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played my first fretless this weekend.
- Thread starter flannel cat
- Start date
One of those is on my GAS list, having a 4003, I'd love to have a fretless
I am learning fretless. Many here are FAR more skilled than I. Playing fretless is a LOT of fun. Respectfully, here is what I think:
I do not recommend lined necks or looking at a tuner. It seems to me that fretless players MUST learn to tune by ear. There is really no way out of it. And here is one observation I have made: The worst way to hear your pitch is to look at the fret lines or at a tuner. Your eyes will distract your ears. You will hear better if you look away. You will hear EVEN BETTER if you close your eyes.
I do not recommend lined necks or looking at a tuner. It seems to me that fretless players MUST learn to tune by ear. There is really no way out of it. And here is one observation I have made: The worst way to hear your pitch is to look at the fret lines or at a tuner. Your eyes will distract your ears. You will hear better if you look away. You will hear EVEN BETTER if you close your eyes.
This is fine while you are sitting at home but try playing in a load-ass blues band with a hard hitting drummer to one side, PA cabs to the other, a harp player's amp right behind you (he never left a gap), and floor wedges to the front and you soon realise that fret lines maybe aren't such a bad idea.
You can always ignore them when you can hear yourself but if you aint got them ...............
If you don't have them, you've got the dot markers and if you know your notes you know where to put your fingers. Never had any problem with this.
Understood. Makes perfect sense. In battlefield conditions, I too would like to have a tuner to look at. I just don't have the courage to try fretless on the battlefield. Yet.
I appreciate what you are saying but my bass has a fretted neck with no frets so the dot markers are in the fretted position.
(I also sang so had plenty to do singing in tune without having to try to work out where to put my fingers with side dots in the wrong place).
I think you misunderstood me. The dot markers are always between two frets, doesn't matter whether it's a fretted or fretless bass, equal as it doesn't matter whether they are on the side or middle of the fretboard.
If you've played fretted bass you know the position of your finger is between these dots (depending on the note), thus on a fretless bass the position is the same (with the same scale obviously) with just 1 mm difference (half width of the fret).
This thread inspired me to get out my TFF. SO. MUCH. FUN!
hi flannel cat 
There is no such thing! Lines help you to know where you are but not if you are right!
Play some slided double stops and you will find that out soon enough!
Are you sure? (it's all about the ears) or mostlty 
welcome to the club
Wise(b)ass
There is no such thing! Lines help you to know where you are but not if you are right!
Play some slided double stops and you will find that out soon enough!
im starting to understand why you play them! cheers.
Are you sure?
(it's all about the ears) or mostlty welcome to the club
Wise(b)ass
False. The dots on the side of the fretboard on my fretless Breedlove acoustic correspond with where the frets would be, as confirmed by three separate tuners.
Ok, I stand corrected, but I've never seen that for a fact, all my fretless basses are like as I said.
My 1980 Fender Precision factory fretless is the same - side dots where the notes are.
I would not have said anything unless I was sure. And to be sure I grabbed my bass and checked it against three tuners and a piano. So, there's that. Anyways, happy "mwwaaaaahing" to you and your fls.
thank you sir ,and i liked the photos,i will look at slided double stops it sounds interesting for this humble greenhorn wanting to progress,, cheers..hi flannel cat
There is no such thing! Lines help you to know where you are but not if you are right!
Play some slided double stops and you will find that out soon enough!
View attachment 4004272
Are you sure?
View attachment 4004282
welcome to the club
Wise(b)ass
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yeah i like the dots, i dig the look of nothing but fingerboard so the grains of the wood is shown off more. nice bass! cheers.
I love playing fretless, and although I love my old EB3 copy fretted bass--it does tend to get ignored at times in favour of fretless.
I preferred lines when I started, but they are a way to orient myself for where to start--but I do sue my ears.
And if one string is slightly out of tune--as long as I don't play it open, I can adjust on the fly.
But I recommend recording yourself playing with others-whether live or a backing track--to see how you are doing--because sometimes our ears will fool us a bit while we're playing--but reviewing after will let you know if you nailed it.
One pother tip I heard when I started--from Steve Bailey-is to incorporate sliding into a note as part of your style.
(You don't want to do it all he time on every note though) -the reason for this is when (not if) you hit the note not quite right and you slide into it--it sounds like you meant to do it.
That last one I really like.
I preferred lines when I started, but they are a way to orient myself for where to start--but I do sue my ears.
And if one string is slightly out of tune--as long as I don't play it open, I can adjust on the fly.
But I recommend recording yourself playing with others-whether live or a backing track--to see how you are doing--because sometimes our ears will fool us a bit while we're playing--but reviewing after will let you know if you nailed it.
One pother tip I heard when I started--from Steve Bailey-is to incorporate sliding into a note as part of your style.
(You don't want to do it all he time on every note though) -the reason for this is when (not if) you hit the note not quite right and you slide into it--it sounds like you meant to do it.
That last one I really like.
