vesterberg.se

Last week I picked up my fretted Warwick 5-string Streamer bass again. For some six months I have played fretless exclusively. Why? Because I fell in love with the tone, the expressiveness and I figured that if I played all sorts of music for a while, it would help me to get real fluent on fretless. Anyway, it was an interesting experience to play fretted again. It felt like I had cleaned up my technique quite a bit.

After having been forced to have my fingers on left hand exact on the right spot, now my fingers fell naturally close behind the fret and the result was a fuller and clearer tone. Imagine that you push the string 45 degrees down in the crack between the fret and the fretboard. This will give a clear sound with a minimum of fret buzz.

After having been forced to listen closely to get the right intonation, now my ears felt bigger. I could hear more details of each note I played.

Also, I appreciate the clear tone of a fretted bass and the ability to control attack and note length and to funk out real bad. It is just like this; each instrument has its place.