Making it Sound like a Fretted on Fretless

[FretLessSince68]

What if a song that requires fretted bass gets called and counted before you can switch basses. Perhaps you don't own a fretted because you sold the fretted to buy a fretless (good decision that), or just plain prefer to play Fretless.

With the exception of slapping, almost every style can be done on the fretless. The great fretless bassist Alain Caron, slaps on fretless so he can cover that. Unfortunately, I'm not anywhere near as good as Alain (gawd what a monster) so I do use a fretted when needed, but prefer to play fretless.

During my years as a six night a week musician I played fretless almost exclusively. It is possible to play fretless and make it sound like a fretted.

Use your Neck P/U, or Combined P/Us, don't solo the Bridge P/U.
Turn down the treble and get a vintage sound out of your amp. Put a lobotomy on your tone to eliminate Mwah.

Here is a most important part. Left hand position should not slide, no Glissando. Play every note distinctly and separately. When you change positions don't slide, instead, shift position. Don't use too much violin type vibrato, keep it subtle.

This means practice scales in close guitar position (one finger per position), and nail your intonation. Practice, practice, practice, gig, gig, gig.

Playing staccato also helps get the fretted vibe. You know, put a little rest in between notes. A quarter note line would be played as if every note was a double dotted 1/8 note followed by a 1/32 rest.

Practice this and you will be doing Rocco Prestia on Fretless in no time.

I do my own version of Fretless slapping (turn the Treble back up) that is really using the right hand fingers in a tapping mode. I slap with the thumb too and get a good sound, but popping does not work for me on fretless.

Good luck with it and I hope to see your tips on getting a fretted sound here.

BTW, it is impossible (IMHO) to make a fretted sound like a fretless, even with an electronic gizmo.

[mick monger]

Hey! Your information is well-received, and pertinent. I learn alot from this forum, I'm greatful for your time spent on this site. It's been the best leaning aid I've found in quite a while. I'm getting plenty of practice in these days, and I have you to thank for my renewed interest. F68-much obliged! Thanks ~ Mick

[KPJ]

Great advice!

I have played fretless exclusively on many gigs and have fooled people to think that I was playing fretted. Left hand technique is the biggest determining factor for me. I do not hold the notes very long and use the one finger per note approach. I play a lot of country covers where the unique fretless voice is not necessary, but I can drop a nice gliss or "blooming" whole note as spice while mimicking a fretted sound.

[NickBass]

As always great advices, I love to hear of others players experiences and favorites...anyway, before getting a "real" fretless I had the opposite problem: playing fretless lines over a fretted bass (I hadn't the cash!). As FretLessSince68 said, it's very difficult or almost impossible making a fretted axe sound like a fretless (altought some players like Victor Bailey or Jeff Berlin are near it), they are two different intruments (on the fretted you can't slide harmonics, just to name one difference )...but I developed some left hand fingerings and vibratos that made my bass sound the nearest possible to a fretless, a sort of "hybrid".. ! After studying for a while the fretless two things happened: I already had a similar kind of vibrato, so no great problems here, but at the same time I lost the "fretless-like" touch on my fretted axe...no problem since now I have both the axes!
Anyone had similar experiences before getting a fretless bass?

[Arjen]

I only played for maybe a year or less on a fretted bass, then I knew, without even trying, I wanted to play fretless. Of corse I had no money, but in one month I realised my first fretless bass.

The funny side of the story was, that buying this bass, was not inspired by Jaco, Pino or anybody, I listened to their music months after purchasing this bass. So I had the bass, but the specific basslines were not jet discovered.

[Emlalo7]

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[FunkDaFied]

As always great advices, I love to hear of others players experiences and favorites...anyway, before getting a "real" fretless I had the opposite problem: playing fretless lines over a fretted bass (I hadn't the cash!). As FretLessSince68 said, it's very difficult or almost impossible making a fretted axe sound like a fretless (altought some players like Victor Bailey or Jeff Berlin are near it), they are two different intruments (on the fretted you can't slide harmonics, just to name one difference )...but I developed some left hand fingerings and vibratos that made my bass sound the nearest possible to a fretless, a sort of "hybrid".. ! After studying for a while the fretless two things happened: I already had a similar kind of vibrato, so no great problems here, but at the same time I lost the "fretless-like" touch on my fretted axe...no problem since now I have both the axes!
Anyone had similar experiences before getting a fretless bass?

There's a solution

Have you heard about Neuser's NFS Bridge

Sound like a fretless with a freted bass
Like Dominique Di Piazza





Here's the link:
http://www.neuserbasses.com/nfs.html

[EDIT]

Thank you FretLessSince68 for your experience.

When I will have my fretless bass I will try

[FretLessSince68]

An interesting and useful adaptation for the fretted player. I presume it works on the friction principal where a small ramp can be raised to interfere with the string vibration causing more complex harmonics in the string oscillation.

While useful for the fretted player to get a tone, or timbre, similar to a fretless, it does nothing to provide nuance that the left hand brings to the fretless. That innovative bridge cannot enable micro-tonality, glissando, or violin style vibrato, characteristics that are, in my opinion, fundamental to the fretless bass.

That bridge would probably be very helpful to a fretless player who likes high action and wants Mwah on an otherwise non-Mwah axe.

Back on topic: For a player who wants just one fretless instrument to cover both the fretless and fretted sound, the Neuser's NFS Bridge would permit the player to set-up the fretless to have no (or very little) Mwah for the fretted sound, and flick the Neuser's Bridge to add Mwah. This might be very useful to the right person.

Thanks for adding this bit of knowledge to FretlessBass.com

[FunkDaFied]

Thanks for adding this bit of knowledge to FretlessBass.com

You're welcome

My pleasure