I will tell you the number one tip for playing fretless bass. Carefully listen what you play and feel it when you play if you can... With this way you don't need to care about anything and you can play the instrument only with your spine. There is no magical way for doing it right. You should have some musical talent and a creative soul to play fretless beautifully.
Of course, all of this goes without saying. You certainly need a good ear and feel to play fretless, but you also need to play straight notes acurately.
Worthy tip to know. Another tip for a fretless bass is, the vibrato. On a fretless instrument, the vibrato should be side to side, rolling your fingers like a violinist. Not up and down, like you would do on a fretted instrument.
A "made up rule" that doesn't matter at all. Yes, it is easier on the fretboard to use horizontal vibrato, but harder on your joints. Some of the great fretless players like Tony Franklin use both methods of vibrato. You tell Tony Franklin that he is doing it wrong.
Thank you for your valuable lesson, I already stretch my fingers when playing my fretted bass and I want to play a fretless next. I feel a bit anxious to play one because many people I know discouraged me to make the next step as I am currently surpassing their level of playing bass, but I am determined to go ahead.
When I first started playing Fretless our Guitarist was not best pleased, Just Get ONE and use this method as shown with the hand posture also the use of a mirror will help to you see that your getting a good fingerboard Hand posture
I have the same bass guitar with he has and I know on the neck side there are position marks and that makes playing this much easier. In addition to it, if you touch on wrong position, say 1mm wrong, listeners don't notice that because the bass guitars necks are long enough compares with violines. Don't stop and keep on playing fretless bass. It's not that difficult to play as you think and that opens new doors for you.
Most fretted bassists without bad habits will already be playing scales using the one finger per fret technique so moving over to fretless isn't really difficult. Obviously not having frets requires accurate finger location. If you have a good ear and practice, your fingers will naturally adapt the even finger spacings as shown in the video.
This is such valuable teaching. I started learning classical violin and then classical guitar at school many years ago before I started playing bass. And that’s the first thing they teach you is the importance of positioning your right and left hand. I lapsed into bad habits with my right hand playing acoustic guitar but playing bass guitar was my main instrument and from around the age of 20 I exclusively played fretless. So this is so important. Now several years on I’m now in a wheelchair and I was trying to begin to play fretless bass again mine is a 5 string. The problem I’m having is a typical solid bodied bass guitar is impossible for me to play it is far too heavy, so much so I’m in agony even trying to lift it from its stand. I have a lot of shoulder pain and neck pain I have limited use of my arms. Also the stretch is painful now because I have osteoarthritis in both hands and have muscle wasting. Can you please recommend a lightweight solid bodied 5 string fretless bass? I know Ibanez do a range. I like the look and sound of their semi hollow bodied bass but I am on a very tight budget so although it’s a beautiful sound for specific songs I need a fretless bass that’s more versatile I’m not looking for an active bass as such just one that’s affordable but behaves well particularly in recording. I don’t have several grand to buy a new bass. Any advice would be great! I’m hoping to try a solid bodied Ibanez sunburst fretless soon just to see if it will be better . I have heard the Cory fretless bass demos and I love the sound it’s definitely the sound I am after but it’s whether or not I can physically play it. They look and remind me of my old Warwick 5 string fretless and it was sold sounded incredible but it became too heavy for me to use and because of my disability I developed the D shaped neck was so hard to navigate. I do position my left hand correctly but it’s a huge stretch and like you pointed out you have to be absolutely bang on where the fret normally is. I mean if you root those notes wrong and out of tune it just sounds awful! I’m quite adventurous and play chords and octaves I don’t want to give up playing fretless. I’m hooked on the sound. Although I plan hopefully to get a fretted bass for other things. So if you can suggest a few things I would be so grateful. Also I have tiny hands. So it’s another issue not just arthritis. ✨
Acoustic ,long scale, basses are lighter but they are BIG,and quite a stretch to play. With your disability and small hands, it sounds like you would suit a short scale bass,but don't know of any fretless models. Cheaper copies of the Gibson, short scale (30")SG type are light ,and easy to play. The hollow body violin basses are very light, with a narrow neck, but again have not seen a fretless. There is no substitute for trying as many as you can. This may seem extreme ,and crazy ,BUT my Grandson has just picked up an acoustic/electric ukulele bass for £50 off ebay. He says it's not so good acoustically but sounds pretty good plugged in and would do the job on acoustic type gigs. It's certainly light and small. Hope I have been of some help.I guess the best bet would be to google " Short scale fretless". Good luck.
Searched youtube for short scale fretless basses and it appears there are lots to choose from so you should find something to suit your playing needs and budget.
Not sure if it would be the right thing but may I suggest looking into fretless bass ukuleles? They are very lightweight on account of being smaller than a guitar but they sound like a proper double bass. I have one as well and I love it to bits. The only downside is that the strings are a bit rubbery so doing slides is a bit rough unless you rub your strings with talcum or something similar.
