The best fretless bass I've played? Maybe.
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- Опубліковано 12 лис 2019
- Gary Willis, is without doubt, one of the most innovative and admired fretless bassists around. But what makes a fretless bass a great one?
As the story goes, back in the late ‘60s Jaco Pastorius ripped out the frets from his 1962 Fender Jazz Bass with a butter knife! Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones also played a home-made fretless bass as early as 1961, when Jaco was only 10!
But there is another way! In this weeks video I’m unveiling probably the best bang-for-buck fretless bass that money can buy!
As always, see you in the shed…
Scott :)
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I learned to play bass on a fretless in high school. Learned quickly where i needed to place my fingers. God i miss that bass
I wish people were interested in making guitars and keys perfect like Basses. Bass has such a great self improvement culture.
Yes, a self-improvement culture, that has a ring to it. Guitarists (and I am one, like a lot of bassists) are stuck in a mindset that says, the way they used to do it is best. It results in horrible things like the Gibson 17 degree headstock angle that they won't change for fear of offending their constituency (to their credit, PRS has changed to 10 degrees, which works much better). And those humbucker pickup rings! You can fix the buzzing with a matchbook cover, if you can find the proper vintage matchbook.
@@babalaughing the characature of bass players is a humble person, so Yeh makes sens3
Music Man, G&L, Ibanez, ESP, PRS, and many others improve guitars quite a bit.
Keyboards are constantly being changed and modified. If anything bassists saw how well pianos were made and decided that basses needed that much attention.
It takes humility to play the bass
Exquisite playing, pensive and soulful...You’re a great teacher but you’re an incredible bassist as well.
I own Gary’s 205e, the moment I heard the bass, I knew it was going to be my “fretless” 2 years later and hasn’t disappointed me yet!
I can’t hear the fretless electric bass without thinking of Jaco.
When someone became a mental image of a particular sound of music, that's when you know how legendary that person is.
Actually Gary Willis doesn't really sound or play like Jaco at all..
@@arc323is Oh yeah, well I wasn't making a comparison between the two. I was just commenting on the instrument. Any time anyone plays a fretless electric bass, I think of Jaco.
@@23wickeddrummer anyway it's jaco... No comparison needed ahah
@@Slavic_Boer i'm talking about memory and nostalgia thing only, no need to get judgmental, it's a right to listen to whatever you want to listen. So if someone wants to listen only to music he's familiar with i don't think it's a bad thing, not everyone has the will or time to explore new music.
Scott, what an amazing piece you are playing at the end!!
Ibanez has consistently made some of the nicest and most comfortable bases for me to play. I have small hands, so some it can be a bit of a chore for me on most to get around the neck, but the necks on every Ibanez (sans the 6 string) are soooooo comfortable.
I got small hands too and I have a fretted tbt 6strings, and I think that the neck is a little big for me at last, I don't know if in fretless it changes
Haunting wow
Haunting wow 💜
Agreed
I sooo love listening to players who know how to play fretless bass it's such a sweet sound....I totally could have listened to you jam on for hours
Beautiful
Scott, sincere congratulations on all your success.. you seem like such a genuinely great guy and am happy to see you doing well :) Also thanks for all the great bass lessons!
*It played so smoothly, you didn't even need your gloves...*
Scott. Those glasses are sick. Love the interviews, lessons and gear you show off. Your platform is so well versed. Best wishes.
Thnx Scott!!! I love my Ibanez Portamento bass. Solid now for a number of years despite the harsh climate I live in. Cheers
where do you live? was thinking of buying this gary willis model in vietnam---bad idea?
I have this model exactly. My first fretless. My first 5-string. Because I have nothing against which to compare it - I don't know how relatively good it is. All I know is that I tried a few (Sire, Fender, Ibanez) and the GWB 20th Anniversary was the first one that just felt right from the moment I sat down to play. Scott is right about the neck - it feels (and plays) fast and is very comfortable. As it's my first 5-string too, I was worried I'd bit off more than I could chew - but no. It's a dream to play. My bass instructor reckons it the fastest neck he's ever played - and he's played a few. The Aguilar pickup sounds amazing through my Phil Jones amp too. Plenty of tone and 'mwah'.
