Fretless advice?

[Hallbatross]

Hey guys,

So, I've decided to hide away my fretted basses for a while and start concentrating on fretless. After playing fretted for ~10 years, I thought fretless would be easier to pick up, but I have found that fretless is a whole different beast. My biggest problem is intonation, of course . When I bought my fretless thumb, I was happy that it did not have fret position markers (becuase it looks sweet!), but the more I have played, the more I desire additional visual assistance. I was thinking of ways to add fret markers temporarily or even permanantly. I drew in some fret markers with a white pencil, which helped out a lot, but the lines are almost completely faded away only after a couple weeks...

So anyway, as someone who is converting to fretless is there any advice that you can offer me to help me MASTER intonation?

Thanks!

 

[ALB]

The best advice I can give would be to focus more on the sound of the notes rather than where you are placing your fingers. You should be able to hear if you're playing sharp or flat and you can adjust from there. I made the switch to fretless 4 years ago and I learned very quickly that "following" the board isn't always going to give you perfect intonation.... hearing becomes much more important than finger placement. I know this might not be the best advice but it's really the only thing I can offer. Take your time and your fingers will figure out where to go. As far as the white pencil fret lines, if it helps you with the finger placement then by all means use it. Just remember though, if your not exact with the line placement then your tone is going to be off as well. You obviously have knowledge of the bass after 10 years of playing so let that help you with finger placement and make slight tweaks based on the sound. Good luck to you bro and don't get too frustrated, you'll get the hang of the beast in no time.

 

[azzyrazzy]

I'd say really study your left hand fingers and learn how they behave while playing notes, scales and fills etc. Then if you notice any problems(like fingers clamping together or one finger that always reaches too far etc), work on that first. You must be able to trust your left hand to "fret" the notes in the vicinity of where it sounds 100% in tune. Then after this work (a few days up to a few months) you can look away from your left hand, even close your eyes and play slow passages and make sure that you microadjust your finger after landing to get every note to sound in tune. Check with open string if you have a E/A/D/G note. Good luck and stick with it. It's hard but rewarding.

 

[Hallbatross]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate your comments. I understand that listening is an important part and I will try to start concentrating more on that. I guess the most difficult thing is redeveloping the left hand muscle memory. Always having frets has allowed me to get comfortable positioning my fingers at different increments behind the frets, and now my standard hand positions are not accurate. I have found chords to be pretty tricky, having to position 3 or 4 finger precisely at once. Well, I guess it just takes time like anything else worthwhile.