The Only Fretless Bass Exercise You'll EVER Need!
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- Опубліковано 15 лип 2020
- This fretless bass lesson shows you the only exercise you will ever need to improve intonation.
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I've just ordered my Pino Palladino Signature Rosewood Spatula.
@@OnlineBassGuitar1 haha! i'd forgotten about this post.
This is a great video. It made me dig out my fretless bass, and in just one afternoon i went from fucking dreadful to fairly dreadful. Feel free to use this as a testimonial in any promotional material. x
I played violin for basically my whole life and decided to take up bass, so naturally I was curious about fretless and wanted to know what left-hand things I could bring into it. Intonation (i.e., pitch) is usually the first thing to go when you stop practicing for any length of time, so I wanted to come up with a good warmup to be the first thing I practice every day. What I found works good for me is chromatic runs on one string, first up up then down starting with the open string then two notes per finger, all fingers, then back down to start, so that's a chromatic up in 4/4 time to the top note in eighth notes, hit the top on 1 then come back down, hitting the bottom note on 1, repeating the run up and down 4 times, then break it down finger by finger starting with the open string, first finger a semitone higher, slide up to the second note another semitone higher, then back down to the first note and repeat two more times so you count to 4 (counting in quarters, playing in eighths) repeat that 4 times, then do the same starting with the first finger a whole tone above the open string then doing that repeating semitone slide up and down with the second finger, again 4 times, then do that over again starting on the second then the third fingers, then finish off with a series of 4-note - 2-finger type patterns going up 2 notes, down one, repeat starting on successive fingers,then back down again, etc., then doing the same thing on all strings. It builds strength in your fingers and intonation on a pretty low-level so you can really focus on getting the notes in tune and developing that hand position and getting to where that intonation and "sure-footedness" becomes more and more natural. For an extra-thorough workout you can repeat the whole thing in rhythms - my favorite basic starting rhythm patterns are the two-note ones: a dotted eighth followed by a sixteenth, all the way through the exercise, then reverse that to a sixteenth followed by a dotted eighth. You can use double-dotted eighths and thirty-seconds if you want more of a challenge to develop your speed and precision. The whole gamut of 4-note rhythm patterns can be developed for that as well.
Another aspect of fretless with the left-hand I am pretty particular about is vibrato. Most fretless vibrato you hear sounds too much like a sick calf for my liking, so I started googling UA-cam for cello teachers and see how they teach it (since the string lengths are quite similar and I really love a good cello vibrato sound.) Getting a good tight - and beautiful - vibrato on the fretless will set you apart from pretty much everyone, so as long as your general musicianship is up there (intonation, keeping good time, getting around the instrument, etc.), you will be able to play in a way that few other do, with a much more beautiful and dynamic sound. For more exercises, the next thing will be scales - a whole other subject in itself. Thanks for reading this!
Been playing fretless for many years, I think this is a good advice for beginners. Because everyone will eventually find out that in order to play fretless you can't just rely on markers or lines, you really have to use your ears. There's no other way around it.
My point exactly! Thanks for the comment!
I play fretless for more than 40 years... The way I see it: you should look at your bass like a slide guitar. Learn how to pitch (and "vibrato") in real time. Don't try to place your finger somewhere and play the note. Rather get close to the tuned spot and correct in real time. It might take some time, but like playing bottle neck on a guitar, you can do it right.
This is what I do, get close and micro-adjust. More often than not I’m landing on the line and adjusting it to be slightly sharp or flat so that I’m in tune with the band lol, you also have a bit of leeway if you’re not spot on at first because most peoples’ ears won’t notice a few-cent difference and they’ll hear the pitch as matching the band
Thank you for sharing this. I played fretless for years but since becoming seriously ill and disabled I have only just begun playing fretless bass again. I’m finding it challenging to say the least. The issue is my tuning at times. My old bass which was a Warwick didn’t have any line markers just some dots. The new bass is an Ibanez SRF 705 which has lines on the side of the neck as well as dots, however the dots are in a different place which is throwing me into confusion up the neck. I really need to sit down with the new bass and get used to playing it again. Thank you for your video. I will definitely be giving this a go ❤
I was looking for this video! At last! Thank you!