It wouldnt be my 1st 5 string or my 1st fretless but either one I haven't played in many years but it would be my 1st 5 string fretless
I felt really good about pulling the trigger on it, your comments and mini review helped me solidify my mind about it
@@scottydog62 Enjoy it. It's a fine instrument.
If you don't mind answering, how is the balance? Is it neck heavy? Can it sit on your lap without holding the neck?
@@peterr6621 No. The neck will dive slightly, but not in a way that makes it difficult to play at all. I never notice it. I play without a strap when seated - but using one would probably help if it ever became a problem.
@@grahamcooper2144 Thanks for answering! I think I'll pick one up.
I live how genuine and passionate he is about bass and what he does with this channel. Makes my day.
that jam at the end man i love that kind of stuff - i immediately get this post apocalyptic/noir/desert/outer world vibes, i love music for what it can make me think and feel, thanks Scott
I have really enjoyed having a 5-string fretless as a first bass. Being a percussionist just learning it to be a better composer, I kind of enjoy the challenge of having to watch my intonation! Reminds me of playing Cello as a kid...
I wanted the gwb20, but it was a bit out of my budget. Bought the gwb35 (which is also used by GW in the Masterclass) and am very pleased. Since I have to replace the nut on my fretted bass, I took the 35 to last rehearsal. The others loved the sound, and told me to take my time getting the other fixed! :)
I pulled a Jaco on my bass and ripped the frets out, used some wood filler, and put a heavy hand of tung oil on it. Sounds great and plays amazing.
I bought a pawnshop clearance bass with the intention of doing this and my friend tells me "sweet bass, don't tear it up" and we'll yeah.
But to take an instrument and invest some labor and creativity to (hopefully) make it what you want.
Just because the oem sold it doesn't make it set in stone.
Love the way you play,
I have the black one... I'm in heaven since i bought it.And of course i'm a Gary Willis super fan.
Time to do a short performance video of you playing fretless-please! Really, really enjoyed hearing you rip-tastefully and musically-on that fretless. Best wishes to you and your crew/family!
Hey Scott I think you should do a fretless setup video! There is a lot in your other setup videos that translate over but there are tones and string sounds that we are not getting that the bass your playing is!!! Hook us up!!!
Gary: Hey, Scott, did you give the bass away to the winner?
Scott: I don't know what happened, it got lost in the mail. I'm all over it trying to find it and get it back. Don't worry. Also, don't believe the people who say I kept it, I just bought an identical one.
I won a bass last year, it took 3 months to get it, he 2nd night mailed it and it had a large crack in the bottom... man, what a liar
Being the winner of this bass, I can confirm that, A: It arrived rather quickly and B: It is great.
@@blaisevaughan5608 lucky bugger
@@eoinf2004 Yeah... I forgot the giveaway was going on at the end of the course and actually thought someone was scamming me when I got the email. It wasn't until I saw the SBL email address that the shock hit me.
like @Blaise Vaughan as a winner of the Rock Bass Giveaway, i can confirm it arrived and was great interaction with Scott's team. Love my Nate Mendel Fender :-)
Been play an Ibanez basses since the early 80s. For me that's the base of choice because of the 24 fret necks. Recently I just purchased two new fretted Ibanez bases along with a fretless Ibanez bass and I couldn't be happier with the way they play and their tones
Damn that’s gorgeous Gary! What a great video too bro.
So nice to a great player demoing an axe, a sadly rare thing in my experience. Especially with a fretless, you're playing the style that suits the axe etc. Thinking of picking one of these up!
I play the saxophone and I want that bass...
