Why would a guy who had played upright for years in his early career have a problem with a fretless electric, but not with a fretted one? This makes absolutely no sense.
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James Jamerson actually played roundwound strings (!)
- Thread starter UpperBout
- Start date
Why would a guy who had played upright for years in his early career have a problem with a fretless electric, but not with a fretted one? This makes absolutely no sense.
Just guessing from my own experience, but scale. Once you've played upright for a while, muscle memory on frontless electric base goes away and is very difficult. At least in my experience, I could be wrong and usually R.
If you play fretted, your muscle memory on a fretless of the same scale works for you. Couple that with having played upright (how to adjust for small errors in finger placement), and fretless for James Jamerson would have been a slam dunk.
But in going from upright to Fred, into nation is not going to be an issue. You just don't think about it. Again, this is just my experience.
Happy Holiday
Sorry for the schizophrenic posting. As I recall the story in the book, jammerson didn't really give the fretless much of a chance. It was handed to him and he played before handing it back in saying never put that base in my hand again or something similar.
It may not have been because it was fretless (or Fredded). It may have just been a poopy bass.
Jamerson could apparently be fairly opinionated.
I love Chuck Rainey's story about the time he showed Jamerson his back-and-forth index finger plucking technique. (Moving rapidly between the nail side and the "meat" side.)
Jamerson said, "That's some sissy stuff right there."
I love Chuck Rainey's story about the time he showed Jamerson his back-and-forth index finger plucking technique. (Moving rapidly between the nail side and the "meat" side.)
Jamerson said, "That's some sissy stuff right there."
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I’m looking at the circumstantial evidence, and I just don’t buy the claim. Rotosound may have brought rounds to market in 1962, but John Entwistle didn’t start using them until 1966(after consulting with them on some improvements). While he was their ambassador of the sound, The Who were virtually unknown in America until 1967, and why would Jamerson care about some British rock band that late in the day, or what they were using? Furthermore, what was Rotosound’s distribution reach? You might have found them in New York shops by ‘68/‘69, but probably not, I don’t know. I grew up in the midwest, none of the stores I went to had them, it was on a family trip to Britain in 1970 that I finally got a set and gladly ditched flats.
Why does it matter? 99% of the bass on the Motown stuff was synth bass, the rest was Carol Kaye.
Jeeze, I thought everyone knew that.
Jeeze, I thought everyone knew that.
Upright and fretless BG are massively different instruments, with the latter lacking the tactile/visual points of reference of the former.
What you see as "couplable" similarities that two known but distinct platforms share with a new third, one could see as a significantly different playing experience:
same muscle memory as fretted, only not quite; plus having to do microadjustments (assuming the tempo allows it) you usually do elsewhere, and with not nearly the same confidence as on said elsewhere; equals, feeling like throwing the new thing against the wall after the first try? I don't find it so difficult to imagine.
Did he have more chances not to suck at fretless than a non-doubler? Sure, I'll give you that. What with also being Jamerson. But that, and loving and excelling at it from the get-go aren't quite the same. I wouldn't expect one to be a w(h)iz at cello the first time, just because they already play fiddle (about the same arco, same fretlessness) and guitar (about the same scale).
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Detailed info on strings in the Fifties and early Sixties is hard to come by. Black Diamond made roundwounds for Danelectro, also available as replacement sets in some areas of the country, as recalled by @GretschWretch and @TomB (to whom I defer regarding whether they also existed in long-scale version, or only short).
Plus, there is some discussion about (one of?) the earliest, and continuously-available throughout the following decade, Fender-brand sets (pt. no. 90) being actually groundwounds, not true flats:
=16']Search Results for Query: terry foster | TalkBass.com
The above having being said, I don't buy the claim about Jamerson using rounds either, and definitely doubt it being the case during the Detroit era.
I recall where I bought them, the package logo, the string itself, and the black fingers which I thought funny, given the name. I don’t recall the scale length or which bass I tried them on.
