New guy.

Drakon7 · Post by **Drakon7** » Thu Aug 12, 2010 7:58 pm

Hey all, My name is Tim.

I've been playing bass about 3 years now, and bought myself a fretless (Ibanez Artcore(Hollowbody) Fretless) a few months ago. And its quite possibly the most amazing instrument I've ever played. This is my first real attempt at seeking fretless related advice, and Im not even sure what to ask, so really, Im just wondering if you have any advice regarding the fretless.

Here is a video of me playing, comments would be appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMgo3n_3MdE

I had only had the fretless for a week or two at this point, since then I have improved my technique (Such as putting my fingers on the fret lines rather then between them!) and yeah. It'd be really good if you could give me a hand become a better player.

FretLessSince68 · Post by **FretLessSince68** » Fri Aug 13, 2010 4:37 am

Welcome Tim to the Fretless bass community.

Your left hand technique is coming along nicely, but the right hand appears to be influenced by guitar playing. Did you take up bass after first learning guitar?

In addition to the right hand style you are developing, I would watch other bassists and observe their right hand. There may be something useful to add to your bag.

Keep in mind that the bass is a rhythm instrument, a bit of aggression can be a good thing to balance out the expressive side. It's OK to pluck with vigor and percussion.

Best regards, and keep it up.

redbeardred · Post by **redbeardred** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 7:33 pm

i'd change your strings. they were kind of scratchy.

if you have an ideal for what kind of sound you want or there's a player who's sound like then you can get certain strings.

jaco used round wounds. better mawwhhh.

black nylons more of an upright thing.

sandowskys flats are real woody.

Drakon7 · Post by **Drakon7** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 11:34 pm

Thanks a heap for the advice! For some reason the bass came standard with roundwounds, Im trying to get some flatwounds ordered in but the local music shop is finding them hard to get in.

And no surprisingly, I played piano for a few years before I began bass, since then I have learnt a fair few different instruments and each one tends to influence the others.

And my regular playing style is fairly aggressive, but upon the purchase of my fretless, the guy at the store said that if I slapped a fretless at all that I would ruin it etc. Since then I have found out that that guy is an idiot, haha.

Do you think my right hand playing style is bad? Should I perhaps work on it being more of a bass player style? (Eg stop using my thumb etc)

FretLessSince68 · Post by **FretLessSince68** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 3:16 am

Do you think my right hand playing style is bad? Should I perhaps work on it being more of a bass player style? (Eg stop using my thumb etc)

I didn't say it is bad, you might be the next great musical genius and your right hand technique may be a new thing. I did suggest that you acquire the standard two finger right hand technique (if you don't already possess it).

You don't have to abandon your established right hand technique, just consider adding another item to the bag of tricks.

redbeardred · Post by **redbeardred** » Sun Sep 12, 2010 11:07 pm

i only use one finger cause i've got a scare tissue on the middle one...i thought i was doing it wrong till i found out Jamerson did the same thing. back in the day when the bass guitar was new everyone used their thumb. entwistle saw a guy using his fingers and picked up the technique. the same guy saw the who play and asked entwistle where he learned it. entwistle told him 'i saw you do it' and the guy said 'oh, i just had a really bad blister.

FretLessSince68 · Post by **FretLessSince68** » Mon Sep 13, 2010 12:27 am

Jamerson crossed over to Electric Bass from the Upright. Almost all of the guys who picked up the Electric Bass AFTER already being Upright players used the one, or two, finger right hand technique.

Most "real" bass players of the time shunned the fretted electric bass. Jamerson was an exception.

The old way of playing Electric Bass using only the thumb did not involve using the thumb and fingers as you are doing. Your picking style is closer to guitar technique and is why I asked about previous guitar experience.

We have come a long way since our instrument was invented.

Randy Ryan · Post by **Randy Ryan** » Thu Nov 11, 2010 4:06 pm

Obviously, based on your video, you should be playing over the lines which you say that you figured out and are doing correctly, now. But the point that it does bring up is to play like you mean it so that you can actually HEAR the notes that you are playing and learn to adjust. There is no shame in playing sour. We all do, believe it or not! It's just that we learn how to very quickly adjust and that only comes with playing over and over. You will never play in tune 100% of the time and that's okay. Just play with emotion and conviction and the intonation will come along the more you play. I would also STRONGLY recommend getting a bass that doesn't have fretlines. At first it's like, "Yay, this is easy! Just play on the lines". I had a Yamaha like that and everything was great until our first live show. The lights began changing colors and sometimes be totally off and holy crap! Where are my fretlines?!?! You see, I was intonating with my eyes and not my ears. I traded that bass for one that was all ebony and only had side dots and it really is like a totally different instrument and allows way more expression because you aren't constantly "searching" for the line. Intontation is weird, anyway. Fretted instruments are never perfectly in tune. Do a search on intonation and you'll see what I'm talking about. Drives violin players mad! Above all, have fun and keep at it. Oh, one more thing (since you asked for it) learn to read music. I'm not talking about that TAB crap, either. I mean real musical notation. At least the bass clef. It will serve you well. Good luck!

Drakon7 · Post by **Drakon7** » Thu Nov 11, 2010 4:27 pm

Thank you all for your in depth answers! I've been working very hard on this. As for the intonation thing. I dont actually look at the frets unless Im learning something or playing something I wrote on a fretted bass, I usually look away or shut my eyes/play in the dark because I feel it helps me play and write better, I'll be uploading another video soon of a song I'm writing when I'm happy with it. I like this bass because the fretlines, while look very obvious in the video, are very faint and hard to see on the actual bass. I play violin as well as bass, (I actually play a few instruments) and I can read sheet music, due to a history in piano, I do however use tabulature to write down my bass ideas because I find it quicker, and when Im writing thats exactly what I need (Either that, or I record a video on my phone of me playing it.)
Thanks again for all your help!