# Speaking of fretless



## punisher911 (Jul 3, 2010)

Is there any heavy metal/hard rock fretless players? I'm dying to try one. Just wondering how "usefull" they are in harder type music.


----------



## Disco Volante (Jul 3, 2010)

There aren't many but Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Autopsy, Control Denied, Testament, Vintersorg, Iced Earth, Sebastian Bach, Charred Walls of the Damned, Sadus) has been known to use a 5 string fretless in metal before.

Quality isn't so great but you can see that this guy totally dominates his bass.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc13C7oiScs&feature=related


This particular video is actually fretted but it gives you an idea of this man's ability to shred like mad!
YouTube - eXtreme Hard Rock Bass Promo Video - Giorgio Terenziani


I'll try using mine with some distortion blended with clean amp sound on a metal song next time I record to see if I can make anything happen with it.


----------



## LordCashew (Jul 4, 2010)




----------



## Mr. Big Noodles (Jul 4, 2010)

Steve DiGiorgio has already been mentioned. Check out the Death song, "The Philosopher".



Jeroen Pal Thesseling of Obscura uses a six string fretless.



Exivious uses fretless bass.



Randy Coven uses a fretless on a couple songs off of ARK's album, "Burn The Sun", I think. This one, certainly:


----------



## Lord_Elixer (Jul 4, 2010)

Not sure if you would classify it as "heavy metal/hard rock" but this made me want to try fretless guitar!


----------



## punisher911 (Jul 4, 2010)

Damn I really want a fretless now....


----------



## Skyblue (Jul 4, 2010)

If I'm not mistaken, Martin Mendez of Opeth uses them sometimes... I'll have to see if I can find examples.


----------



## Necris (Jul 4, 2010)

Nothing against gutherie but he needs to work on his fretless playing, his intonation was pretty off in some of that video.
More fretless bass.


----------



## punisher911 (Jul 4, 2010)

......... must........ get............ fretless..........................


----------



## BrutalExorcist (Jul 4, 2010)

On top of what's been mentioned already, Quo Vadis's new bassist, Roxanne Constantin, plays fretless exclusively IIRC. Diabolic Intent's bassist, Ant, plays fretless exclusively, even though he's hard to hear.

Also, when I play bass, it's pretty much exclusively fretless. Make sure you play in a band that's open-minded about it though.


----------



## SnowfaLL (Jul 4, 2010)

fretless is hard as hell to learn good though; should take afew months before you get really comfortable. I only play bass to session for other bands, so when I got my fretless (which all these bands didnt require fretless) I just found it abit overwhelming, considering I really need to spend more time on Sax and guitar.

So if you have the desire to learn fretless, and are not occupied by lots of other directions, it could be good, but it will take a lot of extra work; Its not as easy as jumping to another fretted stringed instrument.

Heres my old Carvin lined fretless; I'd say the biggest issue for me was how flat the fretboard was.. like crazy flat, im used to Upright bass fretless style, which is very rounded.. so it was quite odd.


----------



## Disco Volante (Jul 4, 2010)

I never really had much of a problem switching over to fretless bass after playing fretted ones for 10 years. As you can see, mine doesn't have fretlines, just dots on top of the fretboard, and I still didn't have too much of a problem adapting. You just have to be very particular about your intonation and pay special attention to where you are on the fretboard. After a few days it should come pretty naturally.


----------



## punisher911 (Jul 4, 2010)

Both the Carvin and the Warwick are shmexy as hell.


----------



## SnowfaLL (Jul 4, 2010)

Disco Volante said:


> I never really had much of a problem switching over to fretless bass after playing fretted ones for 10 years. As you can see, mine doesn't have fretlines, just dots on top of the fretboard, and I still didn't have too much of a problem adapting. You just have to be very particular about your intonation and pay special attention to where you are on the fretboard. After a few days it should come pretty naturally.



I disagree quite a bit with that. 

