Simple songs for fretless fiver.

[philthygeezer]

Could you suggest a simple song that will sound great on my new fretless SUB5?

Thanks in advance!
P

 

[cdb]

Could you suggest a simple song that will sound great on my new fretless SUB5?

Thanks in advance!
P

Chromatic Fantasy? Donna Lee?

 

[bassmonkeee]

Any song with lots of whole notes is what I would recommend. It's easy to fake fast lines on a fretless because you aren't on any note long enough to notice any glaring tuning problems. Ballads work great for this.

1-4-5 blues tunes are great, too. Especially guitar focused blues tunes since a whole lot of those are in E and A. If you can be certain your open strings are in tune, you can work from there. Plus, if the song is major and you are playing a basic blues line, you will be playing on the 2nd and 4th frets a lot so you will learn how to play between the dotted notes where the spaces between notes are bigger.


Fretless basses are the best. You're off to a great start with a quality fretless. As long as the bass is in tune, you'll have no problem getting the hang of it. One last recommendation is to make sure you have your strap set so the bass is at the same height when both sitting and standing. That way your muscle memory will help since you won't be drastically changing playing angles from sitting and standing.

 

[adouglas]

Stuff that's slow-paced is good.

Try "Son of a Son of a Sailor" by Jimmy Buffet. It actually has a really cool bass line.

If you're pretty fluid, try "New York Minute."

Tony Levin does a fantastic job of covering Zeppelin's "Black Dog" on fretless with distortion. He does the vocal melody high up the neck and it sounds amazing (Double Espresso album).

 

[bovinehost]

First Norah Jones record.

Shawn Colvin's "Fat City".

Joni Mitchell's "Hissing of Summer Lawns".

 

[Aussie Mark]

Any song that you already play on a fretted fiver.

 

[ProgHead]

Fever - Elvis Presley
Hit The Road Jack - Ray Charles

Andy