I was pretty sure I’d get out my tuner and a thinline permanent marker to apply fret lines to the side of the neck (my bass only has the dots on 3, 5, 7, 9, 12 and so on). But now that I’m using it to follow the course, I’m not so sure.
Part of me feels I have to learn to be badass enough to do without it. Percy Jones doesn’t have them, Gary Willis doesn’t have them, Mick Karn didn’t have them… dammit, prior to the Precision Bass, nobody had them! So I should be able to make do without them… right?
My new Ibanez 5 string fretless has fretlines, so I feel like kind of a wimp. but Scott Devine insists if you go fretless to get one with lines, so I don’t feel so bad.
One of the things I work on constantly is not looking at the neck when I play, and to keep my eyes on the music sheet in front of me and let muscle memory take over. I still glance at the neck occasionally just to ground myself, so the fretlines do come in handy.
Seeing how you were the bassbuzzer who had the nutz to play the bass live before an audience for the first time in your life on an instrument you played for the first time, and were completely unfamiliar with, you will forever be known as BABG, fret lines or not.
@PamPurrs, how are you liking your Ibanez now that you’ve had it for a while?
Also,
Jaco Pastorious had fretlines on his bass. Granted, he ripped out the frets and filled in the holes, but he still had fretlines. If the master of fretless electric bass had fretlines then it is definitely okay!
@joeike I love it! I practice with it every day, and am actually using it for the sight reading drills that I have to do for my sight reading course. I figure if I can nail those drills on the fretless, I can certainly do them on the fretted.
Awesome! I’d say you’re right. If you can nail sight reading on fretless any other bass will be a piece of cake. (Yum, cake!)
Before the lockdown I was using mine pretty regularly at church. I’m still trying to get vibrato nailed down though. My vibrato is definitely not ready for public yet.
(Yum, cake!)