Will playing a fretless make me a better fretted player?

[WonderHorse]

What it says on the tin really.

If any of you have been reading some of my recent posts (unlikely), you'll know I've got some major GAS for a fretless P.

I was just wondering if playing a fretless will make me better at playing bass in general? So will I notice a difference goign back to my fretted Jazz?

I'm wondering whether I should save up for a fretless or jsut get a Yamaha BB

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Not for me. Makes me appreciate the frets a bit more since I bought a fretless though.

[Beedster]

I have to be honest and say that an almost exclusive focus on fretless means that I have become pretty (or even more) incompetent at fretted, the frets really do seem to get in the way at times It will depend on the style of music being played and the bass in question, but I doubt playing fretless will automatically make you a better fretted player (that is had you spent the same amount of time playing a fretted bass as you spent on the fretless, good practice on either will improve your technique on either to an extent).

Perhaps counter intuitively, occasionally platying fretted seems to improve my fretless playing.

[WonderHorse]

Ahh ok, Each to their own I guess then. Would you say it was worth getting a fretless?

[Beedster]

[quote name='WonderHorse' post='638039' date='Oct 27 2009, 03:33 PM']Ahh ok, Each to their own I guess then. Would you say it was worth getting a fretless?[/quote]

Yes

[lemmywinks]

It makes me think about what i'm playing a little bit more.

I play in a pub/function band and it's easy to fall into the trap of sticking with the familiar old runs and shapes. Jamming on a fretless makes me thing about the fingerboard in a different way. I also think it improves your left hand vibrato no end

Ultimately i think the best thing to improve your fretted playing is to stick with it and keep learning new things. Fretless is ace though, i'm glad i bought one and wish i'd done it sooner

[WonderHorse]

[quote name='lemmywinks' post='638057' date='Oct 27 2009, 03:48 PM']Fretless is ace though, i'm glad i bought one and wish i'd done it sooner[/quote]

That is not going to help my bank balance!

Still... they are cool

[skywalker]

So long as you are not a long way away, I have a fretless precision copy, not brilliant but it is strung with flats and sounds okay, you can have a loan to try it if you like.

[Davo-London]

I think it does help your playing as you phrase things differently. Eventually that will rub off on your fretted playing.

Davo

[EssentialTension]

I'm sure in an interview of Jaco Pastorius by Jerry Jemmott I heard Pastorius say that he never practiced on fretless. He always practiced on fretted with his left hand fingers dead on the fret so that his muscle memory was perfect - or something to that effect. The idea being that playing fretted, played 'correctly', will help you to play fretless.

Anyone else seen that or am I imagining it?

For me, playing fretless made me listen differently and more carefully to what I was playing and I would say that now slips over into my fretted playing.

[thisnameistaken]

I played only fretless for a few years, and going back to fretted bass I was all "Ugh, what's with these huge metal things ba-dumping under my fingers all the time", but it did make my fretting hand technique a little better in terms of how accurate I was and actually moving for notes on other strings instead of just barring. But only for a short while - I soon got lazy again.

[Doddy]

It'll improve your ear hopefully.

[Delberthot]

i find that after a couple of gigs with a fretless that I start playing completely differently to when I'm using a fretted. I've always played notes on a fretless with my finger(s) in between the frets but obviously on a fretless you're right over them or thereabouts depending on what sounds right. I love the feel of playing a smooth fretless neck using flatwounds but cannot get the sound exactly how I like it.

[WonderHorse]

[quote name='skywalker' post='638171' date='Oct 27 2009, 05:04 PM']So long as you are not a long way away, I have a fretless precision copy, not brilliant but it is strung with flats and sounds okay, you can have a loan to try it if you like.[/quote]

I think the Dark side of the Moon is a bit far from me

[Bilbo]

It'll make it worse

After 23 years of pretty much dedicated fretless playing, when I play fretted I get what for me is an inordinate amount of fret buzz and the whole thing, to my ears, sounds dead. This may be a subjective thing and a reflection of my preferences but I guess that, if you continue to play the fretted bass regularly, this woudl be avoided. I agree with Doddy, tho'. It should improve your ears.

[Beedster]

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='638793' date='Oct 28 2009, 09:20 AM']It'll make it worse

After 23 years of pretty much dedicated fretless playing, when I play fretted I get what for me is an inordinate amount of fret buzz and the whole thing, to my ears, sounds dead. This may be a subjective thing and a reflection of my preferences but I guess that, if you continue to play the fretted bass regularly, this woudl be avoided. I agree with Doddy, tho'. It should improve your ears.[/quote]

Exactly my experience, dead notes and fret buzz

[solo4652]

I'm pretty much a novice with fretted and fretless but here are my thoughts, for what they are worth:

I like the feel of a fretless fingerboard strung with halfwounds - smoooooth and quiet

I prefer the fretless tone - smoooooth, quiet, rounded

I played the fretted last night at rehearsal and the band complained - "Where's that rich-sounding bass of yours, Steve?"