Definitely gonna do this thanks for the tips mate!
Your advice to get the ear trained to adjust what your fingers are up to is spot on. I play sax, an instrument that is never in tune unless you adjust your lip & breath pressure, the embouchure. Recently I started messing with a friend’s fretless and I’ve taken to it quite well. Notes are generally in tune, just not always the right order at this early stage! The years of embedding the feedback loop from hearing to almost instantaneously adjusting the touch points on the instrument were paying off. Thanks for giving great advice and the spatula balancing is a terrific way of conveying the point.
This is it! In a couple of minutes everything explained. Thanks very much!
Pretty darn brilliant! 👍👍⭐️⭐️
Nice one OBG!!
I will check out your advised exercise !
Of course I will try it.And thanks for the fretless exercise.There aren't many different ones on line.
Great video...thanks.
thank you brother. Im getting my first bass tomorrow a lovely fretless.
When I get my fretless done,( I have an American Deluxe 5 String Jazz bass that I will soon be turning into a fretless and I can't wait.) I will most definitely try this exercise!
Yup, this is it. Beyond hand position, scale knowledge, chord knowledge, and all that, the one thing that you need to do all the time is to match pitch. This exercise works. You might have to make a lot of examples for yourself (so what? what else do you have to do thats better?). Matching pitches that's where its at. And remember the goal is not to be perfect, but to hear mistakes and correct them faster than anyone can tell. Listen, listen, listen.
Good point I just bought a fretless I had one40 years ago and never got good at it. My teacher told me to get one with frets…. Good video and I like the Aebersold we used to play that and use that those books and those recordings in college when I study music in Boston great studies
That’s a great lesson mate 😎👌 I’ve always played by ear so I’m always listening to what to play and where to play it and all that. I prefer fretless without the lines for that reason. Fir example if I’m slightly out of tune I can just adjust the position a little to be in tune and so on :) there are sooooo many fretless bass players that I had no idea played fretless! Like Jeff Ament in Pearl Jam and ya can hear it especially is songs like Even Flow with that beautiful harmonic slide that can only be done on a fretless! 😎👌
Appreciate it. Thank you!
Never been a fan of fretless basses with neck markers. I have owned my German made Corvette for 9 years ( Jack Bruce style) and love it to death. Been playing bass 50 years and have a J and a P fretted but only bought the Warwick 9 years ago and NOW I feel very comfortable on it even though it has the best neck of all my basses, its the fretless part that took me some time to get comfortable with. I agree that you should learn by ear. If it doesn't sound right...it isn't.
I've been trying to play Popper cello etudes on my fretless bass but I noticed that some notes seem to be played slightly out of tune deliberate, on watching a cello lesson on youtube it seems to be to emphasize or de-emphasize certain intervals or phrases. Also fretted instruments and pianos/ orchestra instruments use a slightly different tuning and I think it's best to not be too anal about being in tune all the time perfectly, the beats generated due to very slightly out of tune instruments sound great.
I'm will try this with my B1X looper, record a c major with a fretted bass then switch (AB pedal) to fretless and match the loop on every string and position.
Great video; thanks for talking about the EARS being an essential tool for playing any fretless stringed instrument! I saw a comment down-thread that suggested, if I understood correctly, to essentially " go for the note by ear and correct pitch in real time"...? In my experience and observation, there are actual specific, physical locations on my fretless bass neck that are "in tune", relative to a tuner and my open(tuned) strings, that I then apply vibrato to and/or microscopic position shifts to match my intonation to other instruments or a recorded track. Recording one's self playing every day, regardless of the instrument one plays, is another way to note what needs correction and adjustment and staves off the dreaded self-delusion/self-bullshitting syndrome. As far as LOOKING AT THE NECK is concerned: Hell yeah, use ALL of the tools at your disposal, ESPECIALLY if you have never played a fretless instrument! One can use eyes, ears, and muscle memory to develop good intonation...Oh yeah, another thing: your set-up will affect how you approach dialing in your intonation and your overall playing technique,too.
