[ibznorange]

i like the feel of fretless, but its alot harder for intricate work imo.
but thats something you should be able remedy with practice.
i actually wanna try a fretless 7 guitar sometime, i've played a 6 for an unfortunately short amount of time, and really thought it was cool.
id say fretless, if youre down for the extra challenge

[Haunted Cereal]

actually i really like fieldy lol. the bass in falling away from me is what really made me want to go 5 string. i wouldn't be doing anything really spectacular with my playing. mostly just pounding away at the lower register with a bit of distortion. i think for now i'll go with the btb since i've actually tried it and i love the shape. they're cheap enough that i can buy the other one a little down the road when i really know what i'm doing and can discern tonal differences.

...god i love this site.

[ibznorange]

the btb will be better for pounding away low down. the fretless will get too warm and clappy i suspect.

lol its a great site isn't it?
there are some hardcore oppinion-nazis around here, but otherwise, by far the best music forum i've looked into

[Tired_Wrist]

Sean Malone has used the Ibanez GWB1 in his own project, Gordian Knot, and a ton of metal side projects. He has sound clips on his website, and you can get a taste of what that bass sounds like in a metal context. I personally love playing fretless basses, even in metal, but it's completely up to you whatever you decide.

[Beta]

For what it's worth, if you really want to play fretless, get something with a lined board (like the Ibanez GWB models, but don't spend all that dough on a GWB 1 or 105 unless you find a ~$600 steal of a deal; a GWB 35 is decent at around $600-650 new).

Nearly anything you can play on a fretless can be played on a fretted bass, except that slick vibrato stuff.

The perception that fretless is warmer, mellower, or whatever isn't as accurate these days (which isn't to say it's completely untrue, but technology is changing things). The Gary Willis signature basses come strung with D'Addario nickel-plated roundwound strings. All F Bass models come strung up with rounds, too. I think Digiorgio uses Routosound rounds. Many fretless basses come with ebony, ebonol or epoxy coated fretboards now. Vigier has fretless models with metal fretboards. The use of roundwound strings to get a brighter sound is more common.

Your right hand technique is much more important on a fretless, and it's so much easier to send your strings smacking into the fretboard. You have to work hard not to dig in too much, and play with a lighter touch. Willis has the ramps on his basses for good reasons, one of which is they keep you from digging in. A heavy left hand touch will gouge up your fretboard faster. Yep, mine has some nice marks under the B and E strings.

Oh, and you can slide false harmonics on a fretless, too. Listen to Pearl Jam's "Evenflow" for an example.

That said, I'd recommend starting on a fretted bass also. But, make sure to fret notes right behind the fret (my most recent instructor told me he aims for the middle area between the frets; I'm an old dog who finds that a useless new trick- he's a slap player who does all his muting with his left hand, and I don't do the slap thing). Then, if you decide to switch to fretless, you've trained your hand to fret close to the lines, which gets you in an area where you're close to proper intonation. From there, it's all about using your ears...

I, too, find fretless basses more pleasing to play and to hear played well. I'm glad I started playing on a bass with frets, though. I can't say much for my fretless technique. I've got a long way to go, but having an instructor early on who forced me to put my fingers right behind the frets benefited me when I started playing fretless.