Any fretless players?

[MamaBear]

I just decided to try playing fretless when I found an Ibanez SR300DX fretless on E-bay. The neck has the fret lines painted on, which I suppose is a cheat, but I don't feel ready for that long, blank piece of rosewood.

Any comments or advice? Did anybody else find playing without frets more expressive? What strings did you find optimal?

Do you have any favorite pieces?

I always had great admiration for people who could play a "real" bass -- the upright acoustic. I think this brings me one baby step closer ...

[Idylle Moon Dancer]

1. it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be

it helps to have a decent ear I suppose. I never cared much for fretless
electrics, I guess it depends on what sort of music you want it for.
I took "real" bass lessons for a short while and it was great, but I
can't afford even a crappy one of those, so I don't play it anymore.

I guess that's not much help. About all I can offer is, it's all in the
ear, or maybe it'll help develop your ear.

[MamaBear]

2. It is all in the ear

One of the reasons I decided to switch for a while is to better develop ear-hand coordination. I think it'll be good for that.

As for buying an upright acoustic, even a 3/4 size, wow. Real instruments are real expensive, aren't they. :)

[Ron Green]

3. All I play these days is string bass.

I have a beautiful custom-made (fretted) 5-string bass, with a 35 1/2" scale, Bartolini pickups and cool onboard electronics, with my name in mother-of-pearl, and I've played it on exactly one gig in 4 years! All the groups I'm in are more suited to the bass fiddle, and everybody likes the sound better, as well as how it looks on the stage.

[MamaBear]

4. Did you start on an acoustic?

I actually started on clarinet, then switched to voice and took up the guitar much later before I tried electric bass, which I love. What is the scale length on a bass fiddle? I see women playing them all the time at the symphony, usually 3/4 size. It has taken quite a while to get used to the stretches on the 34".

I like what I do, but it doesn't come close to what you do.

[Ron Green]

5. I was a brass player, all through school and in college, and

I played French Horn in college and semi-professionally. But all along I taught myself to play bass, and always used both string bass and bass guitar. However, in the past few years I've gotten more into jazz and gotten more serious about playing correct positions on the neck and using the bow more as well. Jazz is the bomb, of course... it's like playing chess, 'cause you can never get to the end of it, never stop learning.

The scale on my bass is about 41 3/4", and yes, I've seen women with fairly small hands do fine on this scale as long as they're using the positions.

[Al Dente]

6. I just sold my fretless of 4 years

I agree with others on here that you don't use it for much. I mainly used it for stealing from Jaco before I realized that wasn't cool. Then I didnt have much use for it, cuz I am playing most of my work on double bass, and the electric gigs I have I use another bass. But, it is definitely good for learning. It won't help you with acoustic at all, cuz electric and acoustic are two totlly different instruments, they just happened to be tuned the same way. Peace

[slackdude]

7. I want to try fretless

I have this cheap applause acoustic/electric. I have flat wound strings on it, and every now and then I think about taking it in to have the frets removed.

What I really want though is an electric upright! I was set to buy one a few years back, just waiting until after christmas to put a down payment on it, but I guess everyone else had that idea and it was gone when I came for it.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. What's The Range Of A Fretless Bass?

About 25 yards if you have a good arm!
The Professor

[LifeDuringWartime]

9. i just got one

it's a Cort B4FL, $340 used

bartolini MK-1 (cheap version) electronics, wenge neck. i love it!!