isn't really my thing. I know who he was but probably couldn't name any songs. And i actually loathe the bridge pickup of the Jazz bass. I play fretless P with chromes and a pick. I do like some of the stuff Tony Franklin has done, and Bozz Burrell. But mostly i just like the sensation and seem to have a strong penchant for making problems harder than they need to be.
I'm no longer playing in bands due to divorce and custody of my kids whenever I'm not working. I was about the only guy who played fretless in local bands at that time. I still enjoy it. No real plans to buy another fretless since I already have a stable of killer fretless basses by the likes of Rob Allen, Conklin, and Cliff Bordwell.
I recently started playing again after a very long time away. I did play some fretless back in the day. Since returning to playing a couple of months ago, My interest in fretless is just as great as it is in fretted. I have been spending an equal amount playing both.
This all just me alone at home, not playing with bands or anything though.
This all just me alone at home, not playing with bands or anything though.
Played standup, in high school. Then, played fretted electric, for decades, as I had mysteriously acquired a doubt in my musical abilities, and ear.
Picked up this MIJ Fender Jazz Special, recently, and it has brought back all of the musical freedom, technical skill, and innate musical ability I possessed. It has put all of my other basses into their cases, with even my prized Rickenbacker 4003 now serving as living room art.
I am not going back to frets.
One man's story.
