Does anyone have any thoughts on fretless bass. Not for me they are way down the line. But I was wondering what the more experienced guys thought about them.
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I’m not overly experienced with fretless, but…
- Sound cool
- Make you focus on technique- fretting the note cleanly and precisely on the fretboard (intonation)
- Look cool
I enjoy playing mine, it’s a challenge, but worthwhile.
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Mwah-ha-ha!
I love fretless bass.
I bought one, a Squier Classic Vibe '60s Jazz Bass, as a graduation present to myself when I completed B2B the first time. Then I retook B2B using my new fretless bass.
I cordially invite you to go over to this thread and become a member of the Fretless Fan Club:
I got my first fretless a couple weeks ago. I love it. I’ve only been playing for about 6 months. It’s a ton of fun and lends itself to different styles of playing.
Go to a store that has one. Try it out. See how it feels.
I found it came much more naturally and comfortably than I expected. I naturally hit my pitches and play with decent intonation. You may or may not find the same.
It’s not a weird arcane thing. People who play classical bowed instruments start on fretless unlined necks all the time.
Biggest frustration is that it’s harder to find the right one for you, because they’re so much less common. You can go in to a shop and have dozens of different fretted basses to test out and see if you like. But you’ll be lucky if they have three fretless ones.
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And then add the complexity that I only play short scale basses, and you’ll understand why I just take a flyer and order online.
I have been truly fortunate so far. Out of 15 basses, I haven’t had to return one of them. I came close with my Höfner 500/1 Green Line, but managed to get it squared away well enough to keep. YMMV.
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It’s not as difficult as you’d think. It’s the original form of bass the upright, made its way back as an electronic bass version back in the 70ks. It can sounds like fretted bass but not the other way around.
One of the song that got most bassists juice flowing is Paul Young’s Wherever I lay my hat, by Pino Palladino. The man also responsible for such iconic hits like the remake of Everytime you go away, New York minute, Do you remember, etc. Fretless bass is in every genres of music
Many of our members posted their playing in the Post your cover thread, to name a few @sunDOG, @dlamson13 , @Whying_Dutchman and many more. Here are some of the fun I had playing Fretless and how they compare to the fretted bass.
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Excellent idea to star a fretless bass club.
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@Nik2weeks : It really is not difficult, even with a short scale.
In fact I wish I had started with fretless. You need a little more discipline to play, and more complicated/faster stuff is harder to play initially.
But somehow it’s more satisfying than fretted.
Usually I learn a song on a fretted bass … and switch to fretless if it provides the tone I like.
Please note that I don’t play fretless like a fretless. So no “mwah” songs per sé.
I just play “ordinary” songs with a fretless bass - no bells, no whistles.
The main reason for going fretless was: becoming more precise in playing - playing fretless is less forgiving if you finger incorrectly. Also you need to pluck more controlled. - which is a good thing.
And of course I wanted a reason to buy a new bass and make it fretless myself 
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^^^^ THIS ^^^* The reason I decided to move to learning fretless…. SO damn excited to move i to and explore this aspect of bass…
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I was pretty proud of these two:
- Nirvana - Lithium bass cover
- Dido - Small Town Boy bass improvisation (Bronski Beat)
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I’ve only been learning (attempting to play) a few months but I bought an ESP/LTD fretless for a couple reasons. As mentioned above I wanted the challenge of learning by having to be precise with my fretting hand. and of course the other reason is I got a GREAT deal on an absolutely GORGEOUS spalted maple top (satin finished) four string.
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Welcome! Pics please!
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