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Topic: Anybody Playing Fretless Bass? |
Chris Templeton
From:
The Green Mountain State
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 28 Oct 2021 2:42 pm |
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Yes. I played the fretted kind professionally for years, but now I've taken up pedal steel I find the fretless a natural companion. My first instrument was and still is the trombone.
Can anyone spot the connection? 
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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Chris Templeton
From:
The Green Mountain State
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Ken Pippus
From:
Langford, BC, Canada
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Posted 28 Oct 2021 2:46 pm
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Infinite number of wrong notes available on all three?
I played bass to eat for a number of years, some on fretless. Loved the thing. |
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Karl Paulsen
From:
Chicago
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 29 Oct 2021 1:22 am
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Yes, but not right now.
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Those that say don't know; those that know don't say.--Buddy Emmons |
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Bill Cunningham
From:
Atlanta, Ga. USA
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Posted 29 Oct 2021 3:50 am
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My friend the late Billy Puckett formed a Western swing band here in the Atlanta GA area years ago and I played bass on the few gigs we were able to land for that great underappreciatatted genre in this area.
I happened on a deal for a Godin acoustic electric 5 string fretless, basically a Telecaster-like body. It thumps like an upright with tape wounds on it and was as perfect a tone as you can get, unless you play upright, for Western swing and shuffles.
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Bill Cunningham
Atlanta, GA |
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Al Evans
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 29 Oct 2021 5:49 am
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| Bill Cunningham wrote: |
I happened on a deal for a Godin acoustic electric 5 string fretless, basically a Telecaster-like body. It thumps like an upright with tape wounds on it and was as perfect a tone as you can get, unless you play upright, for Western swing and shuffles. |
That's what I've got, except mine is a 4-string. It works great played with acoustic guitars in a "folkie" setting, which is my main use for it.
--Al Evans
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2018 MSA Legend, 2018 ZumSteel Encore, 2015 Mullen G2, G&L S-500, G&L ASAT, G&L LB-100, Godin A4 Fretless, Kinscherff High Noon |
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Marvin Born
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 30 Oct 2021 7:17 am
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| I play an Shen hybrid upright for bluegrass or an electric 4 string fretless for band gigs. Goes along with the steel being fretless. |
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Nic Neufeld
From:
Kansas City, Missouri
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Posted 31 Oct 2021 10:41 am
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Me too. I play a variety of genres but am influenced heavily by the (surprise surprise, for a bassist) funkier stuff. Chic, Bernard Edwards, Jamerson, Bootsy, and then from older stuff like (when I was 16...in the 90s, though) Jack Bruce, McCartney, and very significantly Chris Squire. About a decade or so ago I borrowed a fretless and leaned in hard with a jazz fusion group, and really love it. I'd been playing fretted again until several years ago. I picked up a 4 string Godin (much like the above...but with a magnetic pickup as well). Phenomenal instrument...super versatile and easy playing. To me it doesn't get the upright thump, possibly because of the strings I have on it, and more significantly, my playing style...but it does have a good Jaco growl with the pickup. Love it!
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Waikīkī, at night when the shadows are falling
I hear the rolling surf calling
Calling and calling to me |
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Karl Paulsen
From:
Chicago
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Posted 31 Oct 2021 10:49 am
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Those Godin A series basses are really great. Almost bought an A4 in 2000 but I wanted a 5 string so I ordered a Carvin.
The Wendler I have now has a piezo and magnetic pickup. Very upright'ish but when I solo the mag pickup it sounds like a fretless Precision.
Nic,
Have you tried flats and a foam mute?
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Dave Hopping
From:
Aurora, Colorado
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Posted 31 Oct 2021 7:03 pm
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Did a fair amount of bass gigs on fretted,got a fretless just to see what it was all about.Def the bees' knees!
Lucked into a very early(neck date 11/17/80) fretless G&L L-1000, and about that same time found a fretless Schecter J-Bass type maple-fingerboard neck which went on a beat-up-and-then-refinned '72 P-bass.It woke that bass right up!
Here they are....
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Nic Neufeld
From:
Kansas City, Missouri
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Posted 3 Nov 2021 9:10 am
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| Karl Paulsen wrote: |
| Nic, Have you tried flats and a foam mute? |
It still has the flats that came with it...Chromes I think, I just have zero dissatisfaction with them so far. When [if!] I change, I'll probably spring for the Thomastik-Infield Jazz Flats. I put them on another incredibly cheap Chinese Franken-P-bass (from parts) that I defretted years ago (the strings cost almost as much as the bass parts did) and I love that bass now. I picked them as they are one of the lower tension flats out there and that frankenbass has enough neck issues as it is...
Not tried a foam mute...I should say, it wasn't a complaint on the bass, I'm sure a good foam mute would dial back the considerable sustain enough that with the piezo, a good upright sound could be had. I'm just not (usually) going for that sound unless I'm trying to make a Hawaiian backing track or something. Normally I'm one of those irritating "overplaying" type bassists...so I love the more modern (but not scooped/glassy) sound of the mag bridge pickup.
Not fretless...but if anybody wants a good 4 string workout I can certainly recommend this tune, that I happened across again today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le0BLAEO93g
_________________
Waikīkī, at night when the shadows are falling
I hear the rolling surf calling
Calling and calling to me |
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Miles Lang
From:
Venturaloha
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Posted 2 Jan 2022 6:57 pm
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Yes. I prefer upright or fretless to playing a fretted bass
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Jill Martini & The Shrunken Heads
All aloha, all the time |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 2 Jan 2022 8:17 pm
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Sometimes. I studied upright in college for a while, but I've never exactly been a 'bass player' as I have always leaned to guitars. But when we ocaasionally have a 'bass player issue', I sometimes use this Warmoth fretless J-Bass neck with ebony board that I got from Orlando Colom several years ago, on a Jaco signature body. It is perfection, to my tastes.
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Nic Neufeld
From:
Kansas City, Missouri
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Posted 20 Jan 2022 7:31 am
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| Nic Neufeld wrote: |
It still has the flats that came with it...Chromes I think, I just have zero dissatisfaction with them so far. When [if!] I change, I'll probably spring for the Thomastik-Infield Jazz Flats. |
I did end up putting new TI Jazz Flats on it. Love them! I feel like the sound is a tiny bit brighter and in a strange, but good, way, more quirky. Hard to put my finger on it, no pun intended. They feel softer in tension than the Chromes for sure. Expensive, but great strings. Been playing it direct into the board with my Sansamp Bass Driver (dang, that thing is almost 25 years old!).
_________________
Waikīkī, at night when the shadows are falling
I hear the rolling surf calling
Calling and calling to me |
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