@@duendedude2345 Thank you so much for your kind replies, I only just read them. I eventually found a fretless bass that is perfect. I purchased the Ibanez SRF 705 fretless 5 string bass guitar. It is lighter than your average bass guitar, it's still long scale. If it had frets, there would be 30 altogether! It has the piezo pickup it's a beautiful instrument, very easy to play. I have been recording with the bass, and it sounds amazing❤
Good tip and nice looking bass :) I guess you've changed the strings to Rotosound flatwound ones you mentioned in previous video. Are there any tips to make an acoustic fretless bass sound like a double bass?
Flat wounds do help, and maybe a lowish action so that you get a bit of buzz. I guess you can never exactly replicate the sound of a double bass as they have a much bigger body and the longer string length helps sustain the lower frequencies.However, the acoustic bass guitar comes close as a good compromise and certainly sounds very different to a solid body, electric bass with magnetic pick ups.
Basically what you describe for left hand posture is Classical Guitar posture, which was borrowed and adapted from Cello and Contra Bass.. Exactly right. So much more you can do using classical left hand. Large huge necks become easy. Electric players complain about big necks only because they have very bad posture limiting their range.
The same time when you uploaded this video, Dunede, is when I had just begun laying down the bread for a fretless bass belonging to an old friend. I had seen him perform with it once, apparently the only time he did. He had had it custom-made by Carvin (now Kiesel). He had specified that it was not to have the markings on the fingerboard for the sake of authenticity, and that was something I immediately found appealing when he offered to sell it to me. I seem to recall some remark that he made when I first knew him as a teenager about fretless bass being the only real bass. Not too flattering for the precision variety of bass guitars. I might have completely misunderstood him all the same. Back in 2020 when I was researching instruments and trying to pick one, I seem to recall reading or hearing somewhere that it was actually easier to play upright bass that it was to play fretless bass guitar. Whoever wrote that comment said that the heel of the upright neck was good for helping establish tempered pitch in a fashion that wasn’t optional for a fretless bass guitar. Have you ever had that issue?
No, But upright and bass guitar are different. I played upright for a while, but realised that it was much more physically demanding. On upright you can only reach the equivalent of three frets without moving the hand position. Also you are viewing the fingerboard from a different angle on upright .
Nice lesson. I am getting my first fretless bass soon but it has lines so I can learn the notes. Now the question, what archery bow is that behind you and what pound is it? I mean draw weight. Thanks
The bow is an old vintage ben Pearson Hunter with a draw weight of 55 pounds. Too much for me. Would be very powerful for someone who could draw it effectively. Thinking about selling it actually.
They can't, the neck is at 90 degree different angle to the body. Also you can only reach 3 semitones with the left hand in the lower positions requiring more hand movement. Upright is a double bass. Bass guitar is a guitar. Thanks for watching.
@@duendedude2345 The 1 finger per fret is stretching your lefthand and you need more force to press the string on the fretboard. Also injuries in your lefthand are prone to happen sooner.
Actually you were playing correctly at the beginning of your video. Your hand was relaxed and your Pointer and Ring finger were the guide fingers for the meat and potatoes of phrasing notes. However, the second you started lecturing about the 4 fingers per fret and started to change your hand position to the CLAW technique, u instantly began playing wrong! Go look at any great bassists from the 60s, 70s, and early 80s and NO ONE played with that CLAW technique! Old bassists hands stayed relaxed. The best way to simulate a relaxed hand playing notes around the chord shapes is to play a scale BUT ONLY use your POINTER and RING finger to play the notes of the scale.
I use this hand position for accurate scale runs and riffs ,but some of the time I adopt a more comfortable position where appropriate,tending to switch instinctively while playing, but I take your point.
🤙 this is the style I was taught on a fretted bass and it helped so much in the hop across to fretless.
I will tell you the number one tip for playing fretless bass. Carefully listen what you play and feel it when you play if you can... With this way you don't need to care about anything and you can play the instrument only with your spine. There is no magical way for doing it right. You should have some musical talent and a creative soul to play fretless beautifully.
Of course, all of this goes without saying. You certainly need a good ear and feel to play fretless, but you also need to play straight notes acurately.
I have found that playing melodies and referencing open strings occasionally helped me with my intonation.
Yes. I do it a lot. Also playing over a drone like in my Indian stuff is good.
thank you for your recommendation - highly appreciated :-)
two words muscle memory.
Worthy tip to know. Another tip for a fretless bass is, the vibrato. On a fretless instrument, the vibrato should be side to side, rolling your fingers like a violinist. Not up and down, like you would do on a fretted instrument.
Side-to-side vibrato sounds great on a fretted instrument too
A "made up rule" that doesn't matter at all.