Dont expect to actually sound good for the first few months, unless you have perfect pitch. I think thats the issue with most electric bass fretless players, because its very hard to maintain your intonation at all times within the first year, and usually the ones who think they can (like all those youtube videos of fretless players.. so painful to watch), are infact quite off. Like I said, it will take months to get your intonation down, dont expect to sound good within a week, and I dont think theres anyone who can go from fretted instruments to pure fretless and sound good in a week, its just not realistic. 

As someone pointed out, Even Guthrie Govan did a pretty bad butcher job on that fretless video.. and im sure he has more talent than 99% of people in the world. You can get away with basic playing within the first week, easy songs and such, but REALLY pay attention to your intonation, as I said, so many youtube videos of fretless basses are beyond horrible, dont fall into that category. 

Not meant to be discouraging, cause I totally encourage it, just dont believe anyone who tells you "it just takes a few days then its fine". Fretless playing is something you will always have to be paying attention to, especially within the first few years. For the first year at least, make sure to record yourself LOTS so you dont trick your mind into thinking you are playing alright, get some proof and watch back to make sure you are playing in tune. It is so vital, I cant express that enough.

Theres nothing worse than jamming with a fretless bass player who cant play in tune with the rest of the band.. Bass stands out so much because it is usually the root, and just throws everything off. Thats why most session bassists, unless they are upright players, always play fretted. You wont see electric fretless players on cruiseships or anything because it takes someone with MASSIVE experience to be able to pull it off in those types of settings. 

_(source; OceanBound.ca a website for Musician info on Cruiseships occupations.. this guy has worked on cruiseships for over 10+ years as a booker for Musicians.. and this was his post on fretless bass.. "Amongst the many bass players I've played with on ships, none ever used a fretless." . I think thats a pretty telling sign, that you cant just be "fine" with fretless in a few days. Of course, this is for contemporary/jazz/classical/etc)_

http://www.oceanbound.ca/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1184595924


----------



## Dragonfly (Jul 4, 2010)

punisher911 said:


> Is there any heavy metal/hard rock fretless players? I'm dying to try one. Just wondering how "usefull" they are in harder type music.



You can make it useful, just a matter of what you want and what you're doing.

Like many posted before, yeah it's possible, but do note that it's different.. just played on the fret markers does give you a different sound, but the lack of frets really defines the sound,, go crazy and keep rocking!


Damn, that carvin looks sexy! I got an old-skool looking fretless 5 string, black and white with a pickguard on the front.


----------



## Disco Volante (Jul 5, 2010)

"I never really had much of a problem switching over to fretless bass after playing fretted ones for 10 years. As you can see, mine doesn't have fretlines, just dots on top of the fretboard, and I still didn't have too much of a problem adapting. You just have to be very particular about your intonation and pay special attention to where you are on the fretboard. After a few days it should come pretty naturally."



NickCormier said:


> I disagree quite a bit with that.



This is my fault for not explaining what I meant very clearly. I think you got hung up on my last sentence which was unclear. When I said it felt natural after a few days I meant not having frets or fret lines to use as a guide felt natural. I got used to imagining the 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, etc frets in between the dots pretty quickly.

However, intonation as you have said is difficult to master. I'm far from perfect pitch all the time on mine and it was something that only improved after several months with the instrument. Going fretless wasn't nearly as overwhelming as I thought it might be, maybe playing bass exclusively for 10 years before trying fretless helped me with that. Either way, it is something that definitely requires a lot of practice if you want to sound good with one.


----------



## Stealthdjentstic (Jul 5, 2010)

In addition to what's already been mentioned Archspire also uses a fretless.

Archspire *New Blog Up!!!* on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads


----------



## Steve08 (Jul 5, 2010)

Off the top of my head, Joe Lester of Intronaut, Steve DiGiorgio, Sean Malone of Cynic/Aghora, the guy who plays for Obscura, Forest Lapointe of Augury, Robin of Exivious and Cynic, Erik Tiwaz (who by the way is amazing and REALLY underrated).

