Pro: no fret buzz

For me, vibrato on a fretless means you are in tune at least some of the time.

Keep in mind that no upright basses, cellos, violas, or violins have fret lines and people learn to play them with good intonation.

As a cello player...playing the fretless bass rather than a fretted one was the best decision I could have made.

Bass player magazine had an article on how to convert your bass to frettless, the next month they had a feature how to convert a frettless to a fretted

This channel consistently has good content hidden beneath terrible clickbaity video titles/thumbnails

"A bass is a bass". My mentor, Kenneth Mace was very generous in loaning me his double bass and electric fretted bass as I began learning. Finally, in 1977, I bought a Fender precision fret-less bass. One evening, I had a knock at the door and there stood my mentor! "I need to borrow your bass. I'm playing tonight at the coast." I handed him my new fret-less bass, in the case, without mentioning anything about it. After a day or two, he returned my bass. I asked him how he liked it. His reply, "A bass is a bass". Finest bassist I have ever known.

My first bass was an unlined fretless bass. I played in a Country Folk / Westcoast band. Whenever we played a ballad or Country Roads or such, the stage lights were turned off and the audience got their lighters out, making it impossible to see where I was on the fret board. Not funny, yet... funny.

what's the best way to get better at fretless? practice

"Here's why fretless basses suck. I recommend you get one."

The key is to play it exclusively; everyone wants the fretless in the studio. You gotta devote serious time to it

As an experienced cellist who has of course always played fretless as that is the nature of the instrument, it’s not impossible. You can do it! It just takes a lot of time and practice to get that muscle memory. That’s all it is.

No one ever mentions Les Claypool when talking about fretless? Why?

My cello teacher told me never to vibrato flat, but only sharp. It helps the music not sound warbly. That means you are only ever pulling the string and relaxing, never pushing on it. I think the flat part of the vibrato is what you call the 'fretless sound.'

After 30 years on a fretted 4-string, i just bought a fretlless 5-string. Imagine that i was happy with this video. Thanks Scott. And for one problem i found a special solution. My bass has fretlines but they are hard to see on stage. My guitar repair man put small lines on the side of the neck (the side i look on when playing), with a special marker pen. This of course was only possible because the neck is light maple. But now i have much less problems to see where i should place my fingers. Keep u the good work with all your video's. I love them. Greetings from The Netherlands.

Live playing fretless bass tip: I have a splitter (a pedal with one input, two outputs) that takes my tuner out of my signal chain so I can leave it on all of the time without it muting my signal (I have a volume pedal for that) so it means that I have a visual indicator of how in-tune I am and can adjust accordingly - my fretless basses are both unlined so I can't see if my finger is positioned sharp or flat. This is cheating but sometimes on a loud stage with a bad monitor mix there's no way I can hear myself to know if I'm in tune and it's got me through a lot of gigs. My tuner is a TC Polytune, I think some Boss tuners can be set so they stay on without muting the signal. Also, if you've never gigged a fretless and want to try but worried about intonation, try this.

For everyone on the fence: I worked for my parents for months, I had been playing a 60 dollar p bass for a few months and wanted to try something new and wanted to get myself something nice. I bit the bullet and bought a fretless squire j bass and have absolutely no regrets. Haven’t even had second thoughts about it since. I almost immediately noticed improvements in my playing. I can’t speak higher about it.

I want to help a bit regarding Jaco. His basses had contrasting lines just like the Gary Willis Ibanez Scott is playing. The lines are not painted on. In a conversion, the frets are pulled and the fret slots are filled with some material which the owner has the choice of being contrasting or similar to fingerboard depending on how obvious they want the lines. In a factory lined fretless, the fret board is slotted and then filled with the builders choice of material. In his instructional video and in interviews Jaco said he preferred a lined board because it helped with position shifts. He felt , like Scott mentions, that in a single position a player with proper technique should be able to play back and forth across the neck in tune easily. He felt the big advantage was in jumping position up and down neck or when fretting hand is stretched out in extended positions cover wide fret spans or crossing several strings. He also stated that he mostly woodshedded on fretted because of worries about his round wound strings damaging his board. He made a big point of playing right up against the fret in practice so that his muscle memory would produce an in tune note when he performed on fretless. Eric Johnson makes a big point about this as well because while you will be in tune on a fretted instrument even if you are way behind the fret you are targeting, the tone is stronger and there is no chance for a heavy attack to lift the string off of target fret and cause buzz or weak note. I see this as a bigger issue for bass since the distances in lower positions are wide enough that you can easily end up with a trashy sound if you are not right by the fret and have a heavy picking/plucking attack. Jaco's basses were also noteworthy for having a clear epoxy coating over the rosewood fingerboards. Pedulla Buzz basses are famous for a hard coated ebony board which helps them achieve their signature singing tone. Modulus Graphite and Zon are examples of basses using synthetic (not wood) boards to get that penetrating growl. I am a bass tech and often get questions about strings damaging fretless fingerboards or whether or not you should buy a fretless or convert a bass you already have/dig. Comment readers, feel free to ask if you have questions and I will answer in separate comment since this one is so long. Cheers