They are called "awesome-pegs". Never turn in the gig-bag or in flight-case its brilliant. Both the Gwb1 and Gwb35 bases I own are amazing, next to that Gary Willis is a great person! Use them for metal, jazz and (Indian)classical stuff they are both unique and great basses.
What a beautiful sound!
Scott: "we keep these covered, so nobody burgles us"
Also Scott: *shows all the expensive electronic equipment hidden under the tarps to hundreds of thousands of subscribers online*
.
.
.
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edited because i initially put "Gary" cuz i am adhd baby
Let's hope no burglars are subscribed lol
Thanks for explaining the bass ramp!
Go build your own w scrapwood and sandpaper. Or they on reverb w fancywood for fifteen bux.
I have a steel rail laying around to use as a thumbrest, but lacks the finger blocking of the ramp.
Nice playing, thank you.
Ibanez make great basses. Super Hi Fi. Solid and clear. And a sleek shape as well. I don't mind the thin neck on the 4, but on the 5's the string spacing is a bit tight, though on that one it looks okay.
Hi Scott thanks for helping keep the bass flame burning for us all. I have a Rick 4003 fretless. Red stain with all gold hardware including a Badass 2 bridge. Its a my wow bass. I open the case and everyone goes "wow!" Lol Keep on Slappin the Bass Mon!
That black magic camera is amazing!!!
Badass.....mega.
Loved it. I just bought a 25th anniversary and it is a very fast bass.
Sounds very good. 😊 👍
Killin that bass Scott!
Beautiful bass
If you're going to be someone's Fanboy, Gary Willis is a good choice.
Completely agree!
Hell yeah dude. Personally I'm a linus klausenitzer fanboy but gary Willis is right up there
No doubt I'm actually considering getting one of the all black versions
Wow. Great tone.
Holy crap that’s a massive house
sounds great
That gorgeous Fodera bass in the back is just staring at me
i love my ibanez bass, its pretty underrated by the people
Don't know what you talking about, bunch of people playing Ibanez all over the world.😐
Ibanez basses do seem to not be considered the go-to ones when people talk about their favorite basses or dream basses, but they do get recommended a lot as great bang for the buck basses for all price ranges, as well as having some of the fastest necks (thin, narrow, smooth, low action) and relatively light in weight.
I love Ibanez basses so much (for the reasons I mentioned above) that three out of five of all my basses are Ibanez (SR650E, SRH500F, and Mikro).
got two different sound gear basses and the necks are just... pure bliss
Even the cheaper ones are awesome.
@@LunatiqueRob exactly it
I love my NS Design CR5 fretless bass, new this year.
David Leikam I have one of those but plan on selling it. It’s not practical for my needs but it’s a great instrument.
I am not a bass player. Doing some keys, drums and guitar. Yes, I had a bass in my hands. But I love to listen to your stories, love the passion you put into your job and mostly enjoy your music.
🧡🧡🧡
I'd like to Wish Scott/All His Family Member's/Loved One's & All Who Tune Into His Much Appreciated/Helpful & Insightful UA-cam Uploads A Very Merry Christmas for 2019...
And Also A Happy New Year To All Of You For 2020...
All The Best...
Sláinte
Of course it is, it;s that awesome Gary Willis sig!
That little sofa in Scott's studio is from Ikea, I've got one
you should publish a video on how to get a great fretless setup, I've been trying for years to get my fretless jazz bass to get a nice mwah sound but nothing seems to get it right
Kai den Hertog I agree, I love the “dirty” setup vlog that Scott did with his other bass and would love to see a video of something like that with a fretless!
the thinnier strings, the more mwah comes in.
You neither have to coat your fingerboard with epoxy nor have to use thin strings! Only the "bass of doom" of Jaco Pastorius had epoxy on the fingerboard to avoid abrasion due to a lot of playing, and my Fenix Jazz Fretless l now play for ages (and who is pretty similar to your Fender Jazz) does even more "mwah" with .45 - 105 strings after I got the 40 - 100 set off the bass. There are some pretty special frettless basses that come with a steel fingerboard (like LeFay), but every other frettless bass I know and played has a stock wooden fingerboard - and enough "mwah".
