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by Answer Rabbit on April 27th, 2006

Answer Rabbit

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What are the benefits of fretless bass guitars?

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  • by Greg Griffin on August 4th, 2007

    Greg Griffin

    Numerous.

    1) "No speed bumps (frets)" - this was one of Jaco Pastorious' reasons, he felt that the frets just get in the way.

    2) Different tone - with a fretted instrument the fret not your finger does the work of 'stopping' the note. The finger contact gives you more connection with the note I feel.

    3) Vibrato. Fretted instruments have a bit of a disadvantage when applying vibrato. On a fretted instrument you can 'waggle' the string from in tune to sharp but flattening the note it is more difficult. With a fretless instrument you can 'push' sharp and 'pull' flat giving a much richer vibrato (like a 'cello or violin)

    4) G# is not Ab! On a 'well-tempered' instrument like a fretted guitar or piano notes are 'averaged' out when in fact (for example) G# is ever so slightly flatter than Gb. With a fretless instrument you can actually play the real notes as opposed to the tempered (averaged) versions.

    5) Glisaandos - you can slide around like a loony without the getting in the way although you really shouldn't do it alot because it is really cheesy lol

    6) It makes people go "Wow!!!" ;)

    Comments

    • Another advantage is playing fretless will improve one's fretted technique due to the level of precision required to play fretless well. Good answer, BTW.

      Langenschwert

      by Langenschwert on June 17th, 2009

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