Fretless basses

And since I am not a fast player, this is where I usually sit, lol

I played tenor sax in a symphonic band in college. 150 piece band, total, with me and another guy as the tenors.

We and the big brass (trombones and euphoniums) essentially harmonized the bass lines. So lots of slow lines and extended notes on a regular basis made for tired embouchures and a lot of counting! Man, if you’d come in on the wrong beat, you’d stick out like a sore thumb. And you’d get yelled at.

Every now and then, we’d have pieces that called for us to play some fast, tricky lines, almost like mini-solos. Those were stressful because everyone else would either lay out or play much more softly, and I and the other guy were on. If either of us didn’t nail it, the conductor would have us solo, with everyone else listening. I do not miss those days. Lol

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Seems you had a great teacher :joy:

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THAT is no exaggeration!

Many unfamiliar with the university-level music school experience think that movie was over the top, intentionally deranged to be a horror flick.

Negatory!

That’s exactly what it was like on a daily basis. There were a lot of tears shed, mostly by the clarinets and flutes, because they traditionally played the string melody lines. It was brutal.

To make matters worse for myself, though, I was the only guy with a ponytail down to my waist in a very conservative music department.

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:rofl:

OK; in a feeble attempt to bring this thread back to fretless: @mjking - if you want to try out a fretless, you should definitely get one with fret markers - purists may say this is like riding a bike with training wheels… but, this is pretty much like we all learned to ride a bike :smile:

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:+1:

My fretless basses all have lines. Like others have said, they get you to the right spot, but precision and technique is much more important on the fretless. The next fretless I get I plan to get without the lines, but will have marks on the side of the fretboard for every fret.

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The next fretless I get will be this, thanks to @PamPurrs !!!

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I just love helping people spend their money :rofl:

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Those are so cool.

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Here’s mine in action…

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Awesome! I subscribed to your TY channel. Looking forward to seeing (hearing) more.

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There’s 2 types of marking on a Fretless lined and unlined. Lined is pretty much the same as fretted bass side dots position are the same. Unlined is different, the dot represent the line/fret. On the unlined you need to play on the dot.

I had my hands on the Fretless very early on in my playing and was intimidated by it, then a few decades later I bought an unlined Rogue got $100 I was surprised how well I could play a song given the fact that I was quite fearful of a Fretless bass.

Lined Fretless is highly recommended but not necessarily a deal breaker. If you plan to play the “dusty ends” often then definitely get lined. I like both but when you pull out an unlined Fretless to play you get the nod from fellow basso, lol.

In contrast to the YouTube believes, many legendary Fretless players don’t play with crazy vibratos and slides. They play their bass lines just like how they play fretted bass.

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Omg! I love you @PamPurrs I played that song in my high school Jazz band and I didn’t know the name of the songs, they handed me the music I just played. I’ve been searching that song for the last 20 years.

I’m crying right now partly because of this super spicy Korean noodle soup I’m eating but also after 30 years since I heard that song played you did a fine justice reuniting this song with me. I’m so moved, that’s a darn fine bass.

Thanks again

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That must have sounded very cool. What instrument did you play?

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Electric bass. I love the song. It has a very interesting bass line.

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Oh, i was thinking you meant the high s hool marching band lol…

Yes, very interesting bass bassline. Lee Rocker played it on the upright, which is why I did it on the SLB300. But I’ve heard it done quite weĺl on bass guitar also.
I posted my transcription in the transcription depot if you want it.

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Thank you. I’ll do that. I was playing along with the song and surprisingly I remember most of the notes. It’s a jazz ensemble we actually had 2 bassists so sone songs we play together.

In marching I played Baritone and 2nd tom. I’ve never played the Baritone before but somehow through the magic of extreme repetition I was able to play my part for the entire seasons. Sadly outside of marching band I don’t see a mad baritone soloist so I stopped playing, lol.

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^^^^This!
It’s really a bit of a “deadly sin” on the fretless to overdo the sliding and vibrato-ing :wink:

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Yeah! They often throw in a short tasty undeniably fretless chops just to remind folks who’s still the boss, lol.

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