Just do a normal setup with the average bow of the neck, but do measure (eyeball) the relieve between string and fingerboard. Then straighten the neck by tightening the truss rod in small steps, an 1/8 turn (or even less) of the truss rod nut will be enough, until you get the ammount of "mwah" you want to have.
It is possible that you have to go back and forth with some minor adjustments until you have the ammount of "mwah" you desire.
The mwah is in the fingers and how you play
John Neff - Bass No, you don't. You simply need a quality setup with the fingerboard leveled well enough to be able to get a low action and fairly straight neck without choking off notes anywhere on the neck. And round/compression wound strings help, but aren't really necessary. Any tech worth a damn will make your dreams come true for cheap-ish, but it's frankly WAY too easy to achieve with minimal tools at home to justify paying someone in my eyes. There are hundreds of youtube videos on the subject, and lots of folks on the forums have posted detailed how-tos and will be happy to help should you choose to tackle it yourself.
cool , yes that is cool , i want one too !!!!!
That's an EHX Freeze at the end, isn't it? Love it, and my own.
Tri-Wing tuning heads. They replaced the round tuning knobs (picture a cylinder on axis of the mounting pin for typical tuning pug wings...) he used about 15-ish years ago...
Fender jazz Bass, bridge pickup. The Best ever.
Real beauty i just love fretless basses.
Ibanez really do make nice basses.
I like how he talked up the ramp for a while, then preceded to play directly over the pickup and not the ramp.
Maybe he likes the tone over the pickup, that's the whole idea of the ramp so you can play in different places for tone preference but keep the over the p/u feel
The ramp also gives you a resting place for your thumb if you are playing on the B string
I'm still hung up on the Ibanez TTR35b fretless I heard you play (with four strings?). That's the best-sounding fretless I've ever heard.
Those machine heads are called "fancy schmancy tuners"
Scott, just to clarify better some things in the video. This bass is not ash body but lime body with ash top. And also the diference from this one to the slightly more expensive natural ash body GWB is that this one has Aguilar electronics and the other one uses Bartolini pu's and preamp.
Ever give away left-handed basses?
I just picked up a fretless again after playing mostly fretted bass recently and... it was like "I'm free!" I just find it so much easier. How are those sustained drone notes happening? That's awesome.
The Electro-Harmonix Freeze Sound Retainer pedal
@@paulc2108 Thx! That seems like a cool pedal.
I started off with guitar in 2016 and started playing bass last year. The only bass I play is a fretless Stagg Fusion and now I feel extremely weird every time I play the regular, fretted one.
They need to make a lefty version! Awesome video!
Ibanez has always been better about that than other companies have. i'd be somewhat surprised if they didn't make one for us.
I ordered one in Canada from Ibanez and the ETA is May 2020...unbelievable...
The fretless sounds really good, but you should mention the reverb and delay that you are using
it sounds like an Electro Harmonix Freeze pedal. in the Latch mode, one or more notes can be held indefinitely. check out the demos on You Tube. there are other brands of the "sound retainer" too.
Is that delay you’re using at the beginning?
Ibanez make excellent fretless basses. Every single one of them sound great. I’m planning on getting a fretless BTB for Christmas.
i feel like ibanez is so underrated
by the way greetings from Germany
Tuna machineheads sounds like a band name
Where is your glove ?
Cort really do make some great basses.
I feel like there must be something more practical than drawings of frets. the high dots seem like an improvement at least
0:53 me when i play a wrong note on the bass
Presentation starts at 3:12
Playing starts at 4:45
I have been looking into cameras for my channel but the protective case for the black magick cost as much as the camera I bought myself for my birthday,79,95. that camera is 13 hundred dollars and it is a compact, holly shit! Between cameras, computers mics. and shit I been using the same strings for three months damn shit is expensive and I'm not monetized, great thing I switched to D&R strings! I have been playing a set of low Riders on my 5-string and these things never stretched all out or got wonky! feels like I'm playing piano strings, I love it!
