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That is both so cool, and highly impressive at the same time.
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Has anyone here seen a semi-fretless bass? No I am not being a smart ass, Ibanez came out with a 6 string bass with 2 of the strings being fretless and the rest being regular fretted…
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I have seen custom builds with the first 7 frets, and above that was all fretless.
That was awesome!! Thank You!
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Welcome @jimnyc2000, glad you are here, head over to the Introduce Yourself thread and say hi to everyone.
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Just starting out on my Fretless diversion.
Any seasoned folks who can offer technique watch outs tips would be much appreciated.
And by this I do not mean the inherent intonation / accuracy issues. I am talking more about attack, finger positions etc.
I do find there are some interesting noises that can occur (and then get eliminated) if I use a much lighter touch. Is this part of it or perhaps I’m doing other things wrong?
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Up on the neck just be mindful to use more fingertips only unless you want a harsh bright notes. Usually, it’s not a problem for me anywhere else on the neck, but may be my right hand position change when I’m up on the neck.
I now keep a nail clipper handy at my practice station.
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This! Exactly! Thank you. This is the #1 problem I have. I slide up and it gets way loud and distorted
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I was wearing gloves for a while but then glove is not great when you do harmonics but great with soft stuffs.
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Most of it is pretty much the same as fretted except for vibrato technique and you can slide harmonics. I didn’t find it hard going fretted to fretless but I find it hard to go back to fretted after I’ve been playing fretless for a while.
If you haven’t already, watch some videos of Pino Palladino, Jaco Pastorius and Gary Willis playing.
Damn, this is the one I had my eye on, but it was too pricey for me, so I settled for a cheaper squier fretless instead.
I still look at that pro one though. I’d love to have a go on one. And that colour - swoon.
Regarding fretless in general, I have a standard double bass with a pickup to amplify it, and it’s a complete monster to play. I’ve had it setup, but it’s still really hard to play. I find that I play really differently on a double bass than I do on an electric bass - less notes, different rhythms and more slides. It does sound great though, but it’s something I’ll never master - it’s just nice to play now and again.
The electric squier fretless is different again. It has fret markers so I can play all songs normally if I want to, and then I can slide about and it produces that nice double bass sound. Not as pronounced as the double bass, but it’s good enough for me.
Anyone wanting to try fretless, I’d recommend that squier to start out with - you’ll definitely get the idea of the whole thing, and if you want, you can just play it “normally” and get a normal tone out of it.
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I read the title as “Fanfret less club” or something, for some reason. But now that I have read it correctly as “fretless fan club”, that will be a “yes” to both. I’m currently an apprentice.
For advice, it’s a great idea to have another 5 string fretted bass with similar dimensions so that the muscle memory stays the same. Practice scales, play in the dark often, use a drone more than a tuner.
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absolutely, ever since my first lesson with @JoshFossgreen , and he heard that my fingernails were uneven on my two plucking fingers, based on my plucking alone, and this was while playing thru a scale. Sure enough, they were, and ever since, I have at least one clipper nearby.
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I have also found on fretless that a very small change in neck relief is the difference between clean notes and a big mess on the lower part of the neck. Much less forgiving than fretted.
I am really digging this Squier fretless. I also can see where a high end fretless gives you some more robust advantages in this area, but for me this is all I need in this camp. And there is something about looking down at that pure black ebonol fretboard that is magical.
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After doing a site search and reading this thread from a year ago, I think that I want to be in the Fretless Fan Club. I have always loved the beautiful, unique sound of a fretless bass.
This seems to be a good place to get way ahead of myself and think out loud.
Six weeks ago, I bought my first ever bass guitar, a Fender Player Series Jazz Bass. Even though I had never played a bass before, I felt the need to follow a sudden burning desire. I’m so happy that I did this.
I started the Beginner to Badass course two weeks ago and I’m absolutely thrilled so far. I just finished Module 03 and it feels so good to be making progress after starting out as an absolute beginner. Josh @JoshFossgreen is an amazing teacher. I definitely will keep playing bass.
Now on to getting way ahead of myself. I’m already thinking that a fretless bass could be in my future. Is it that GAS is contagious on this site? Will I have developed enough of a foundation of prerequisite skills after completing the Beginner to Badass course to get a fretless bass? It feels like my technique is improving. Heck, it even seems like my musical ear is actually getting better.
Would a fretless bass be a good graduation present to myself after completing the Beginner to Badass course? Would a fretless Jazz Bass (that still has fret markers) be a good transition/acquisition? It would seem like less to adjust to and hopefully the muscle memory, ergonomics, etc. would be helpful. When I originally tried out different bass guitars, the Jazz Bass felt like a good fit for me. I know that I’ll need to try out some fretless basses in the future.
Thanks for listening to my thoughts. Any advice would certainly be appreciated.
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Yes. Of course had you asked “Even though I can scarcely afford it, my children are limited to 600 calories a day and grandma went up for sale, should I buy this $3000 custom boutique fretless bass?” this forum would still say “Definitely yes!”
We are a merry band of enablers, after all.
That said, I think that this is a wonderful idea. Although I finished B2B in the spring, my 2 year bassiversary was this past August. So just recently I bought my dream bass. Now I’m thinking about a fretless… but I’ll wait till I have my new workshop, so that I can finish my project bass build.
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I would say yes, that would be an excellent graduation present. I also think getting a lined fretless is a great place to start.
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I wanted one until I ran into Tony Franklin’s YouTube channel. Now no thanks! I’ll pass and stick to fretted. I don’t have the time or dedication to get good at it.
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