Techniques On The 4001/3FL

[cassius987]

Same here! Although I bet the strings you use really factor in.

[rickenbrother]

I've yet to seriously use a pick on a FL bass, but I rarely use a pick on a fretted bass anyway.

[ajish4]

Guilty....I even have some VERY OLD felt picks that I've used on fretless on rare occasion.

[antipodean]

I'll add this nugget regarding the FL: given its "organic" nature and ability to "speak," I wouldn't dream of using a pick on one.

Don't limit yourself there John! Using a pick on a fretless produces a very different attack and tone - you can almost get the sound of an upright and tic-tac bass playing simultaneously - a very cool rockabilly vibe.

I also note that there are some slap players who use fretless basses - Les Claypool being the one that immediately comes to mind. If you can stomach it, (Primus's sound can be a bit confronting) you should check out his solo on "Tommy the Cat".

[cassius987]

"Tommy the Cat".

My favorite Claypool performance... ever.

[FretlessOnly]

I'll check out your Les Claypool ref, but if I want to sound like a double bass, well, I'll use my double bass (see, I even go so far as to refer to my "upright" by its more "dignified" name ). Would you use a pick on an upright? Call it snobbery (and you'd probably be correct in doing so!), but a FL bass is, to me, a compact electric convenience offering the portability and weight preference to an upright (some sounds approach an upright, others do indeed surpass it), and I only like to use human features to get the strings humming.

[jps]

How about fretless for heavy metal?

[antipodean]

Apologies if I have offended - no disrespect was intended John. As I can't play upright, fretless is the best approximation I can manage to get that woody tone. A pick can just add a bit of attack that sounds "different" and can be applicable to the limited genres I am capable of playing. I confess that I only play fretless around 5% of the time, and 70% of that would be played fingerstyle, but there have been instances when the fretless-pick combination gets an outing.

[FretlessOnly]

Evan, no offense at all. I'll guarantee that I am more likely to offend than you are!

I do have some rather "purist" opinions about bass, and fretless/upright in particular-and I am more than willing to share them (clearly). To each their own, of course. And take the winks in the spirit in which they were intended. I know when I'm being overbearing, I just can't help myself...

[rickenbrother]

Sting plays fretless basses with a pick. He gets some pretty cool tones.

[FretlessOnly]

Sting is a great singer/songwriter.

[ajish4]

I've used a pic on VERY RARE occasions.

Most times, I review all our material for a Sunday, and depending on the mixture of the set list, I judge which bass I'm going to use.

It never fails, but one or two just don't fit in to the rest of the list and I just want to play something a little "different" to fit the bill.

The old felt pic does a decent job of just changing the sound just a bit.

It's a rare occasion that I use a pic on fretless, and it's always the felt...I've never used the felt pic on my roundwound RICs...

Anyone else ever try the felt pics?

[FretlessOnly]

Just throwin' another FL tip out there, free for the holidays...in general, avoid open strings, as your fingering hand makes the notes speak, not you plucking/picking hand. Of course, open notes do have their place, but they do tend to sound out of place in the midst of a bassline done with other fingered notes, especially on FL.

An exception would be a pedal tone, where the open notes ring more and provide a bit more oomph to the overall sound, particularly in conjunction with fingered octaves or fifths.

[rickenbrother]

I agree with you, John. You can't make the open string notes of a fretless bass sound like the notes played on the fingerboard.
Though except for the open E, I don't use open string notes very much on fretted basses either.

[FretlessOnly]

Well, you could always tune the E down to Eb.