Always an appropriate response. And, I do, but I don't have a lot of time to dedicate mostly, I just wanna play all with good music.
I can't afford to spend any more right now and do love the feel and setup of the bass with the current neck.
Yes it does. Which at times confuses me more. The way the neck is setup is exactly where the dots are is the fretting spot. But, on my fretted bass the sweet spot is just up from the side dot. So when I switch from fretted to fretless I get thrown off thinking about this adjustment in my head.
If you can understand that.
Playing good music IS "practice". The problem is just getting to that point!
Fretless side dots are right where they belong. They are NOT confusing! You are just not used to them. Later if you get a fretless made from a defretted bass and the dots are like a fretted bass THAT will drive you nuts! Just dig in and get used to them!
I've been in the position of a blank plank fretless being too much for me. My Alembic 6 was like that. If I'd known then what I know now I'd have done what I'm going to say to you, but I didn't so I just bought another lined fretless bass to get started.
You are MUCH to worried about all this. Just put some relatively non-permanent lines on your fretless neck to get going. So long as it comes off with steel wool when you rub down the neck You'll be fine. Take my word for it, it goes like this:
1. At first you are used to frets, so the lines are a big help since you have to learn to improve your "fretting" accuracy. You have to finger right on the fret. Practice notes into a tuner to get a feel for what you need to do. And simultaneously listen carefully to train your ear. It takes some practice but not a HUGE amount.
2. Then what happens is that as you get used to stage one, you discover that you really can't be looking at the fingerboard all the time and so you start to rely on the side dots and your ears more and more. [remember what I said about side dots above?] You also should be listening hard to keep on with training your ear as well.
3. Finally you move into a comfort zone where the stripes on the fingerboard make no difference at all. So you can take them off at that point. A blank fretless always looks MUCH cooler than a lined one, so at that point you'll be so glad you didn't get rid of it! (or like me sorry you still own the one with lines)
4. A fretless does take more concentration. You can't just plop a finger down anywhere between the frets and get away with it. But the reward is that fretless sound which means you can put some expression into the music! And that's the payback.
Any instrument is going to take practice. You can't get around it. But practice doesn't have to dominate your life either. Especially since learning how to make something new speak is a lot of fun as well as work. If you can't practice as much then it just takes you longer to go through the above stages. No biggie. If you want wonderful fretless sound without any practice at all, then sell the bass and buy an MP3 player.
