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Your fretless experience?
- Thread starter 6stringvince
- Start date
Just expect to put in a lot of effort learning how to play the fretless well. I generally find anyone who says it's "easy" has lousy intonation and tries to force glissandos and slides onto every transition. Playing with real precision is NOT gonna happen overnight, or in a week, or even a month, but it's entirely possible.
As to lines/no lines, I have and use both (1 lined, 3 unlined). I don't see the big deal either way. No lines is GREAT for the ego - but only if you can play well, or you just can't hear how bad you really are. Lines are GREAT for the studio, where excellent intonation is critical. But relying on the lines instead of your ears is disastrous. It's all about the ears - the lines are just a nice guide in some situations. Even Mark Egan and Will Lee and Marcus Miller and many other studio cats use lined fretless basses.
Overall, I LOVE fretless and use it all the time. If you put in the effort, it's really fun and rewarding, and not limiting at all. If you're impatient, then it's probably not for you.
As to lines/no lines, I have and use both (1 lined, 3 unlined). I don't see the big deal either way. No lines is GREAT for the ego - but only if you can play well, or you just can't hear how bad you really are. Lines are GREAT for the studio, where excellent intonation is critical. But relying on the lines instead of your ears is disastrous. It's all about the ears - the lines are just a nice guide in some situations. Even Mark Egan and Will Lee and Marcus Miller and many other studio cats use lined fretless basses.
Overall, I LOVE fretless and use it all the time. If you put in the effort, it's really fun and rewarding, and not limiting at all. If you're impatient, then it's probably not for you.
I started on a de fretted 66 Jazz. The lines helped a lot. Sold it.
In 92, I picked up my 75 maple necked, no-lines, fretless precision. It was my main bass for ten years. I still have it and love it.
I like the challenge of no lines. I also think it looks better. Since playing unlined, I now find lines distracting.
Either way, they are different sounding beasts that I just love.
In 92, I picked up my 75 maple necked, no-lines, fretless precision. It was my main bass for ten years. I still have it and love it.
I like the challenge of no lines. I also think it looks better. Since playing unlined, I now find lines distracting.
Either way, they are different sounding beasts that I just love.
I hate how in fretless threads there are always liners that seem to think unlined players only do so because it looks better. I don't recall anyone stating this so far. As a reminder, the only line that is in the exact right location is the octave, all others are slightly off the further from the octave you go. Unlined boards with side dots do not have any false markers.
I find it really helpful to practice lines playing staccato, and don't allow myself even a hint of a slide or glissando. When my intonation is off, I back up and start again, a little slower. If I'm hitting the notes right, I pick up the pace a bit. But no sliding at all. Really helps to build muscle memory and train the ears.
If I have to sing, I put the fretless down, and pick up a fretted bass. I'm not good enough at multitasking to handle all that.
I meant to expand on that.
I got my first fretless (w/lines) about two years after I started playing, '87 or so. I came up with a few cool things on it, but honestly at the time I was rather limited in my thinking, and not very patient either. I simply didn't try hard to play it well, didn't have the ear, and never found a place for it in the music I was playing. So.........I sold it.
Fast forward to only a couple of months ago. Impulse buy at guitar center I get an unlined 78 P. I had two or three songs that my band does that I thought it would shine on. I was, however, concerned about managing without lines.
Well, I played it at home for about an hour and felt far more comfortable on it, even without lines, than I thought I would. Gigged it the next day. Was having so much fun that I played it for nearly the whole gig. At one point, a guitar player who was sitting in with us turned to me and said "your still on the fretless? It sounds great, and your in tune."
It really was not nearly the challenge, the lack of lines, that I thought it would be. But.....you need to be listening, and have a good ear. Honestly, the lines only help so much, a slight roll of the finger in either direction and your off, so I find the dots on the side to be plenty. That said, first and second fret can be a bit tricky to nail. I'll likely add dots to the side for those.
Man, I'm rambling......too much wine.
Anyway, go for it, either with a build or with one of the suggestions from somebody else. It will make expand your pallet, if nothing else.
I have one of four basses that's an unlined fretless. I play fretted most of the time but really enjoy playing fretless when it fits the gig. It took a long time to play in tune! So I was pretty frustrated for a long time with fretless. A couple pointers...
1) make sure the bass is intonated (measure and draw on the 12th fret with pencil then set the bridge same as a fretted bass)
2) sit in your car, reach out the window, and push your fingertips on the outside of the windshield. Then you can see how much your fingertips spread out.
3) clip a tuner on the headstock and play your usual exercises. Look and listen until your ears and fingers are working together to correct any out of tune notes.
4) imagine the sound of the
Fretless really is a voice as if you were singing. You can sing in tune right? Seems to be the same part of the brain that goes to work here
1) make sure the bass is intonated (measure and draw on the 12th fret with pencil then set the bridge same as a fretted bass)
2) sit in your car, reach out the window, and push your fingertips on the outside of the windshield. Then you can see how much your fingertips spread out.
3) clip a tuner on the headstock and play your usual exercises. Look and listen until your ears and fingers are working together to correct any out of tune notes.
4) imagine the sound of the
Fretless really is a voice as if you were singing. You can sing in tune right? Seems to be the same part of the brain that goes to work here
My first electric bass was an unlined MIM Jazz. I was a guitar player lassoed to play bass in a bluegrass band and had been doing ok on a borrowed upright for 6 months or so. Went shopping for an electric until I could afford a good double bass. Fell in love right away with the look and the tone of that bass.
Played it for a few months and did ok. Then one night on a dimly lit stage in a crowded noisy bar I got way off and got the dirtiest looks from the rest of the band. Hell I could barely hear myself over the crowd noise coming back thru the monitors and I couldn't see the side dots and I was playing something more resembling the key of A# than A.