I got rid of my last fretted bass more than 20 years ago... (I'm not sure I wanted to say that...). I only use 4, 5 and 6 string fretlesses. The level of expression you get from a fretless is incomparable.

Let's not pretend Jaco was always in tune...

I dont feel or sound like me on a fretted anymore .

I purchased a fender jazz american pro 2017 fretless for 1500 dollars and it was a most rewarding experiences. I have no other basses and dont want any. Its the center of my musical universe and smelled wonderful when I got it in the hardshell fender case. The action was a little high but it still played well. Once I had the action lowered I was able to play practically anything as fast as I wanted. It sounded beautiful and adding in ghost notes made it sound super funky. This whole thing about lines vs nonlines is nonsense. Play whatever is more comfortable. One does not make you a more legit player than the other. If you are an upright player then play the unlined or if you come from fretted bass then get one with lines. The listener does not really care. All they care about are the musical results. Jaco's bass had lines and so does Gary Willis. No one will ever challenge their abilities as fretless bass artist. With chords, harmonics, quarter tones etc the possiblities are limitless if you have the imagination. I compose on my fretless with chords.

That tip with the positioning of bass in front of a lead sheet is priceless. Thanks again for your wonderful lessons, Scott.

For me I love the sound of Steve DiGiorgio. I first heard him when he was in the band Death, what a wonderful sound.

1:53 for the start of the reasons

Never thought about chart reading like that. So simply brilliant. I practice with a tuner in my line of sight

You are such a good guy, I have that issue of getting lost after taking my eyes of the sheet. thanks very much for the tip!

I bought an Ibanez Portamento srf705 "unlined" as my first bass and I love it, it has dots and lines on the top of the neck and it's fine for me. Since I was starting from scratch I figured why not? Ta for the video Scott!

My main axe is a Traben Chaos 5-string fretless and I have grown to love it. It was my first bass and it taught me so much about how to have a good tone and having good intonation. Something that's fun to do with a fretless that a fretted can't accomplish is playing just intonation when if the chord is a 1/3 well as the bass playing the 3 you can plat it slightly flat to make it sound even better. In the same theme, you can play things slightly sharp to add a little more tension in some situations.

My personal favorite fretless bassplayer is Mick Karn, he put down some of (in my opinion) the best bass lines of the late 70s all the way to the 2000s. Both his work in Japan and his solo work is really good. Basslines on songs like Swing, Visions Of China, Cantonese Boy and many others are so cool.

Really great information ! Thanks Scott !!

Excellent video, and as always, enjoy your humor Scott!! Thank-you...

great vid. just bought a fretless for the first time after 25 years of playing and these are nice tips. 🖒

Don't overlook Bakithi Kumalo. I love his playing because he doesn't try to impress with only melodic jazzy lines. He also uses his fretless Washburn as a rhythmic foundation, which many fretless players seem to forget.

I've played that Gary Willis signature bass in the past and absolutely loved it. Great to see you playing it

Cheers Scott . Great lesson. Love the info about intonation . I was setting it behind the 12th fret due to thickness of finger going beyond the 12th . New set up coming right up . Just getting back into "fretless" . Played cello at school for 8 years .. totally different animals

So after watching this a few months ago I proceeded to buy a fretless unlined. I love it and it's amazing. I would recommend getting lined though. Intonation isn't a challenge anymore but it takes time to get used to.

Careful Scott fretless is addicting. 😁

I love your channel - thanks so much for inspiring content

Excellent video, thanks. Some great tips.

I learned fretless on a double bass so its the reason I still play fretless.