Yes, it is easier on the fretboard to use horizontal vibrato, but harder on your joints. Some of the great fretless players like Tony Franklin use both methods of vibrato. You tell Tony Franklin that he is doing it wrong.
Thank you for your valuable lesson, I already stretch my fingers when playing my fretted bass and I want to play a fretless next. I feel a bit anxious to play one because many people I know discouraged me to make the next step as I am currently surpassing their level of playing bass, but I am determined to go ahead.
GO FOR IT!!!
When I first started playing Fretless our Guitarist was not best pleased, Just Get ONE and use this method as shown with the hand posture also the use of a mirror will help to you see that your getting a good fingerboard Hand posture
@@leoneddy1492 Thank you, Leon, I am getting my fretless next month. It's always good to feel encouraged by other musicians to take the next step.
Spot On..Thanks..
I have the same bass guitar with he has and I know on the neck side there are position marks and that makes playing this much easier. In addition to it, if you touch on wrong position, say 1mm wrong, listeners don't notice that because the bass guitars necks are long enough compares with violines. Don't stop and keep on playing fretless bass. It's not that difficult to play as you think and that opens new doors for you.
Most fretted bassists without bad habits will already be playing scales using the one finger per fret technique so moving over to fretless isn't really difficult. Obviously not having frets requires accurate finger location. If you have a good ear and practice, your fingers will naturally adapt the even finger spacings as shown in the video.
Nice!
Excelente explanation!
Thanks.
This is such valuable teaching. I started learning classical violin and then classical guitar at school many years ago before I started playing bass. And that’s the first thing they teach you is the importance of positioning your right and left hand. I lapsed into bad habits with my right hand playing acoustic guitar but playing bass guitar was my main instrument and from around the age of 20 I exclusively played fretless. So this is so important. Now several years on I’m now in a wheelchair and I was trying to begin to play fretless bass again mine is a 5 string. The problem I’m having is a typical solid bodied bass guitar is impossible for me to play it is far too heavy, so much so I’m in agony even trying to lift it from its stand. I have a lot of shoulder pain and neck pain I have limited use of my arms. Also the stretch is painful now because I have osteoarthritis in both hands and have muscle wasting. Can you please recommend a lightweight solid bodied 5 string fretless bass? I know Ibanez do a range. I like the look and sound of their semi hollow bodied bass but I am on a very tight budget so although it’s a beautiful sound for specific songs I need a fretless bass that’s more versatile I’m not looking for an active bass as such just one that’s affordable but behaves well particularly in recording. I don’t have several grand to buy a new bass. Any advice would be great! I’m hoping to try a solid bodied Ibanez sunburst fretless soon just to see if it will be better . I have heard the Cory fretless bass demos and I love the sound it’s definitely the sound I am after but it’s whether or not I can physically play it. They look and remind me of my old Warwick 5 string fretless and it was sold sounded incredible but it became too heavy for me to use and because of my disability I developed the D shaped neck was so hard to navigate. I do position my left hand correctly but it’s a huge stretch and like you pointed out you have to be absolutely bang on where the fret normally is. I mean if you root those notes wrong and out of tune it just sounds awful! I’m quite adventurous and play chords and octaves I don’t want to give up playing fretless. I’m hooked on the sound. Although I plan hopefully to get a fretted bass for other things. So if you can suggest a few things I would be so grateful. Also I have tiny hands. So it’s another issue not just arthritis. ✨
Acoustic ,long scale, basses are lighter but they are BIG,and quite a stretch to play. With your disability and small hands, it sounds like you would suit a short scale bass,but don't know of any fretless models. Cheaper copies of the Gibson, short scale (30")SG type are light ,and easy to play. The hollow body violin basses are very light, with a narrow neck, but again have not seen a fretless. There is no substitute for trying as many as you can. This may seem extreme ,and crazy ,BUT my Grandson has just picked up an acoustic/electric ukulele bass for £50 off ebay. He says it's not so good acoustically but sounds pretty good plugged in and would do the job on acoustic type gigs. It's certainly light and small. Hope I have been of some help.I guess the best bet would be to google " Short scale fretless". Good luck.
Searched youtube for short scale fretless basses and it appears there are lots to choose from so you should find something to suit your playing needs and budget.
Not sure if it would be the right thing but may I suggest looking into fretless bass ukuleles? They are very lightweight on account of being smaller than a guitar but they sound like a proper double bass. I have one as well and I love it to bits. The only downside is that the strings are a bit rubbery so doing slides is a bit rough unless you rub your strings with talcum or something similar.
@@duendedude2345 Thank you so much for your kind replies, I only just read them. I eventually found a fretless bass that is perfect. I purchased the Ibanez SRF 705 fretless 5 string bass guitar. It is lighter than your average bass guitar, it's still long scale. If it had frets, there would be 30 altogether! It has the piezo pickup it's a beautiful instrument, very easy to play. I have been recording with the bass, and it sounds amazing❤
@@PEACEinYESHUA-oj7vc1pk7w Good to hear . Enjoy.