Johan DeFarfalla of Opeth also uses fretless sometime on the first two albums and it's amazing, and Martin has also used a fretless on Face of Melinda. Don't know any other songs by them that he uses one on though, if any...

also, yes, intonation is very important... I'd recommend if you're just starting out on fretless, _get one with lines_.

edit: Also, Lars Norberg of Spiral Architect plays a fretless Gary Willis bass sometimes as I recall.


----------



## Dopey Trout (Jul 6, 2010)

The bass player on Ihsahn's "After" album definitely sounds like he's using a fretless, and I think the same player uses a fretless on at least some songs from the previous album "angL" too

My friend is a prog power metal bass player and he uses a 6 string fretless Warwick. Sounds awesome for that stuff too


----------



## Varcolac (Jul 6, 2010)

Steve08 said:


> edit: Also, Lars Norberg of Spiral Architect plays a fretless Gary Willis bass sometimes as I recall.





Dopey Trout said:


> The bass player on Ihsahn's "After" album definitely sounds like he's using a fretless, and I think the same player uses a fretless on at least some songs from the previous album "angL" too



That's Lars Norberg on After and angL.

Primus use fretless bass all the time. Two-hand fretless bass tapping on your second single? Why not?


----------



## riffist (Jul 6, 2010)

I'm of the opinion that basses shouldn't have frets. Except I suppose for 8 or 12 string basses where fingering multiple strings would give an even bigger intonation nightmare. Or if you tend to play crazy fast. I was really impressed by that Erik Tiwaz video that necris posted. That's the sort of music I probably wouldn't even bother attempting on a fretless.

But anyway, this thread demonstrates pretty clearly that fretless has a place in metal.


----------



## Sepultorture (Jul 6, 2010)

Brian likes to play fretless 5

if all goes well and i get him into the band fold, me thinks fretless 5 string Alex Webster type playing would be sick


----------



## BrutalExorcist (Jul 7, 2010)

Not "t3h m()57 br00t4lz" band ever, but this is interesting:



I wonder how slap style double bass would sound in a death metal band.


----------



## Daggorath (Jul 8, 2010)

I've toyed with getting either an upright bass or an extra long fretless bass for a while. I just love the sound of it, and the clarity and percussive elements available even at extremely low tunings.


----------



## Dragonfly (Jul 8, 2010)

Varcolac said:


> That's Lars Norberg on After and angL.
> 
> Primus use fretless bass all the time. Two-hand fretless bass tapping on your second single? Why not?




Primus is f'king awesome!!

Oh wait.. i mean:

Primus sucks!


----------



## MistaMarko (Jul 25, 2010)

I picked up a Japanese 1988 Fretless Fender Jazz (no fret lines, thank God) about three years ago, and it was basically an impulse-buy-while-browsing-the-music-store purchase.

Perfect pitch is something I do have (something I developed as a young kid.) I find it easy to know when I'm out of tune on my fretless and adapted to playing it very, very well. However, so much of fretless I'm finding is not even at all about the pitch, it's knowing the mechanics of the instrument and how the pitch can be found. The fret "dots" don't always work, and you have to be where the fret line WOULD be (as a fretted bass player, I always play in the middle of the fret, so this habitual nature is to my unfortunate disadvantage) -- however, fretless is something I'm playing more and more, as I just can't get enough of it's mwah-mwah signature sound. I ended it up using it for a song on my band's upcoming album, I liked it so much. Tone came out immaculate, and I managed to capture most of the fretless characteristic.


----------



## CrazyBass (Jul 25, 2010)

i used to play fretless 5 string bass tuned half a step down with my old band, was pretty awesome


----------



## Stealthdjentstic (Jul 25, 2010)

Archspire *New Blog Up!!!* on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

Pretty difficult stuff to play along to with a fretless. Fretless bass has been used a few times on some Opeth songs AFAIK.


----------

