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oposition to fretless basses>

#21
nance511 said:
my introduction into playing fretless bass was literally a guy pulling the last Fender Jazz in the store off the wall and saying "well, can you play fretless?"

My dad never understood why I would play fretless when frets make it that much easier to play in tune.
I always told him I'd rather learn the legitimate way but he never got it.

I never let anyone give me crap though about playing fretless because I made sure nobody could tell the difference if I played my fretless j or my standard p.
The only reason people could ever figure out that I played fretless was if they actually picked up my bass and tried to play.
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I think this attitude you have of "fretless" is superior is what rub people the wrong way and then they give the op a hard time.

I play both fretted and fretless, whatever is needed. They are just different tools.
 
#22
mcnach said:
I think this attitude you have of "fretless" is superior is what rub people the wrong way and then they give the op a hard time.

I play both fretted and fretless, whatever is needed. They are just different tools.
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Or perhaps it's more of an inferiority complex on his part that he projects as a superiority complex that he projects on them. Musicians never do this. :hiding:
 
#24
When pulling a fretted bass out of the bag I've heard, "good you've got frets today so we'll definitely be playing the same notes." That kinda ticks me off - I've heard recordings and I play the thing (mostly) in tune! Certainly much more so than when this particular guitarist plays slide! Fretless is a dichotomy: more enjoyable because of the magnified expressive possibilities; less enjoyable because I can't fully relax while playing, it takes a lot more concentration.
 
#25
chadds said:
Very true! This points to how we play rather than what. People shouldn't know you're playing fretless. If you're going "mwah mwah" all the time I can see bandleaders getting perturbed.
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Agreed

When I turned 50 my wife bought me ( I picked it up though) a Carvin Bunny Brunel 5 string, when I turned 51 she got me the lined Fretless version, both with piezo pickups.

I made it a point to learn on the Fretless so you could not tell it was a Fretless, once I did that, I studied hard to exploit the sound of the Fretless. The people in my church group thought I just brought a different colored bass at first. Now I play what is needed, and I do take more advantage of the possibilities than I expected, but when it's appropriate.

If you play to the song, it will be fine, and with the piezo and the right eq, it is a great sound you will never get with frets when the time is right, or when the time is right for the mwah use it.

Don't make it obvious, play what needs to be played, groove when it should groove and no one will care or notice.
 
#26
spufman said:
When pulling a fretted bass out of the bag I've heard, "good you've got frets today so we'll definitely be playing the same notes." That kinda ticks me off - I've heard recordings and I play the thing (mostly) in tune! Certainly much more so than when this particular guitarist plays slide! Fretless is a dichotomy: more enjoyable because of the magnified expressive possibilities; less enjoyable because I can't fully relax while playing, it takes a lot more concentration.
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In truth there's a reasonably good chance that you're not playing the same notes because he's out of tune. Especially if he's using a cheap electronic tuner or if he's using the standard - and inaccurate - 5th fret / open or 12th fret / 7th fret harmonic methods.
 
#27
jay tay said:
So when I show up with my six string fretless I get some stupid comments from other bass players, however all the other musicians love it, and to their request, I spend most of the night on the stand, while the other bassists watch from the bar!
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That's not because of your wanky bass, it's cause you must be an awesome player.
 
#28
Gaius46 said:
In truth there's a reasonably good chance that you're not playing the same notes because he's out of tune. Especially if he's using a cheap electronic tuner or if he's using the standard - and inaccurate - 5th fret / open or 12th fret / 7th fret harmonic methods.
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9 times out of ten when I'm out of tune on my fretless, it's actually the guitarist who is out of tune (usually on their low E or A string). And me and the drummer are the only ones who notice! I know where the note positions are, and if the guitar is out of tune it makes it really hard to play accurately.
 
#31
Said guitarist uses a cheap-o tuner, stretches and bends his strings a lot and often uses a capo. So I just sort of shrugged off the intonation comment. I'll continue to bring the bass or two that are speaking to me on any given day.
 
#32
spufman said:
Said guitarist uses a cheap-o tuner, stretches and bends his strings a lot and often uses a capo. So I just sort of shrugged off the intonation comment. I'll continue to bring the bass or two that are speaking to me on any given day.
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I'm often surprised with how many guitarists don't tune that accurately, often don't check their bridge intonation, and often can't bend notes to pitch to save their lives......
 
#33
steelhead2 said:
ok sorry for all the wind long story short here= anybody else get bashed for showing up for an 'open mic' night with a fretless?
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No. And back when I did a long stint as house bassist for a jazz/blues jam (which invariably ended up blues - note to guitar players - Stormy Monday isn't a jazz standard) I had my Zon Lightwave 5 fretless. Unlined board. Best part was no bass player who signed up to play ever asked to borrow the bass :D
 
#35
I started playing fretless only about a year after I started playing fretted (almost 25 years ago) and my intonation is pretty spot-on, but there was a time when it wasn't so spot-on and I caught some flak for that. Nobody ever asked me not to use the fretless, though. They just asked me to watch my intonation, which I thought was a reasonable request.

The only time I was asked not to use fretless was by a bandleader who simply didn't like the sound of a fretless. He preferred the sound of a P-bass and asked me to use that instead. Since it was his band and they were his songs, a had no objection and accomodated him.

Outside of that, I've never had a problem. Most of the time my bandmates don't know which I'm using unless they look.
 
#36
thread really took off,i jumped on my P bass after i made the post,and; i see what it is,the P is boomier witch is what they expect to hear,had work that EQ a lot,,and

'i think' because when you show up with a 'black P Bass' with a tort guard they don't give it a second thought or look at it very hard whereas the blue agave with tort guard J always brings looks,and usually comments,,,i actually didn't like the color at first(jam buddy found a deal on it for me i didn't pick it out at a store),,,but it grows on you, strikingly dif color esp with the tort guard

anyway,,should have jumped back on here last night but it was way late; boomy,,that's what they want and i was the youngest there@ 55 so maybe that's all they can hear:D;);)

peace ya'll have a great weekend and stay away from the senior center eh!:spit::spit:
 
#38
Some people are always going to listen with their eyes, y'know?

That guy plays a black P-bass and has long hair and a t-shirt - he must be a rock and roller.
That girl is pretty - she must be a good singer.
That guy has dreadlocks - he must only know how to play reggae.
That guy has a fretless bass - he must be some kinda show-off jazz creep.

Have a good weekend, yourself, you show-off jazz creep!
 
#39
so i'll burn some more bandwidth!,,talking EQ i went from a 60x40 room? to a 14 ft sqare bedroom and the P was overwhelming but in the big room it def would have an edge on the J,,,havent done that open mic deal (there)since last fall

anyway i don't play either instrument any dif.,people say oh boy a fretless,,no dif in the way i play em so it gets to me about the intonation deal obviously there are 'quarter notes' as a guitar slinger said one time noodling on it,,but i don't practice any odd notes moves or like that,i just decided i'd take the J should have taken my SX i guess but it's on sleazebay so i didn't want to risk any scratches on it

ok have to run customer walked in>:hiding:
 

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