unlined fretless

[shakinbacon]

How do you guys with unlined boards do it?

Yeah, I guess I know the answer - listen while you play and practice your #@% off. But I'm still impressed when I hear someone with an unlined board play. Plus it looks pretty cool

 

[Rick Auricchio]

Yeah, it's definitely listening to every note you play. You get used to constantly correcting for intonation. Your hand also gets accustomed to how far the notes are, so you get a good head start on the exact spot that way.

Don't forget that the side dots are there to help with big jumps around the fretboard.

You might consider applying little bits of white tape on the edge where the dots are. Sort of like training wheels. Remove the tape as your confidence grows.

 

[Duarte]

After playing a lined fretless for years (a lined fretless was my first bass) the unlined comes very natural. You get used to not looking at what you're playing and you can just kind of 'do it'.

Having said that, I put white tape on my upright bass! That's a different animal...

 

[MadMatt]

I'm in the process of learning fretless. I find that I have to orient myself on the top dots and not the lines as I cant really see the lines while playing. What I have done is put very small dots on the top side of the neck with a sharpie where the frets would normally be. I made them small enough so they are not really visible at a casual glance so that I dont become dependent on them but if I get lost a closer looks gets me back in tune.

I'm still trying but I will probably have to give it up because I cant hear intonation differences until I'm half a fret off of where I need to be.

 

[davidjbass]

Practice practice and more practice. Then practice some more. I find that having 2 basses that are of the same model helps. For example I have a Stingray Classic 4 fretted and a Big Al 5 fretless. They have the same 34" scale length neck and # of frets. The necks are a little different in width but that does not bother me. I do warm ups for finger positioning with the Stingray 4. One finger per fret major and minor scales. After I do those exercises I find my fingers are stretched out and I have good positioning. Then I go to my fretless and I find it easier to get my notes accurate on the fretless.

Another thing you can do is listen and play along with your favorite music. Not only does it help your ear out with your intonation. But also with being able to learn new songs.
One of my favorite CD's to play along with is Pearl Jams first CD 10. Jeff Ament uses fretless on a lot of songs on that CD. I got his bass lines down so good that I can improvise around his.

I also play my fretless a lot in my cover band. A lot of the songs we do are rock songs with simple bass lines. It's a real challenge and it makes the most boring cover song fun because I have to make sure I am in tune. And believe me when playing with a guitar player that is always slightly out of tune its makes it very interesting.

Go get one. Have fun with it. Who knows you could be the next Pino.

 

[T Alan]

I guess starting out on slide trombone helped me.

 

[oli@bass]

What everybody else already suggested:

- use the side dots to cheat
- have the same bass model as fretted and fretless
- look less, listen more
- play to CDs, play your favorite songs, play the songs you normally play on the fretted
- practice, practice, practice
- look at it as a challenge to make boring songs more interesting


@davidjbass: Thanks for the Jeff Ament hint.... right now started to listening to TEN

 

[drTStingray]

As you say, practice and listen. The first time I played my fretless I couldn't believe how inaccurate my playing was.

I use my fretless as my main gigging bass and have gradually improved - the biggest problems I have had have been playing the fifth in a 1, 3, 5, 7 type rock and roll pattern - I used to often play the fifth a little flat - it was laziness on my part - not stretching enough - and playing solos above the tenth fret position - early results were strange to say the least!

It's taken about six months to become pretty confident of playing through a whole gig fully in tune.

If you can stick at it, it's very rewarding when you get it right, but it really does take practice - that has been my experience.

 

[dmarotta]

Unlined , are you guys crazy? After playing lined fretless basses for more years than I would care to mention , I still look at every note I play.....unless of course there is a great looking female within eyeshot.

 

[davidjbass]

@davidjbass: Thanks for the Jeff Ament hint.... right now started to listening to TEN[/QUOTE]

No problem. Great player. Great CD.

 

[strummer]

They all use pitch perfect

 

[AnthonyD]

Side dots...

Muscle memory...

Practice, practice, practice...

Ears...

 

[Caca de Kick]

Lined fretlesses annoy me because I find the lines and the 'fretted position' side dots too distracting in making me want to play behind the 'fret'.
Gimme a blank board anytime.

 

[davidjbass]

Lined fretlesses annoy me because I find the lines and the 'fretted position' side dots too distracting in making me want to play behind the 'fret'.
Gimme a blank board anytime.

Amen to that!

 

[toomanyslurpees]

I've been working on fretless playing with a lined fretless, I've got to the point where I can survive a gig alright, though yeh, I end up watching my hands way more than I would like, and every time I do bring out the fretless for a gig (so far only the mellow weekly acoustic gig we have) there seems to be a higher than average amount of attractive girls coming and going which makes the whole having to watch my hands more irritating.

I can get by, but I'm playing the same thing I'ld be doing on my fretted bass for the most part, I'm trying to learn how to play a fretless like a fretless.... coming slowly. I think part of the problem also is my fretless is my only non-stingray, it's a Jbass I picked up NOS because I wasn't sure if I'ld really dig it, then I was on the road for a month with work, sitting in the arctic bored on the internet and warmoth's website knowing I'ld be coming home to a huge paycheck for being on the road all month, I bought a rosewood body and now that Jbass is freakin beautiful even though I perfer Stingrays (wood grain matches the neck like they were made to go together), and for the money I have in it now I should have just bought a stingray....

 

[rhythmCity944]

I love my unlined fretless. I've just trained my ear to know when I'm in tune or not. I do a lot of back up singing while rocking the fretless so I don't look at my board too much. After a while your hand just knows where to go and your ear tells you if it's correct. PLayed my fretless at church this morningeveryone in the band loved it.

 

[Rick Auricchio]

Slurpee, it's fine to play the fretless in a way similar to a fretted. That helps you really nail intonation. One of my best moments was when another bassist came up and said "Wow! That's fretless?" about one of my lined basses.

Once you've got your intonation down, then you can work on the glisses and fretless accents. I even use some of that stuff on the fretted ones.

Disclaimer: I've played since 1970, adding fretless in 1986. Long enough for even me to get it right.

 

[T Alan]

Unlined , are you guys crazy? After playing lined fretless basses for more years than I would care to mention , I still look at every note I play.....unless of course there is a great looking female within eyeshot.

If this is crazy-

...then I'm now clinically insane.

 

[Kamakiriad]

Unlined , are you guys crazy? After playing lined fretless basses for more years than I would care to mention , I still look at every note I play.....unless of course there is a great looking female within eyeshot.

T. Alan, you must never see women at your gigs.

One suggestion that I have is to use double bass fingerings in the lower positions. That is, to omit the 3rd finger and use 1-2-4 chromatically. It's more comfortable, requires no stretching, and I always nail the intonation with it.

Learning double bass has made me completely re-think my fretting hand approach...

 

[maddog]

That is, to omit the 3rd finger and use 1-2-4 chromatically. It's more comfortable, requires no stretching, and I always nail the intonation with it.

I started doing this and found playing much more comfortable as well.