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Good fretless bass lines?


GarethFlatlands
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[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1328805098' post='1532953']
Nobody Goes To Sweden - Brand X.

What?
[/quote]

"Noddy" Goes to Sweden - sorry to correct you there Bilbo but you had me racking my brains thinking i had got it wrong all those yrs. Brilliant Percy Jones stuff with his famous WAL bass sound. Great album. :)

Dave

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Give Blood by Pete Townshend, Call Me by Go West both with Pino (again), Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel with Tony Levin (again) his album Double Espresso is chock full of fretless loveliness if fusion is your thing, Cantonese Boy by Japan with Mick Karn (or any Japan track reall), anything by Jaco if jazz is your thing of course. Notice how the same names keep cropping up. One you don't hear too often is the album Slang Justice by Carl Veheyen with Dave Marotta.

I'm rediscovering my fretless myself at the moment and I'm loving it.

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[quote name='TommyK' timestamp='1328734532' post='1531990']
Roni Size - Brown paper bag
Evenflow - Pearl jam
+ I Think ...You oughta know - Alanis Morisette was on a fretless...?

Anyway, 3 nice'n'easy ones to start. :)

Have fun...I miss my fretless.... :(
[/quote]
I don't know why people think that's a fretless bassline... It sounds to me like a J with the bridge pickup fully open.
Plus, there's a really bright pluck in the song somewhere.

Doesn't sound fretless to me!

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[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1328811135' post='1533104']
"Noddy" Goes to Sweden - sorry to correct you there Bilbo but you had me racking my brains thinking i had got it wrong all those yrs. Brilliant Percy Jones stuff with his famous WAL bass sound. Great album. :)

Dave
[/quote]

Good call, Dave. I have always called it Nobody but you are correct. What a kernnob. Interestingly, whoever posted this on youtube made the same mistake...(it wasn't me).

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6TmqLY_bGY&feature=related[/media]

This one's a bit easier

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClCvm4eAT38&feature=related[/media]

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More great Percy Jones on a fretless Precision but a rarer recording called Vimana by an Italian band called Nova. It all kicks off at 1.23 (yum yum, pig's bum)

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoFsg_79nA0&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoFsg_79nA0&feature=related[/url]

Grooving in 15:8

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vai5T4bLO6Q&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vai5T4bLO6Q&feature=related[/url]

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[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1328808404' post='1533040']
I can't believe that I was the first person to this..

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkwD261MHsc[/media]
[/quote]

Sorry to rain on your parade, but wasnt that Herbie Flowers on upright bass double tracked on his Fender Jazz?? :huh:

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[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1328826090' post='1533493']
Agreed, and a great song too! You can almost forgive him for Hotel California!! ;)
[/quote]
I watched Don Henley's 'Inside Job' Live DVD today. New York minute is a brilliant song. The bassist, don't know him, plays Pino's lines note for note.
Pretty sure Timothy B. Schmit does too on Hell Freezes Over.
Because, it can't be improved upon.

Amen.

Edited by leftyhook
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[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1328816569' post='1533228']
Good call, Dave. I have always called it Nobody but you are correct. What a kernnob. Interestingly, whoever posted this on youtube made the same mistake...(it wasn't me).


[/quote]
Oddly enough "Nobody goes to Sweden" made more sense but i guess Brand X were always a little bit "out there". Could never fathom out where they got their song titles from. :lol:

Although Percy Jones was / is pretty unbelievable he did do some simpler lines on fretless which were pretty easy to follow even for a beginner as i was in them there days of long ago.
One i liked was WAL to WAL can't remember what album it was on but I'm sure Phill Collins did some singing on the album as well as drums.

Dave

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I'll say it again! Wasn't the OP about someone 'getting to grips' with fretless bass?

Some of the Percy Jones stuff is jaw-dropping...in fact it could make a newbie want to give up! truly brings a Wal to the fore.

As far as tasty, traceable notes(!)....

I would say just listen to the[b] first Go West album [/b](someone else mentioned Go West earlier) featuring Pino.It's tasty, but let's you dwell on notes long enough to hear your intonation.

My favourites on the album:[b] MISSING PERSONS. and GOODBYE GIRL[/b]. slow songs with sublime licks.

Edited by leftyhook
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[quote name='leftyhook' timestamp='1328811972' post='1533120']
Brand X? I thought the guy who started this thread was just getting to grips with a fretless??!!

Percy Jones.....!! :D
[/quote]


Aim for the top achieve the middle - works for me.
I aimed for the bottom and achieved my goal easily. :D :lol: :P
Agree probably a bit too much at this stage.

When i started with my first fretless i learned some easier tracks but always listened to the difficult stuff just to push myself and give me something to aim for.
Without a target you lose focus.

Dave

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Whow Steve Hillage. Blast from the past.
Haven't heard this since - 1979 :lol:

Think this one is John McKenzie on bass.

Saw him live at Glasgow Apollo around that time. Brilliant band. Little weird at times musically but bass was always pretty impressive to say the least.

Thanks for posting that - many fond memories of Steve Hillage.

Try some of earlier Phil Collins solo tracks - i think it was Mo Foster and John Giblin who played on them. Both outstanding players and some relatively easy but nice fretless parts. Looking at Face Value, No Jacket Required era.

Cheers
Dave

Edited by dmccombe7
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....how about Alan Thomson.......who came to fame with John Martyn.........saw him first in a covers band in Strathclyde Uni just before he joined JM's band (1981?) ..........fantastic fretless sound live and in the studio.......

Great recording quality here with John Martyn and some other guitarist (!)




[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmdKT4SShDY&feature=related[/media]

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