Recomend me Fretless Players

[pbass2]

Fernando Saunders is why I play fretless. Lots of other good ones though.

Love his playing with Lou Reed (who never skimped on the bass chair in his bands!)

 

[pbass2]

Oh yeah, Alan Spenner with Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry. "To Turn You On" on Avalon is a great example of super tasteful fretless playing.

 

[DJ Bebop]

Patrick O'Hearn.Zappa alumnus as well as Missing Persons.
He has quite a solo repertoire.

He lived here in Portland Or. for a bit.

The first adopter of the "ramp."

I asked him about this after seeing him, what the medical tape was about on his bass back then and he said that it gave him the feel he gets from picking over the fret board. So a ramp I asked? He said "yes, I guess you're right."

 

[DJ Bebop]

Fernando Saunders is why I play fretless. Lots of other good ones though.

 

[StereoPlayer]

Great stuff there! The first time I heard Fernando was with Jan Hammer.

 

[StereoPlayer]

Fretless bass is my preferred bass instrument.

 

[Passinwind]

27129679[/URL], member: 39632"]My favorites and electric fretless inspirations are:
Percy Jones
Mick Karn
Alphonso Johnson
Ralphe Armstrong
Mark Egan
Michael Manring

Interesting choices for “simple, not over the top” players…

 

[Dabndug]

George McArdle of LRB.

 

[Jeff Scott]

LRB? Looney Rambling Boys?

 

[Dirk Diggler]

@Passinwind well sadly I don't consider all of Jaco's work over the top either.
Actually all those folks I consider vital to the end product, they all define and drive the projects.

Patrick O'hearn absolutely belongs on my list, how could I forget him?

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

Marcus Miller has done some excellent work on fretless. It’s certainly worth a listen.

 

[Bob_Ross]

Gary Lunn

Is Gary Lunn any relation to Doug Lunn? if so, man, there must've been something in the water at the Lunn household growing up that turned out a pair of fretless monsters!

 

[lowfreqgeek]

Is Gary Lunn any relation to Doug Lunn? if so, man, there must've been something in the water at the Lunn household growing up that turned out a pair of fretless monsters!

I don't know if there's any relation, but it might just be the name!

 

[OldShark]

To drop a probably lesser known name here, I always liked the fretless playing of Rick Ford on Joe Jackson's great Big World album (e.g. "We can't live together" ) or on Blaze of Glory (sometimes together with Graham Maby on fretted):

 

[thmsjordan]

Although more known for his upright bass playing, Christian McBride is no slouch on fretted electric:

 

[Bob_Ross]

I mention this guy a lot on TalkBass, but he doesn't seem to get much attention from anyone else! Hansford Rowe:

 

[Bob_Ross]

Did we really go 4 pages with no mention of Bill Laswell?!?!

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

I can’t believe no one has mentioned one of the best ever…..
Esperanza Spalding !!!

 

[Mike Mulligan]

Sticking to the OP's request for rock/pop fretless players, I would recommend the two Tonys:

Tony Franklin has been mentioned several times and is one of my faves.

One of my other favorites players is Tony Butler, who is probably best known for being the bassist for Big Country, but did a lot of work with Pete Townshend and others. Very tasty and melodic, rarely flashy, but always an asset to the song. Well worth a listen!

 

[Johno Dunn]

Another vote for Tony Franklin. Check out his playing with Blue Murder. One of my favorite fretless players, especially in a rock band context. Also a really nice guy.

Very under rated band!