S/D: Fretless Electric Bass

the dude from pinback

Thought I heard some on Sexatant by Herbie Hancock but I probably didn't right? And maybe that's fusion? Don't know. It's great anyway.

Rick Danko could rock a fretless pretty great, but other than that they're kinda fruity.

Most Lou Reed after a certain point.
not sure if that's search or destroy.

Laurence O'Keefe has provided a serviceable fretless bass to a number of shoegaze/4AD concerns (Heidi Berry, The Hope Blister,Levitation, etc.)...

34 minutes and noone's mentioned Mick Karn.

Colin Moulding on English Settlement

David J hade some great fretless slides in Bauhaus.

tony levin with his signature fretless
http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/TOWN8019/MyStorage/New%20From%20EB%20page/6.%20Tony%20Levin.Disquieter.jpg

The dude from "Death" played a fretless, not that you could usually tell.

Mick Karn is the obvious one, my favourite bit of his is on Bill Nelson's "Chimera" mini-alb.

Jaco Pastorius totally awesome, esp on Joni Mitchell "Hejira"

Obvious choices I guess, but they're the obv picks for a reason, THEY'Re GREAT.

"A Remark You Made" by Weather Report (Jaco Pastorius) is the key track here.

wtf is a Lifestyle Music Festival

combination record/wife swap meet...

Patrick O'Hearne with Zappa, esp. "The Purple Lagoon" and "Rubber Shirt."

japan, mick karn... unbelievable!

ha! shows how thoroughly i read the thread..

i really dislike fretless most of the time. the metal band stargazer (from australia) uses one, though, and it's an interesting contrast. sort of adds a little bit of flowing melodicism to their harsh death metal thing.

s Percy Jones

MICK KARN MICK KARN MICK KARN I LOVE MICK KARN.

Sorry... came over all bimble for a moment there, ahem.

I'd just like to say MICK FUCKING KARN thanks. Also, Don't Stop Believing.

Jaco seconded.

Also, Steve DiGiorgio is the guy who played some really exquisite fretless bass on Death's Human and Individual Thought Patterns, making these some of the most original later-day deathmetal-albums.

I'd say "Patrick South to thread," but...

Fretless bass playing + Japan/Mick Karn/Percy Jones/Ippu-Do/Masami Tsuchiya/YMO/Ryuichi Sakomoto/Bill Nelson

A fine thread was that one.

I liked Austin dude from Glass Eye named Brian Beattie, I think.

they can be used for good. but on the whole the fretless bass has long been a force of evil in the universe. it's not uncommon to see the fretless wandering across the plains of a guitar center, accompanied by its close friend, the ponytail douchebag.

i strongly disagree about jaco on hejira too, he almost ruins it for me. and weather report is just terrible.

danko could def. rock one, and i'm sure there's a few other good examples. but hell rick danko could do about anything, he was a superman.

The dude from "Death" played a fretless, not that you could usually tell.

-- John Justen, Friday, August 17, 2007 2:41 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

That was the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread title for some reason. I liked his playing on "The Philosopher" and wanted to hear more like that.

There's either fretless or synthetic fretless on the first Vanessa Daou record, which rules.

"I liked Austin dude from Glass Eye named Brian Beattie, I think."

Awww, that's terrific. Brian is a swell person, a great bass player and Glass Eye were a tremendous band. He's a pretty good producer, too. Did the Okkervil River records.

"Most Lou Reed after a certain point."

Fernando Saunders, bay-bee!

Howbout that guy who played on Paul Simon's Graceland? He and the accordionist made that rec worth listening to (for me anyways.)

Saunder's fretless bass sounds really good on the song "New Sensations" slinking around on that basic drum machine beat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPkVt7U0Gvs

Flashy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryxmftgV-OI