What complications did you not expect when going fretless?

[juancaminos]

Yep, same experience here, and it only gets worse with some of my other common phrasing choices. So in typical fashion I just started doing my own singing too.

Same here, after putting away all of my fretted basses and putting in a lot of time on fretless I joined a band where the singer hated it. I eventually gave in and shelved the fretless but now wish I didn't.

 

[eastcoasteddie]

When I first started playing fretless, I took to it quite well and got pretty darn good at it to where I could substitute for a fretted no-problemo.
But I haven’t played fretless in 20 years until now, and I can’t believe how awful I am at it...

 

[kENNy k]

Resist the temptation to be JR JACO ...
Play full notes and resist putting too much mid range on your amp.
Play bass like a section guy and not a soloist and you will do fine.

Best-
Kenny

 

[Ggaa]

Intonation improves sooner than you might think. You do need to be able to hear yourself, though.

 

[sawzalot]

Yeah, when my guitarist is out of tune he blames me.

 

[flyingfinbar]

The hardest part for me is a good fretless vibrato. I’m a big vertical guy with fretted instruments, but with a fretless, that subtle horizontal, rolling vibrato is EVERYTHING.

 

[arbiterusa]

This may have been due to the overall intonation of the bass being off slightly.

You can intonate a fretless! You kind of need to, actually, if you’re going to play it seriously.

I had no issues with taking up fretless. Violin was far harder.

 

[spade2you]

The only issue I've had are perfectly recording a really difficult part and bad monitors.

 

[mmon77]

My biggest complication is double the G.A.S. Now every bass that I like, I want a fretless version too!

 

[Slevage]

I've only played fretless for a short while some years ago, but I found that some singers can't handle it if you slide into a target note. Seemed to throw off their own intonation. But nice to be noticed finally!

.

So will trumpet and sax players.

Imagine the chaos with all of the violins,violas,cellos and double basses in an orchestra doing that.

How about a synth player riding the joy stick?

No reason to slide into notes— unless the song calls for it.

 

[SteveCS]

I’m really curious into diving into that realm even though I’m just a novice and wanted some advice from those who play fretless?

If you are a novice, now is the time to go fretless. Like a few others here (@Passinwind , @JRA , et al) I started out with fretless, so IME there are no 'gotchas' as I had no frettted experience against which to compare.
But what I did have was a very good well-trained ear, and a good ear is essential. I don't know your background or experience, but I would recommend learning to sing as the best way of developing your ear. I dont mean singing like a soul diva with all those slurs and blue-notes, but singing accurately in tune.
Good luck.

 

[Basically Bob]

I started playing fretless, exclusively, I think about 15 years ago, on a Godin A4 that had each fret marked with a small tick on the side of the board. I was really surprised how fast I picked up on it.

During my last gig, the lead acoustic guitar player turned around and pointed out that I was playing a little “sharp” during a solo I play, up past the 12th fret. Ouch! I didn’t hear it. Maybe my 65 year old ears are starting to slip. Thinking about going back to a fretted bass.

 

[BwanaDust]

Unexpected consequences? I virtually stopped playing fretted basses.

I did that for years. Then I found a great P bass and I'm more or less 50/50. Sometimes I use one the whole night. Sometimes I switch it up.

As for worrying about intonation. I found it's easier for me to use an unlined neck. They still have cheat dots on the side.

 

[40Hz]

Probably due to the shorter reach, implied in @Tim Skaggs post just above yours.

Possibly.

Although the notes do seem to be where my hands expect them to be on the medium scale for some odd reason. I’ll practice with my eyes closed every so often. And when I do, I find my intonation is easier to get correct on a 32” neck. Weird.

 

[bbh]

I’m in tune enough to play with guitars but keyboards show my notes are sometimes a bit off.
For some reason I start off in tune and in about 30 min, I start to go out a bit.
My main axes are fretted and FretLess only comes into play once in a while. I do love my killer b FretLess though...

 

[Shindig73]

Not a complication, but just some advice.

I have a good tuner on my board going the whole time to spot check my intonation, particularly if it's loud on stage. Comes in way handy for my cello, where it's harder to hide intonation issues in lower frequencies.

 

[morgansterne]

Lack of treble! I swapped out a fretted neck for a fretless neck and all my treble disappeared! Same bass, pickups, strings -- but a totally different tone.
Sadly I had to sell it but I'm sure I'll get another fretless someday.

 

[Nashrakh]

.
No reason to slide into notes— unless the song calls for it.

But that still ****s them up (at least it did in my case). Now what? When does their inability become your responsibility? And I'm not trying to be snarky here. If it messes with them and thus their musical delivery, I won't do it. But it makes me wonder.

 

[fishdreams]

I found it liberating, actually. Playing fretless sort of points out technique issues with an exclamation mark, so i'm more inspired to work on technique. It also makes me listen much better, and therefore connect with both music and instrument more.

Challenges: teach yourself to play with your ears exclusively. One of my warmups is to take any note, let's say a C, and play every C on the fingerboard in random order, without looking. Really helps with developing positional awareness.

Your fretting hand may need adjustment so that you use the tip of each finger exclusively. You'll find that the tone bevomes vague and muffled, drastically so, if you lay your finger more flat on the fingerboard.

And nice thud or attack (that little click) i find much more difficult to obtain with finger style playing on a fretless, especially with roundwounds. The notes tend to envelop rather than 'click', easily giving the impression that you're either dragging the groove down, or overcompensate and consequently sound way too pushy for typical bass requirements, tonewise. So precise phrasing is key, and some experimenting. I find a very light touch, which is hard for me to do, to work the best.

But all in all, nothing satisfies like playing fretless. You'll have the ability to breathe life in each and every note. I find the freedom to go anywhere, and amount of expression at your fingertips, so rewarding, inspiring and musically liberating. Good luck!

 

[40Hz]

When does their inability become your responsibility?

When you’re in a band.

Because like it or not, it’s a team effort that will be judged accordingly.

I think many of us have been in band situations where we had to reluctantly abandon some artistic flourish or interesting idea that might have greatly benefited a song because one or more bandmates couldn’t work with it. It happens. Composers have to deal with those frustrations all the time.

Sometimes it comes down to a choice of playing the best bass line you possibly can within the context you’re playing in rather than the best bass line you actually could.

So it goes. It’s something you eventually learn to deal with.