I find it difficult to switch between fretted and fretless - after the fretless, the fretted fingerboard seems visually and physically cluttered and confusing

I tend to learn a new song on the fretted (don't have to concentrate on left-hand positioning so much, while learning tempo/rythym), then switch to fretless

Personally, I'm not hugely convinced that playing a fretless will automatically make you a better fretted palyer (or, indeed vice versa), other than general practice is generally good (see Beester's comments)

Have both, enjoy both for their differences

Steve

[Beedster]

[quote name='solo4652' post='638820' date='Oct 28 2009, 09:49 AM']I'm pretty much a novice with fretted and fretless but here are my thoughts, for what they are worth:

I like the feel of a fretless fingerboard strung with halfwounds - smoooooth and quiet

I prefer the fretless tone - smoooooth, quiet, rounded

I played the fretted last night at rehearsal and the band complained - "Where's that rich-sounding bass of yours, Steve?"

I find it difficult to switch between fretted and fretless - after the fretless, the fretted fingerboard seems visually and physically cluttered and confusing

I tend to learn a new song on the fretted (don't have to concentrate on left-hand positioning so much, while learning tempo/rythym), then switch to fretless

Personally, I'm not hugely convinced that playing a fretless will automatically make you a better fretted palyer (or, indeed vice versa), other than general practice is generally good (see Beester's comments)

Have both, enjoy both for their differences

Steve[/quote]

Another +1

Some good observations in this thread

C

[xilddx]

I swap between the two regularly, and when I've been playing fretless for a while, my fretted playing is much more precise and with a better tone because my fingers are much closer to the frets.

[xilddx]

[quote name='Beedster' post='638809' date='Oct 28 2009, 09:35 AM']Exactly my experience, dead notes and fret buzz [/quote]
Nah, that's just part and parcel of playing Fenders mate

[purpleblob]

Direct answer to your question is no it will not make you a better fretted player (IMO).

It might make you a better bassist in general because whereas on a fretted instrument you can get away with a certain level of bad positioning of the fingers, on a fretless this is obviously not so easy. Intonation is your problem, not that of the frets.

As I believe has already been mentioned, it should help you ear, but not your fretted playing specifically.

And for what's it's worth I find it very rewarding and enjoyable playing fretless, but I also love playing fretted, so I would never be without both a fretted and fretless now.

[Beedster]

[quote name='silddx' post='638847' date='Oct 28 2009, 10:15 AM']Nah, that's just part and parcel of playing Fenders mate [/quote]

Fair point

[Beedster]

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='638622' date='Oct 27 2009, 11:24 PM']I'm sure in an interview of Jaco Pastorius by Jerry Jemmott I heard Pastorius say that he never practiced on fretless. He always practiced on fretted with his left hand fingers dead on the fret so that his muscle memory was perfect - or something to that effect. The idea being that playing fretted, played 'correctly', will help you to play fretless.

Anyone else seen that or am I imagining it?

For me, playing fretless made me listen differently and more carefully to what I was playing and I would say that now slips over into my fretted playing.[/quote]

Well remembered ET, he also said he preferred to practice on the fretted neck in question (a maple board Precision) because it was wider and fatter than his fretless Jazz neck and he knew that if he could play a part on the slower neck he could play it with ease on the faster. I don't remember him saying he played on the frets to improve his fretless intonation but that's an intriguing, if somewhat painful, idea.

Is it just me or was that DVD very sad and depressing, especially Jaco's response to the usual "You're the greatest.." comment of "Well give me a gig then"

C

[skywalker]

[quote name='WonderHorse' post='638787' date='Oct 28 2009, 09:14 AM']I think the Dark side of the Moon is a bit far from me[/quote]

I am in the Midlands, not far from Derby & Nottingham

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Beedster' post='638916' date='Oct 28 2009, 11:18 AM']Well remembered ET, he also said he preferred to practice on the fretted neck in question (a maple board Precision) because it was wider and fatter than his fretless Jazz neck and he knew that if he could play a part on the slower neck he could play it with ease on the faster. I don't remember him saying he played on the frets to improve his fretless intonation but that's an intriguing, if somewhat painful, idea.

Is it just me or was that DVD very sad and depressing, especially Jaco's response to the usual "You're the greatest.." comment of "Well give me a gig then"

C[/quote]
Ah, so you remember it too - well, some of it anyway. Maybe I'm imagining the thing about playing on the frets as practice for fretless but I think you're right: it was a sunburst Jazz with a maple fretted Precision neck.

It was an instructional DVD which included the interview with Jemmott.