Fretless Fan Club

yep…

Yes - and going through the course from the beginning a second time with it would be a really great thing.

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I’m certainly no where near Tony Franklin but I do find playing fretless to be a lot of fun. I was actually pretty surprised by how easy it is to pick up. Plus, it was the perfect excuse to get more basses. :~)

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Nice looking pair!

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Thanks. I built the PBass from parts. I bought the Jazz Bass and then bought a neck from Warmoth and installed it.

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@StevFargan
Fretless bass is so much fun to play, and no more difficult than fretted, just different. You do need to be more precise about positioning fretting fingers but you get used to it very fast. No more fret buzz (should you ever suffer from it).
Don’t let anyone on Youtube put you off.
The Jazz bass body has the ergonomic advantage of putting the neck in the same position, sitting or standing.
Bass No 4 neck-through mahogany with flatwound strings gives a classic bassy fretless twang. It’s difficult to resist the temptation to slide and bend most notes.


Bass No 7 - multiscale headless set-through-neck with acoustic roundwound strings gives a very trebbly twang. The piezo pickup means the tone ranges from ‘hollow’ acoustic to bright boom.

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I just noticed your Chicago Blackhawks throw. Hockey fan here as well!

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You’d be surprised how well you can play Fretless with considerably small learning curve, especially when you start with the lined Fretless.

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Man, Tony is so awesome! He always reads and comments on yt posts too :slightly_smiling_face:

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I think that every new bass player should spend some time playing a fretless bass because it teaches you to use your ears and it forces you to use good fretting technique. If you already have good fretting technique on fretted, the transition to fretless is pretty easy. I like the look of a lined fretless but I don’t spend much time looking at it while playing.

One big benefit that a fretless has is you can play in tune better than a fretted instrument which by fault of its design (and our western music system) is often slightly out of tune.

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@MC-Canadastan
Thank you for the encouragement.
What type of dream bass did you buy?

@joeike
Thank you.
I’m still thinking of a lined fretless (even though Tony Franklin might disagree.)

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@RuknRole
Thank you for sharing the link. Tony Franklin has a distinctive style and energy to his playing.
I may not get my own beautiful signature model like he has, but I’m still aspiring to get and play a fretless one day.

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@John_E
Thanks.
I like the idea of a second time on Beginner to Badass with a fretless.

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Leave this here, Juna Serita goes fretless on a U bass.

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I don’t dream too big. A Fender Steve Harris P bass

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@jonathanhaynes43
Thank you.
That is good to hear about the Jazz bass body.
Your basses look beautiful!

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@Al1885
Thank you. That is encouraging to hear.

@sshoihet
Thank you.
This is good to hear (pun intended.) I need to continue to develop my musical ear. I’ve got a long way to go and I’m looking forward to the journey.

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@StevFargan, I agree. I owned three different lined fretless basses before I decided to go unlined.

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Unlike other instruments with variations 5 string, 6 string or fretless basses are not really the next stepping stone from your standard tuning 4 string bass. Any beginners can start with any one of the variation and still be facing the same growing pain, lol. Aside from extra muting skills on extra string basses they’'ll arrive to the next level about the same time.

It’s like learning to drive on a small coupe, SUV, pickup, and full size van. Beginners struggle on the same issue navigating the skills but once you get going they are all about the same as far as getting from point A to point B.

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