Went and traded that sucker for a fretted bass the next day. I should have kept it, I loved the tone and I could make it work most of the time. But its like a fiddle or a slide guitar, you gotta be able to hear yourself very well and play it often to keep your touch, and if you drift off, it really sucks.
After about a year I finally got my Kay. I found I can get decent intonation easier with less daily practice on the longer scale upright(long as I'm playing pizz not bowing). Bowing requires you be more exact. I have a few side dots on the big boy just for reference, just so I kinda know where my hand is, or is headed.
I wouldn't mind picking up another fretless BG and giving it another go now almost 20 years later.
Played it for a few months and did ok. Then one night on a dimly lit stage in a crowded noisy bar I got way off and got the dirtiest looks from the rest of the band. Hell I could barely hear myself over the crowd noise coming back thru the monitors and I couldn't see the side dots and I was playing something more resembling the key of A# than A.
Went and traded that sucker for a fretted bass the next day. I should have kept it, I loved the tone and I could make it work most of the time. But its like a fiddle or a slide guitar, you gotta be able to hear yourself very well and play it often to keep your touch, and if you drift off, it really sucks.
After about a year I finally got my Kay. I found I can get decent intonation easier with less daily practice on the longer scale upright(long as I'm playing pizz not bowing). Bowing requires you be more exact. I have a few side dots on the big boy just for reference, just so I kinda know where my hand is, or is headed.
I wouldn't mind picking up another fretless BG and giving it another go now almost 20 years later.
I will always have a fretless available. It won't replace my fretted, but I will not be without my fretless either. Before spending big bucks on a custom build, pick one up in the classifieds. Get it for the feel of it and see if it's something you really want to persue.
i like unlined with side dot fretless..i dont know..just feel like home for me...this is my beloved Fender Tony Franklin precision fretless
... and i make custom fretted maple neck clone for it..if i want play it fretted.. just swap the neck.
..and it help me to learn finger positioning on fretless neck.. cheers
... and i make custom fretted maple neck clone for it..if i want play it fretted.. just swap the neck...and it help me to learn finger positioning on fretless neck.. cheers
Yes it would be good to keep off this subject.
I use fretless occasionally live but have owned one since 1980. When I do I love the tone and the growl. If you have good technique then fretless is fine - if you have bad technique then it could be a painful experience at first! Either way persist. It's worth it!
Davo
Wierd. I've never floated into a Fretless thread before, I had no idea that the lined/unlined choice was such an issue. Go figure.
Above quote seems to figure that the only people who play unlined basses care only for the look of the instrument and not the rest of it (the sound). Kinda like looking at a beautiful girl with a ring on her finger and figuring that without her figure she would never have found someone to love her.
Fretless bass is great. A lot of fun! Sounds awesome both for the tone (no frets means less treble) and the expressive possibilities. Lines or no lines, it's all good!
Now, I can see that if you can't hear yourself you might have a problem. But of course, if you're a real bass player and you can't hear yourself, you turn up your amp. Lines or no lines. Frets or no frets. And if someone complains, you tell them to turn down first. Cuz you're the bass player. I'm lookin' at you, John Alec.....
I originally started fretless with an unlined but it never really clicked because of where the side dots are, after years of playing fretted I just couldn't get past the dots being in a different place. Just because you've got lines doesn't mean you have to stare at them all night.
How about some sort of temporary markers to help me get started, also if it doesn't pan out and I need to add frets it won't be a big deal?
Well, I first bought a lined fretless, and later bought another - admittedly quite a lot for looks - unlined. All I can say though, while it does look really nice, I do play much better on the lined fretless. In retrospect I wish I wasn't so vain and I should have bought the second bass with a lined fretboard. For what it's worth. 
Lined, unlined, It just goes to show as in most things on these forums there's often no right or wrong, just what's right for you. What works for one may not for another.
Now regarding temporary markers or lines, any ideas?
Now regarding temporary markers or lines, any ideas?
I cut thin lines from tape and put those on the side of the neck on my electric upright. Very temporary, but helps me a bit. Luckily intonation on the upright isn't quite as crititical as on the shorter scale of the electric bass.
I owned about eight or ten fretted basses before I tried a Fender fretless at Guitar Center. The fretless board blew my mind. It felt like moving from manual steering to power steering (for those how can remember vehicles without power assist)
I'm playing strictly fretless at this point and because of this I have put myself at a serious disadvantage. That is the availability of fretless options especially in short scale. I have converted (de-fretted) six basses at this point and can honestly say I'm not 100% happy with any of them. I have several factory fretless that I'm at aw with and I've taken the next step and order a Birdsong C14-285.
I have several fretted basses I have in holding for the reason of converting to a true fretless. I'm in the process of locating a luthier to remove the fretboards and completely replace them with a clean ebony board. If this works out then even my neck throughs will be converted. This will also open up my chooses to just about any bass but at an added cost
At this point I'm fretless all the way. A fretted neck is uncomfortable to me now
I'm playing strictly fretless at this point and because of this I have put myself at a serious disadvantage. That is the availability of fretless options especially in short scale. I have converted (de-fretted) six basses at this point and can honestly say I'm not 100% happy with any of them. I have several factory fretless that I'm at aw with and I've taken the next step and order a Birdsong C14-285.
I have several fretted basses I have in holding for the reason of converting to a true fretless. I'm in the process of locating a luthier to remove the fretboards and completely replace them with a clean ebony board. If this works out then even my neck throughs will be converted. This will also open up my chooses to just about any bass but at an added cost
At this point I'm fretless all the way. A fretted neck is uncomfortable to me now
