Ways to improve fretless Playing, intonation etc.

[gloomyglamour6]

Hello, i have been playing bass in general for almost a year and a half now and my question is fairly blunt and straightforward: what is the best way to improve my fretless playing?

Im not looking for some quick way or something, thats not what i mean and i know to be truely good at any instrument is hard work and lots of it, im more curious if i should focus on recognizing notes by ear or...?

Thank you to any and all with advice =3

P.S. Michael Manring is fretless GOD!

 

[enricogaletta]

There aren't more suggestions, just use the same studies of an fretted bass on fretless but off course paying more attention to the intonation by your ear, anyway if you need any help just PV I will be happy to help you!
Cheers. Enrico
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[Low Sound Love]

I think ear training is the most important part of mastering the fretless bass. I started with interval training: first octaves, than fifths, fourths, then the rest, as suggested by Steve Bailey in his instructional book.
When I'm working on a specific song, I ALWAYS play along to the CD/mp3, not just playing the bass part by itself, because you need the context to hear if you're in tune.

 

[gloomyglamour6]

Thank you both for the helpfull advice, ill ear train like crazy lol, And playing along to the song is perfect advice, cant get a better example of perfection then the recorded song (Although one of my fav fretless players is Mick Karn, who "smears" the notes and plays "Out of tune" on purpose, so until im much better at recognizing the true notes hes probably gonna be confusing to focus on too much huh?)

 

[Tom Howland]

I think ear training is the most important part of mastering the fretless bass. I started with interval training: first octaves, than fifths, fourths, then the rest, as suggested by Steve Bailey in his instructional book.
When I'm working on a specific song, I ALWAYS play along to the CD/mp3, not just playing the bass part by itself, because you need the context to hear if you're in tune.

+1
With fretless is all come down to practice.

 

[Michael Manring]

My recommendation for improving fretless intonation is to practice with a reference of some kind -- a tuner, a recording, a sequencer, a looper, etc. Each form of reference has advantages and disadvantages, so try using various and/or multiple methods.

 

[Michael Manring]

And thank you for the vote of confidence!

 

[Feral Feline]

Cool! The OP gets a few tips from The Man(ring) himself! Thanks for the tip MM! I don't play bass guitar, but I'll try your suggestions on my upright!

 

[Buxtehude]

Use the open strings as drone tones (reference tones). This is how many double bass players do it and it also works for fretless.

 

[Jeffrey Wash]

My recommendation for improving fretless intonation is to practice with a reference of some kind -- a tuner, a recording, a sequencer, a looper, etc. Each form of reference has advantages and disadvantages, so try using various and/or multiple methods.

+!

I've been playing fretless for quite a few years, recently decided to take it up a notch.

If you have sequencing software of some kind - Reason, Pro Tools, Cubase, Garage Band, etc - create a sequence of a major scale ascending 2 octaves, then descending 2 octaves, at a moderately slow tempo. Then copy, paste and transpose that scale 11 times to go around the circle of 5'ths. Then play along with it. With your eyes closed.

If you haven't totally given up playing fretless after a couple of days of that...

Then do the same thing with minor scales, modes, arpeggios, chord progressions.

I've made this regimen the priority in my practice for several weeks now. It's going well; I manage to keep my eyes off the fingerboard about 95% of the time. But I curse a lot when I'm practicing...