Killing it with only a Fretless Mexican Jazz?

[Pyrat]

Man....I keep TRYING to go back and play fretted....but fretless is where it's AT! I played as a bar fool for many years and then about 3 years ago I got the itch to go back to fretless (my first love). It been very freeing to not feel obligated to play frets. 98.6% fretless, the rest is just to stretch out my hands and be able if I am asked.

 

[4stringfarley]

So there are very few downsides to exclusively FL, except instrument selection and resale value.

I've been moving to playing a 5 string and wanted a 5 string fretless. You have approximately 2 options under 2 grand new. A few beat up used models and some horrible defret jobs. Then everything else is in roughly the $4k range. I finally bit the bullet and had to go with a custom build to spec brand to get what I was looking for.

 

[MVE]

She is starting a degree in Classical Double Bass at the Royal Academy of Music this year, so it has been professionally set up for arco. I'll miss it (and her) when they are gone!

Congratulations to you and wish your daughter best of luck with her studies!

 

[meldrumandbass]

Man. I want a fretless again. Please recommend something.

I really wish I had kept my lined Roscoe Century standard 4.

But I do prefer 20 "frets". I have tried a fretless Stingray, and I just couldn't make it sing with mwah. I would be interested in a Fender Jaco, but they are scarcer than hen's teeth these days. Does a MIM Jazz get decent mwah?

How does rosewood work as a mwah board?

I love it. I may be biased though. The bass started out as a fretted bass, but it was later revealed after the G kept going dead that the neck was warped. This was my first Jazz bass and a gift from my now ex-wife, so it had a lot of sentimental value. I had to get a fretted Fender Deluxe to replace it because I needed an electric for my church gig. So later on my wife buys a fretless neck in a guitar shop in Austin, Tx, where I used to live. I have it bolted on and strung with roundwounds -Rotosounds 66, I think. And now, years later, my Fender Deluxe sold, I only have my fretless and upright.

To answer your question, it gets great "mwah", love the rosewood fingerboard and using a Red Eye/Fire Eye DI/pre-amp makes it sound a little like a bass with active pickups. I have it strung with DR Hi Beams, roundwounds.

 

[packhowitzer]

Live, I play an NS Design CR5 fretless about 95% of the time. I also play a Pallantino EUB which of course doesn't have any frets either. I will on occasion play my NS Design CR5 (with frets), but frets just don't feel comfortable to me on stage any more. I still record with my trusty fretted p basses though - and that likely won't change.

 

[juancaminos]

Unlined fretless of the Jazz variety currently. I have three that I put together and I play them live.
I had a lined Hamer fretless that I started fretless on. But I sold it. Once I went the unlined route the lines were confusing to me.

I do have a few fretted basses collecting dust. I may pull one out if I start singing more.

 

[Samatza]

Here are my three fretless basses in chronological order. The white Tune bass I played for about 5 years exclusively at a time when we were super busy. I wore out the rosewood fretboard and I had it replaced with ebony.

The music at the time was more sort of finger style funk and the fretless had a nice sound for that period of my career. Later I started buying basses in pairs, one fretted and one fretless and that's how the Neuser and Surine came about, they have a fretted sibling. The joke became "what bass will we see this time?".

These days (pre-Covid at least) I use a fretted bass but depending on the show sometimes I'll take a fretless for a few tunes. I do love the sound of the fretless, it's a natural sound that I feel connected to so at every opportunity I like to play one.

I think we're close to getting back to our regular gigs so there will be lots of setups and restringing and preparing for some nice shows and of course the fretless will make a comeback to, just like an old friend...

 

[PaulS]

I have a fretless Mexican Jazz, for the money I paid, it's great. Has given me no issues in the many years I have owned it.

 

[BobDeRosa]

I envy you. You know exactly what you're taking to a gig. No need to choose P, J, P/J, rounds, flats, etc. Just grab your bass and go, concentrating on producing the best sound you can. You've got it nailed now; don't screw it up by adding levels of complexity.

 

[Monkey]

I bought my first fretless in 1981 and have rarely played a fretted since then. I've played hundreds of gigs with unlined fretless (lines confuse the heck out of me). I once picked up a used fretted bass and brought it to a gig, and about two songs into the set, the bandleader said, "that doesn't sound like you; play the fretless".