I've played an unlined fretless in my rotation (with side dots). It really pissed off one guitarist as he would look at my fretboard as I played to try to follow (or see if I was following him). He screamed at me to bring a different bass. We went our separate ways...

Nice vid! Great insights

OMG, the tip on turning the neck is brilliant. I wish I had known that decades ago!

Fretless basses actually intimidate me lmao But I'll admit that is a great looking fretless!

There's also that fretless growl that you get when you're not turning everything into vibrato. My tip is, start playing on songs that are typically fretted and don't have a lot of slides. I always assumed you played on the fret mark because that would be the point of vibration on a fretted instrument.

Love your work - stay cool!

Scott , I'm just starting out and I have to say you are a gift for me to learn ....Having a great time .

I learned to play the violin before ever picking up the bass, so from me many of these things aren't a problem. It is a bit confusing as hell how the violin strings are backwards from the bass strings though.

I learned on an unlined fretless and never had to mark the notes when I later learned cello..learning to use the bow, however, was another story (and not a pretty one).

Thanks for the thoughts

Scott. Thank you for those 5 simple truths (tricks..? techniques...?) on playing fretless. I'm actually building my first fretless jazz bass from parts and plan on shedding with it until I get to the point of being comfortable enough to play with others. This video is gold!

I had the opportunity to listen to Gary Willis live, loved it He's an awesone bass player

Late to the party but oh well, I will offer encouragement! I played mostly 'bowed strings' for a long, long time before transitioning to things you can finger/ strum and I must admit it was an enormous stumbling block to go from fret-less to frets (let alone strumming). From fret-less to fret or fret to fret-less either way it will be a learning curve, just practice and have confidence! You will probably surprise yourself with what you can do without frets if you have been practicing long enough and take the leap! You can do it! Keep working hard!

Damn that second tip, so simple but so useful! How haven't I thought of that earlier?!

Hey Scott, I love that idea of turning and face the chart...I'm here laughing because I have been trying to find a solution and you just gave it to me...Thanks...Tony L.

I love Pino Palladino's fretless work on his Stingray in the early- to mid-80's. The guy was such an influence to me.

I mostly agree with this! I'm an upright player though, so the lines actually mess me up lol. It can be hard to find an unlined fretless electric bass with the specs I want. I had a Warwick that was pretty good, but it was a 5 string and I hate 5 string

Great chart tip !

Great tips, Thanks

Before I picked up the bass guitar, I played the double bass when I was 10. Two years later I got my first bass guitar, then two years ago I tested out a fretless bass guitar & felt like two worlds colliding. Not my preferred first choice

The very best way to learn fretless bass techniques EVEN on a fretted bass is to watch great orchestral and jazz string bassists and cellists. No disrespect to Michael Manring, Jaco Pastorius, Percy Jones, or Mark Egan. They are/ were amazing and extreme professionals in their craft.

Very useful tips, I agree about a lined fingerboard; I can’t afford to give up any advantages if it translates into better intonation.

Very good video! Thanks!

Great video Scott, all great considerations! I am curious though, why you did not feel the need to discuss ear training in regards to fretless bass. I agree that poor technique is the main culprit for poor intonation but even with great technique if your ears are undeveloped that can still lead to problems. Having said that the video was excellent!

I have been playing fretless for 23 years. I learned everything the hard way. You are correct, but it can be done.

I was in a guitar shop today and tested two fretless basses - lined and with dots Squier J bass and unlined and also with dots acoustic. They were fun to play, easier than I thought. The acoustic one sounded amazingly

awesome lesson Scott!! i'm seriously thinking of enrolling in to your online school

i am just learning to play the bass and im borrowing my dads bass to start with but he only has fretless so rn im learning on this till next payday when i buy a fretted one

Brilliant video and the advice is spot on. You proved that fretless bass is Great ! A fretless bass that has been lined will give better intonation for reasons that you have explained every well, the player has more information to avoid errors (#5). Out of tune is a disaster that can be easily avoided. Adjustment of the bridge will have less errors because the guitar tech will know the correct spot! This also allows for better bridge adjustment that is preferential to the lower neck or the higher neck, depending on where the player wants to play more often, just like on a fretted base. Why not have more calibration when it will always sound better? Ask a luther. To the gentlemen below that says he can't find a fretless bass that suits him. That makes no sense. Have one made or modified. If you find an off the shelf fretless bass then great - LINES can always be added by a luther. Playing a fretless bass will make everybody a better fretted player. Didn't Scott say he played only fretless for three years?

