Fretless - Yea or Nay?!!!

[godofthunder]

 I loved that clip ! I now have three bass I use flats on, My Hofner, Klira's and My fretless P. I also don't care for the epoxied fretboard concept.

[godofthunder]

 Here is a pic of me playing the fretless P at a gig, note the look of concentration on my face lmao.

[hieronymous]

I haven't commented since I started this poll/thread - been too busy, between work and a neighbor's tree falling on my garage, and to tell the truth I've been playing my (fretted) Alembic Stanley bass more lately. But I've been enjoying the responses!

[Highlander]

What's that expression... "Don't start something you can't finish" ...?

Oops, guilty again... look at the time, gotta dash...

[Freuds_Cat]

Who is your photographer Scott. You always seem to have great shots.

[godofthunder]

 No one in particular takes the pictures, I think a off duty cop who was acting as security took that one LOL

[bobyoung]

You were using flatwounds here, weren't you, Bob? 



I found out the bassist in this clip was Frank DeNunzio Sr.

This clip cracks me up, old Frank certainly had style, haha!

[hieronymous]

I finally remembered something that bugs me - when people say that "playing fretless is easy"! I always wonder if they can really play well or if they sound like the guy playing the wishbass earlier in this thread!

I must say, I was inspired by the video of the Police live at Hatfield from early in their career - as others have mentioned, his intonation is off sometimes, especially when he's singing, but for some reason it doesn't matter! Maybe there's more leeway because it's a three-piece?

[godofthunder]

Geeze I hope I don't sound like that guy in the clip !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I work real hard to play Boz's lines, not as easy as they sound. Two songs on the fretless and my fingers are killing me !

[bobyoung]

I loved that clip ! I now have three bass I use flats on, My Hofner, Klira's and My fretless P. I also don't care for the epoxied fretboard concept.

When I bought my 72 P bass the neck had been chewed up by round wound strings. I brought it to a well known local luthier and he put some kind of (I think) epoxy on it that is also used on bar tops. It took me a while to get used to the feel of it but it sounds really good with flat wound strings. It cuts through and can sound just like a fretted bass if I want it to. It is a real fretless rock bass. It even sounds good with a pick.

[Highlander]

Scott... you surprise me...   

I played my RD for one of our rehersals - three hours + in a four hour slot - fingers "grooved" man... 

[Freuds_Cat]

Anyone got the remastered version of Who are You?   I finally replaced my old LP with CD yesterday and have been driving around in my car blown away by how different it sounds compared to my old LP and then LP recorded to cassette that I had for years. Maybe its the remastering itself, maybe its how different my listening is after all these years. Or both?

The Fretless playing by JE on track 10 "No Road Romance" is beautiful.

[godofthunder]

Scott... you surprise me...   

I played my RD for one of our rehersals - three hours + in a four hour slot - fingers "grooved" man... 

It's funny I use Roto Sound RS 66LD strings on most of my basses and I have the grooves in my fingers after every show. Playing the fretless with flats for two songs hurts me more than playing rounds for 3 hours. go figure.

[nofi]

my take is that fretless electric bass is not that 'special' tone wise to justify the effort. played without all the sliding and vibrato on the target note it sounds like an ordinary fretted bass, and you can get some of those sounds on a fretted one. i have owned several and never found them that hard to get around on but like i said not worth the time. if i wanted to play a fretless bass i would learn upright but as this point i'm just too lazy.   

as usual your opinions will most certainly vary. 

[drbassman]

Wow, and i thought John Entwistle was a wild bass player!!!  As for a fretless, I tried one for awhile and found it sounded nice but wasn't working for what I was playing.