 

[MikePlaysBass]

Exclusively fretless? Almost, but not intentionally.
I love bass. All kinds of basses. I have really nice 4, 5 and 6 string fretted basses. But, as soon as people find out I can play Electric Upright and Fretless, that's what they want me to play. I'm lucky to occasionally bring the 5 string fretted bass out for a few songs saying that the particular tune is so much better on a fretted bass. Fretted bass players are readily available. I like to think that I'm still good enough to compete on that alone, but there aren't as many good fretless players. As I've gotten older, my opportunities have dwindled a bit (ageism is very real in the music biz) so I'm mostly playing Jazz these days where age doesn't matter much if you can read and play. I think I'm a better fretted player, but since all my jams and gigs are heavily fretless, I'm definitely getting a lot better at it and audiences love it.
It's always been said that you can't pick your audience. They pick you and sometimes you might get close to what you want, but certainly not guaranteed. I guess you can also add that you don't always get to pick your instrument either. You get picked for what is needed.
Go for the fretless and work on your intonation and develop your own voice with it and you'll be a better bass player and worth more to a band, even if you still mostly play fretted. They might really dig doing a few fretless backed tunes or they might just like it more for the novelty and one more gimmick as part of the entertainment. In any case, adding fretless to your skill set, makes you a more desirable bass player against the competition. Or you might get gigs exclusively or mostly playing fretless.

 

[Rod Barchetta]

I have a Sire and a Stingray. Stingrays were made to slap. Sire is an awesome bass with incredible features for the price. But if you want something to slap, I would go with a Stingray. No pickup in the way of your plucking fingers and the tone to fit the genre.

 

[Steadfast]

Fretless and fretted player here. Love both. Can't decide exactly what is the dividing line should be between the two. I need them both.

 

[Rod Barchetta]

I have one 5 string and one fretless. When you need one, you need to have one.

 

[Nickweissmusic]

New member to the Talk Bass community (although I have been a lurker for years). I was wondering if anyone else here plays fretless almost exclusively? I literally own one bass guitar (MIM Fretless Jazz) and my upright. I kind of think the only thing I can't do on my fretless is slap. Of course anyone can slap on a fretless, but as Marcus Miller has stated, fretted basses have that metallic "ring". And I agree.

I play mostly finger-funk, soul/r&b jazz and some 80s new-wavish style rock. I have lately been thinking of getting a Sire V7 4 string or I thought of getting a Sterling Sub 4 either would mainly be used for slap, which I don't do much of right now.

I am just wondering if any one has thoughts on this?

Get both, eventually. No need to spend more, if you're patient you can land on good copies of all those basses. If you go too low end, the electronics and pickups are what really suffer, so don't go toooo cheap. I've demo'd the SBMM and it was really cool, no recollection exactly what variant it was though. The more sounds you can get your hands on the better, and those 3 basses are going to have distinct sounds, so that seems like a logical way to go, and targeting the sounds you are looking for is smart too.

In a complete reversal of my previous incarnation of bass playing, instead of finding "the one," which I did and still have, I now bask in the beauty of finding fun instruments for low prices on OfferUp, eBay, what have you, or decent value, potentially really good playing new instruments like you're looking at. The cheap bass world is your oyster, try not to buy from people who have smooth brains if you can avoid it

 

[M0ses]

I have some BANDS where I play fretless exclusively in them, but can't really imagine it being my only bass. There are occasionally bands where the fretless isn't appropriate, when I'm with a wedding band I simply can't play anything but the fretted 5. I would be able to do everything I ever need to with a fretless 4 and a fretted 5 except now I'm working in a Hendrix tribute which absolutely requires a fretted jazz 4 (permanently tuned to Eb, switching is way too much hassle). I love having a fretted P with flats around for the mojo, it's fun and easy to play, but it doesn't REALLY do anything I can't on my fretless.

Anyway if you don't have anyone breathing down your neck to play Uptown Funk just like the record every damn night, and the fretless is your style, there's no reason not to stick with it exclusively if you like!

 

[bigbassist]

slap "fret" on a fretless

 

[bigbassist]

and one more

 

[Ed Goode]

Fretless and DB only, no longer even own a fretted bass. Everything except the 7 string is strung with LaBella flats or tapes

 

[thunesBARROW]

I mainly play a fretless Precision with tapes, and it's fine for most musical situations. I also play a fretted Jazz Bass with rounds sometimes because it sounds very different. I have a variety of other basses to cover different timbres.