Annoying Twit Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 [url="http://www.globalbass.com/archives/dec2000/kenny_passarelli.htm"]http://www.globalbass.com/archives/dec2000..._passarelli.htm[/url] [quote]Kenny Passarelli was among the first bassists in the history of the bass guitar to play a fretless bass... PERIOD!!!! Granted, there were a few others, most notably Rick Danko of The Band, and Boz Burrell of Bad Company, but Kenny was the one to utilize the fretless to it’s fullest sonic possibilities.As early as 1973, he was making bass history by playing some of the most tasteful rock bass ever heard on Joe Walsh’s The Smoker you Drink, the Player you Get LP.[/quote] Is this an accurate representation of the history of fretless bass in rock music? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 yes ...and I invented shoes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 I took the frets of my old Framus Star bass many years before Kenny did. It sounded ok but the main problem was badly lit stages!! It was an experiment I didn't repeat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Utter, utter bunkum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delberthot Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 [quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='1277587' date='Jun 21 2011, 07:48 PM']yes ...and I invented shoes[/quote] really? I invented the banana Interesting story actually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 [quote name='Delberthot' post='1277921' date='Jun 21 2011, 11:18 PM']really? I invented the banana Interesting story actually.[/quote] ... and I invented interesting stories ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delberthot Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 William Shears Campbell is the seventh Beatle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanark Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 I thought it was Bill Wyman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delberthot Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 [quote name='lanark' post='1277946' date='Jun 21 2011, 11:42 PM']I thought it was Bill Wyman.[/quote] The seventh Beatle? Now that would be a story Actually Y-fronts are named after Bill Wyman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ficelles Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 Interesting really... I mean there was this thing called a double bass that was a bass with no frets. Then back in the 1930s a guy called Paul Tutmarc invented the bass guitar, which was a smaller bass turned sideways and with frets on. Then sometime later someone decided to take the frets off and call it a fretless bass guitar. Then someone else had the idea of turning it vertical and making it longer and calling it an electric upright bass. At around this point in time, modern bass players started to rediscover this thing called a double bass... ficelles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassman Sam Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 I had a fretless Rickenbacker 4001 in 1973. Maybe I was the second person to use one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 My factory fretless Precision was made in 1971. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 [quote name='ficelles' post='1278016' date='Jun 22 2011, 01:01 AM']Interesting really... I mean there was this thing called a double bass that was a bass with no frets. Then back in the 1930s a guy called Paul Tutmarc invented the bass guitar, which was a smaller bass turned sideways and with frets on. Then sometime later someone decided to take the frets off and call it a fretless bass guitar. Then someone else had the idea of turning it vertical and making it longer and calling it an electric upright bass. At around this point in time, modern bass players started to rediscover this thing called a double bass... ficelles[/quote] The circle of bass? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimBobTTD Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 The article states that he was AMONG THE FIRST, not the first. I cannot see a problem with the statement, although I have not heard of the man nor have I heard the Joe Walsh LP mentioned. The record could be the earliest with a strong fretless presence, in which case the whole thing seems fully valid. Of course, if the record is not the earliest [etc] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 [quote name='JimBobTTD' post='1278085' date='Jun 22 2011, 07:57 AM']The article states that he was AMONG THE FIRST, not the first. I cannot see a problem with the statement, although I have not heard of the man nor have I heard the Joe Walsh LP mentioned. The record could be the earliest with a strong fretless presence, in which case the whole thing seems fully valid. Of course, if the record is not the earliest [etc][/quote] Fair point, but... Fender were offering fretless as a factory option in late '69. Also, one of the best-selling UK albums by a home-grown artist in 1971 prominently features fretless bass. Fretless wasn't a new idea by 1973, I think. Kenny Pasarelli is a great player, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 [quote name='JimBobTTD' post='1278085' date='Jun 22 2011, 07:57 AM']The article states that he was AMONG THE FIRST, not the first. I cannot see a problem with the statement, although I have not heard of the man nor have I heard the Joe Walsh LP mentioned. The record could be the earliest with a strong fretless presence, in which case the whole thing seems fully valid. Of course, if the record is not the earliest [etc][/quote] It actually says "Kenny Passarelli was among the first bassists in the history of the bass guitar to play a fretless bass". If it had said "... to record fretless bass on a major album" perhaps it would be valid, but I think for it's pushing it a bit otherwise. KP got his first fretless bass in 1971; plenty of guys (including that Jaco) had de-fretted their basses in the '60s, and the idea of fretless was sufficiently well established by '69 for the - at the time - highly conservative Fender company to produce one. Not that it really matters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassace Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 I was playing fretless in 61. My brother made it for me; because he couldn't figure a way to fit the frets and I had just started on DB we left them off. The pickup was the moving coil thing out of a headphone. It sounded very good and I gigged it a few times. But because I'm not really anybody that doesn't count. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 [quote name='bassace' post='1278115' date='Jun 22 2011, 08:29 AM']I was playing fretless in 61. My brother made it for me; because he couldn't figure a way to fit the frets and I had just started on DB we left them off. The pickup was the moving coil thing out of a headphone. It sounded very good and I gigged it a few times. But because I'm not really anybody that doesn't count.[/quote] I suggest you start a website Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassace Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 [quote name='Beedster' post='1278116' date='Jun 22 2011, 08:30 AM']I suggest you start a website [/quote] Thanks Beedster but a phone does just fine. There's a lot of stuff coming in at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimBobTTD Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 I suppose it all depends how you interpret "among the first". But agreed..."not that it really matters"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 [quote name='JimBobTTD' post='1278181' date='Jun 22 2011, 09:53 AM']I suppose it all depends how you interpret "among the first".[/quote] In this context I'm interpreting it as 'A pioneer of...' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 [quote name='JimBobTTD' post='1278181' date='Jun 22 2011, 09:53 AM']I suppose it all depends how you interpret "among the first".[/quote] Well, if we take the early 50's as the starting point for use of the electric bass on the large scale, and accept that ten years later guys were playing fretless electric bass, and we further accept that it took KP another ten years to pick one up, I think even the most liberal interpretation of 'among the first' is a bit tenuous. 'Among the people who picked it up once it had become an accepted and commercially available instrument' might be more accurate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 (edited) Bassists in the States were using Fretless Bass Gtrs in the mid 60's [Ampeg Bass] Not that popular over here. 1968 model [url="http://www.myspace.com/blackrebelmotorcycleclub/photos/73383548#{%22ImageId%22%3A73383548}"]Ampeg Bass[/url] Garry Edited June 22, 2011 by lowdown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skankdelvar Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 [quote]As early as 1973, he was making bass history by playing some of the most tasteful rock bass ever heard on Joe Walsh’s The Smoker you Drink, the Player you Get LP.[/quote] Having owned that album almost since it came out I can aver that Passarelli's bass (fretless or otherwise, I never even noticed) is by no means the stand-out element. YMMV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balcro Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 [quote name='JimBobTTD' post='1278085' date='Jun 22 2011, 07:57 AM']The article states that he was AMONG THE FIRST, not the first. I cannot see a problem with the statement, although I have not heard of the man nor have I heard the Joe Walsh LP mentioned. The record could be the earliest with a strong fretless presence, in which case the whole thing seems fully valid. Of course, if the record is not the earliest [etc][/quote] My first and only hearing of him was as bass player to Elton John on the "Rock of the Westies" album, circa 1975. Credited with playing for Jo Walsh, Stephen Stills and "Gonner Ears"! Balcro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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