People talking about whether you should play lined or fretless; it doesn't matter. Music isn't a competition or a sport. If you can play an unlined fretless, great, but you shouldn't ever put someone down for preferring a lined fretless. At the end of the day, you're listening to the music and if a player is playing a lined fretless and nail everything they play then that's all that should matter, not whether they are playing blindfolded with their hands tied behind their back. Listen to what is being played and appreciate the actual music.

Just wanted to say great job love the channel!

I have played fretless exclusively for 38 years, and when i have the odd dabble with a fretted bass, it seems like i'm playing with road humps on the neck lol

0:07 can we talk about how sick nasty funky this is? This is amazing.

I was trained by Josquin Des Pres in private lessons, technique, and theory, twice a week for five years, (1982-1987) the last two on my custom-designed, (my design, fret lines marked) fretless jazz. My intonation had to be spot-on, now after playing for thirty-eight years, the last twenty or so, exclusively on my fretless bass I've learned to play by ear, rarely looking at my fretboard. Now I wish I had no fret markers. Great videos Scott, I have enjoyed them immensely, keep them coming maestro.

Second point is gold. I don't know why I didn't think of it before!

I took a drink every time Scott said "Gary Willis." Man, am I DRUNK!!!! lol I think Scott's got a little bassy man crush goin' on.

Coming from upright, fretless electric was easy for me. Best pointers; ensure you play on the fret lines and employ proper vibrato. I already had proper vibrato technique from playing upright. But, with practice it is easy to master.

My only problem with this video is the title is misleading. If anything this has me completely re thinking my problems with fretless bass. Great video as always! I love the no pretense approach of this channel.

thanks, I just got my Yamaha fretless 5 string on Thursday. along with my musician 5 fretted, thanks for the tips

Problem #6: not mentioning Tony Franklin! Fix: KZfaq him and learn!

My urge is to slide in and out of every note. But I only use my fretless in my house.

Good advice, good video! :)

Thanks ! I have the same bass !! but tuned E to C and OMG, no words to describe, in the high notes, I can play over the ramp and it's fantastic !!

Percy Jones of Brand X ... Jeff Berlin in the begginings with Bruford, better than Jaco ... And in Splendid and Twin House both of Larry Coryell-Phillip Catherine, this last played fretless guitar, Maravilloso Sonido ...

Not being able to play with a cheat sheet on a gig is not a reason a fretless is bad, it's a reason why they're not for a beginner. If you are playing a gig you should know your instrument and how to play!

"Have you' neck pointin' at you' lead sheet." I love this accent, great video Scott!

There were lines on the mirrior, lines on her bass ... lol I need the lines, too. Love the jam at the beginning, Scott.

The best part of fretless bass is you can play in just intonation instead of equal temperament, so the 5th sounds correct.

When’s the next bass giveaway? Thank Scott mate

Wooh Scott that is one of my favorite bass sessions I ever heard you play...that fretless tone and playing was spectacular. I thought you were pretty super on other fretted bass but you are one of the best intimated skilled artistic. Players ever . Also thanks for that "on the line" advice.

I have that Ibanez GWB35 and love it. Wish the fret board did not have the fret lines on it.

I play on fretted and fretless all the time, and always on a lined fretless. I have tried using unlined, and dear god, never doing that again.....

Do a video on a bass that doesn't suck, will you Scott?

Aww, now your hurting my feelings man lol. I love my fretless. As always, thank you so much! I love and will use these tips and tricks.

Another great video!

I own this bass...its my weopon of choice.....they made a fretted version a long time ago...(of this bass)...I had a stingray...and I learened the ones that sounded good..were made *pre ernie ball*...

OMG I'm righteously indignant! The list of great fretless bassists at the beginning of the video left off Michael Manring (the tone of glory!), Mark Egan, and Mick Karn!

That intro groove, holy frick, we need a full version!!

I did a major adjustment to my fretless intonation and WOW...my fingering came right in with good intonation above the octave point. I was having real trouble as I got higher on the neck and your tip nailed my problem. What I thought was a major problem with me was a set up issue...not that I don't have lots to work on..lol Thanks for that tip!