Good tip and nice looking bass :) I guess you've changed the strings to Rotosound flatwound ones you mentioned in previous video. Are there any tips to make an acoustic fretless bass sound like a double bass?
Flat wounds do help, and maybe a lowish action so that you get a bit of buzz. I guess you can never exactly replicate the sound of a double bass as they have a much bigger body and the longer string length helps sustain the lower frequencies.However, the acoustic bass guitar comes close as a good compromise and certainly sounds very different to a solid body, electric bass with magnetic pick ups.
@@duendedude2345 Thank you so much :)
DuendeDude, try using orchestral strings. They go a long way toward your goal.
Thank you for sharing :-)
My pleasure!
Basically what you describe for left hand posture is Classical Guitar posture, which was borrowed and adapted from Cello and Contra Bass.. Exactly right.
So much more you can do using classical left hand. Large huge necks become easy. Electric players complain about big necks only because they have very bad posture limiting their range.
Precisely.! In fact, Countless electric guitar players almost never use the 4th finger of the left hand. Thanks for your interest.
I use a mix of 4FF and Simandl. For me, the stretch is too great in 1st position for 4FF.
The same time when you uploaded this video, Dunede, is when I had just begun laying down the bread for a fretless bass belonging to an old friend. I had seen him perform with it once, apparently the only time he did. He had had it custom-made by Carvin (now Kiesel). He had specified that it was not to have the markings on the fingerboard for the sake of authenticity, and that was something I immediately found appealing when he offered to sell it to me. I seem to recall some remark that he made when I first knew him as a teenager about fretless bass being the only real bass. Not too flattering for the precision variety of bass guitars. I might have completely misunderstood him all the same.
Back in 2020 when I was researching instruments and trying to pick one, I seem to recall reading or hearing somewhere that it was actually easier to play upright bass that it was to play fretless bass guitar. Whoever wrote that comment said that the heel of the upright neck was good for helping establish tempered pitch in a fashion that wasn’t optional for a fretless bass guitar. Have you ever had that issue?
No, But upright and bass guitar are different. I played upright for a while, but realised that it was much more physically demanding. On upright you can only reach the equivalent of three frets without moving the hand position. Also you are viewing the fingerboard from a different angle on upright .
Thank you for that response, @@duendedude2345. You definitely have a point.
Nice lesson. I am getting my first fretless bass soon but it has lines so I can learn the notes.
Now the question, what archery bow is that behind you and what pound is it? I mean draw weight. Thanks
The bow is an old vintage ben Pearson Hunter with a draw weight of 55 pounds. Too much for me. Would be very powerful for someone who could draw it effectively. Thinking about selling it actually.
Funnily enough, many years ago I purchased a fretless bass guitar from a store with the name of "Fretted Instruments".
😅😅
What kind of bass is that? Looks and sounds very nice.
ARIA FEB-FLLVS
@@duendedude2345 thank you!
jakiej marki jest ta gitara ?
THIS IS ALL CORRECT
6 minute YT shorts
As you told me , I will go with square not with a bunch of banana. Thank you , Granpa !
Don't play fretless like this. Yes, use the right left-hand technique, but avoid finger per fret.
WHAT BASS & MODEL IS THIS?
Aria FEB-FLLVS
The double bassplayers don't use the technique.
They can't, the neck is at 90 degree different angle to the body. Also you can only reach 3 semitones with the left hand in the lower positions requiring more hand movement. Upright is a double bass. Bass guitar is a guitar. Thanks for watching.
@@duendedude2345 The 1 finger per fret is stretching your lefthand and you need more force to press the string on the fretboard. Also injuries in your lefthand are prone to happen sooner.
Actually you were playing correctly at the beginning of your video. Your hand was relaxed and your Pointer and Ring finger were the guide fingers for the meat and potatoes of phrasing notes. However, the second you started lecturing about the 4 fingers per fret and started to change your hand position to the CLAW technique, u instantly began playing wrong! Go look at any great bassists from the 60s, 70s, and early 80s and NO ONE played with that CLAW technique! Old bassists hands stayed relaxed. The best way to simulate a relaxed hand playing notes around the chord shapes is to play a scale BUT ONLY use your POINTER and RING finger to play the notes of the scale.
You really shouldn't bend your left wrist like that, you may hurt yourself in the long run.
I use this hand position for accurate scale runs and riffs ,but some of the time I adopt a more comfortable position where appropriate,tending to switch instinctively while playing, but I take your point.
#1 tip: don't play an acoustic bass guitar, fretless or not
Agreed!! I have since sold this bass.
You could have edited out all of your pauses and saved us all 9 hours.
Rude
😂😂😂