Hey brother l noticed you are not wearing the glove. Has the condition improved for you ?
David Bennett could be in remission
@@EphemeralProductions Possible. Another is that it's a "challenge". I have nerve problems too and do get advice from my docs to try to improve tolerance to certain stimuli that bother me by doing things like using a spiky rubber ball or ice on problem areas. Also, nerve conditions do ebb and flow. Sometimes I'm hardly symptomatic and other times I'm very much so.
Any chance of us getting a masterclass with Thundercat?
Apparently they are Gotoh tuners designed specifically by Gary. Some of the other specs include:
Basswood body, ash top
Detachable finger ramp (Willis ramp)
3-piece maple neck, GWB profile
Ebony fingerboard, 305mm radius, 24 fret lines, offset dot markers
34" scale length; 45mm nut
Ibanez Standard bass bridge, 16.5mm string spacing
Aguilar DCB humbucking pickup
Master volume control
Bass and treble controls
Gotoh tuning machines
Dual-action truss rod, headstock access
And it retails for $1,199.99 on Sweetwater (don't know what that is in pounds, sorry). ;-)
Could you explain your effects setup? The echo is obvious, but what else are you using to shape your sound (other than the technique in your hands)?
You sound good on that thing!
Thanks for tuning in dude!
hey Scott, how does this bass compare with the black GWB35?
It looks like this one has upgraded pickups via the Aguilar brand, but is the feel and sound similar?
thanks
Great video
Lovely sound
What is the bass name? And effects
Thanks 👍🏼
What kind of reverb are you using at the end?
Sounds like a good promotion to me
Cool thing when Ibanez Willys bass first came up, one innovation was the choice of ASH wood for a fretless bass body...(ash wood bodies of course more associated with slap ready basses). But we know Mr. Gary Willis is NOT defined by tradition. How cool is that?! There`s a freedom in seeing things diferently that I just love. A quality that is not often seen...
Only the top is Ash
GWB 3pc Maple neck
•Ash top/Basswood body
•Ebony fretboard w/Off-set white dot inlay
•Aguilar® DCB bridge pickup
•Aguilar® OBP-2 2-band EQ
•Std. bridge (16.5mm string spacing)
•Black hardware
•String Gauge: .045/.065/.085/.105/.135
1000-1500 bucks, affordable they say, affordable for me is right about like 150-350 dollars
I miss my Pedulla Buzz bass. That was the best I've ever played. Now they are going for 6k used :(
Saw the soccer goal in the back. Go Liverpool!
Slapping seems rather difficult on that bass. However the tone is.something to die for holy shit, the reverb and delay on the bass is breathtaking
Wouldn't recommend slapping on a fretless. It damages the fingerboard over time.
I like the SE type basses but the string spacing is just too tight for me
hey Scott I definity love you vids. I wonder if you have ever played the Ibanez Portamento SRF700 bass because it's underestimated i.m.o. I really would like your opinion about it. It has 2 humbuckers and a bridge piezo (that you can tweak) and it plays like a dream. And price is even cheaper than this one.
Very🆒🎸🔥🔥🔥
please do a review of sandberg panther special fretless
Fretless is so much better than regular
Please can you tell me why is it that you have a Aguilar pickup on your GWB205 and the one I just got has a Bartolini?
4:20 - Anybody know the name of those tuning pegs?
Thanks in advance!
you only find on this G.W. signature bass ! not available solo/set !!!
in an older "talk bass chat" they say the knobs sells Gary himself on his website...
Sounds great Scott !! What a sweet bass . But Scott please answer : What is the echo effect you plugged into the bass here to get that beautiful large sound ? Thanks 🎸👍
TC Flashback delay!
I respect bass, i love it although i am a guitarist. But i believe there is nothing like the frets on an instrument.