I don't play with super-low action( personal preference ), so there's a slightly different kind of physical interaction of both hands with the instrument...Just throwin' my 2 cents' worth into the comments here✌🏾🤗
Anyway, thanks for your clear, concise presentation! It focuses on a key issue related to playing fretless bass.
Cheers😎
@@OnlineBassGuitar1 Glad that you are adding quality content to UA-cam! 👍🏽😉
I have a problem... sometimes, depending on the monitoring, I cannot make out the correct pitch while listening (like my ears give me errors)... I record on some headphones, seems OK, then I listen on another system and man... it sounds so out of tune. Is it my ear or the monitor sound might not be right? What am I missing? I play piano for over 30 years and I also tune it myself by ear... so I'm pretty used to pitch, but on bass guitar, sometimes, I cannot distinguish the pitch. Have you ever had or heard of this problem? What shall I do?
The way I get my ear in shape to play fretless is playing my Hammond organ for about 15-30 minutes. It is exactly in tune always and puts the notes firmly in your ear. No enharmonic confusion - Ab and G# being different notes based on context. Playing piano is also helpful but nothing establishes 440Hz Equal Temperament like playing a real tonewheel organ.
My approach : it's like playing guitar with a bottle neck. Get your pitch/ear right by practicing and do make your instrument sing. The way to get there is up to you really. For me, playing all the melodies of what I listen to (or play with bands) works great.
You don't have frets in your thraught to sing in pitch...
(I play fretless and upright for 40+ years)
I tried balancing a spatula on my finger while playing but couldn't get a handle on it 😉. Good tip - thx!
Don't fret about it just play!!!!! Lol
What kind of bass is that?
I play classical guitar, and never look at my hands. If I play fretless 'by myself', that is to say...without any external reference, such a backing track or another person to keep me centered, or connected to the tonality, it is common (now that my perfect pitch has, as is common for musicians, grown variably reliable in age) for my pitch to migrate fractions of a tone. This can of course be corrected by glancing at my hand, but I don't. Eventually my ear tells me to 'reset' when I am come aware that the notes I'm playing 'aren't' in fact notes.
If you can't stay on key, as a result of not having developed 'relative' (memorized) pitch, or never having developed tonal familiarity, which is naturally come of long association with it, you will always be required to use your eyes, in which case fretless is no different to fretted, EXCEPT...that 'approximately' the right finger placement doesn't to it on fretless, as it does on fretted. If you can't play without looking at your hands, you probably haven't developed either of those two skills sufficiently to easily play fretless.
The solution is to discipline yourself to play 'fretted' without looking at your hands, and then fretless will be easy, BUT...I caution never perfect absent a diligent ear.
After playing bass for 3 years, it's time for a better bass and more practice time. More structure.
A trained ear is the only way to get this right as all Orchestra string players use. You don't see fret lines on a Violin or Cello, can you imagine the note spacing on a violin? One of the real nice things about fretless is you can play slightly sharp or flat and this does come in handy when guitar players are binding notes and singers that are not quite on pitch. Granted 5ths and 7ths are a little more difficult in the beginning so start your training by not looking at the fret board as much (no need to stare). One benefit with fretless is that you no longer need to set intonation, I check a new instrument once and never bother again... Fretless has so much more personality and emotion...IMO
Compare tones to empty strings, get a good pair of ears, and get your fingering in order, No extras needed.
But how are you meant to “get a good pair of ears” if you don’t do any exercises or work like this to develop them?
Is this Hugh Richardson the ICMP alumni? If so, didn't recognise you with short hair...
Leave the internet!!!
Or you could have a 7 string fretless like me with no lines,dots,or markers of any sort.....😬.....then you really jump from the frying pan into the fire.....🤯
Sorry bro, that doesn't help at all, I thought you will explain any technic like the figers positions over the board like acoustic bass, to read music you "can't" see your board cuz you will get lose.😒