Okay, so here’s a mini lesson in bass guitar history.
We tend to take the bass guitar for granted, but actually, the popular use of bass in popular music is only about 100 years old. In orchestras and bigger bands, the bass parts were played on a tuba.
Around 1926, the double bass (sometimes called a “bull violin”) started to take over the bass parts. The double bass rapidly became popular in jazz and bluegrass and so on.
In 1951, Leo Fender changed the music world with the introduction of the Fender Precision Bass. Unlike the double bass, it had frets (like a guitar) and was called a ‘Precision’ because the frets enabled bass players to play the notes precisely, and more easily than a double bass.
Fretted basses then became the standard in many genres.
However, by the late 60s, some players (like Bill Wyman) and manufacturers (Ampeg) experimented with an electric bass with no frets.
But probably the biggest game-changer of all was Jaco Pastorius who created the “Bass of Doom” in the 70s by removing the frets from his 1962 Fender Jazz Bass and filling the gaps with epoxy resin. The resulting sound (combined with his incredible ability of course) added a whole new dimension to the evolution of the electric bass.
Most fretless basses have lines where the frets would be, or dot markers.
Ever since, fretless bass has been used by multiple players of many genres. Whilst it’s by not as popular as fretted bass (partly as it’s more difficult to master), it has a distinct and fantastic tone that sounds like nothing else.
Promenade Music try to stock a few fretless basses at all times. Do get in touch with our bass department on 01524 410202 if you have something in mind.
