Latest
Why Fretless?
Since Jaco Pastorius in the mid seventies, fretless bass guitar has become popular not only in fusion and jazz, but in all kinds of music.We have to admit that since the death of Jaco at the end of the eighties, defining a voice on this instrument has been a challenge”.
Of course, Jaco had an incredible talent, and after him there haven’t been a lot of fretless players who have been able to find their own voice on this instrument as Jaco did. There was a time you could be accused of being a “Jaco clone” if you were simply just “playing” fretless. I see this is a very interesting problem, because it’s all about the music, not just the bass. It goes without saying that it’s easier to copy someone than finding your own voice, and I’ve always felt that finding your own voice, even on fretless is totally reachable. Let’s talk about that as well as other reasons to consider fretless.
One of the first reasons to consider playing fretless, for all bass players, is that it will develop your ear. It’s actually worse in my opinion to be out of tune on a fretless bass than an acoustic bass. The sound of the upright is deeper than the sound of the bass guitar, and with the acoustic tone, it’s seems to be OK even if you’re not perfectly in tune… I’m exaggerating just a little bit.
On the electric fretless, you can hear everything… absolutely everything. If you’re not perfectly in tune, it just sounds terrible! Each time I record something, I become a sort of maniac with making sure I’m in tune.
So in that sense, once again, playing fretless will develop you ear. For me, bad intonation is simply just not acceptable, and that being said, you’ll see how the fretless will make you more humble.
The second thing to consider is realizing that bass guitar is a very young instrument, as well as the fretless. When you chose to play upright (for example), you’re playing an instrument, which has a tradition of several centuries. And it’s sometimes difficult to break away from tradition.
Bass guitar is only 57 years old (if you take the 51′ Fender Precision as reference). Its life span in comparison is very short. All of the reasons why Leo Fender created the Precision, then the Jazz Bass are still good reasons (portability, playability, precision of sound…)
A lot of us still carry the concept of fretless as a “Jaco” thing… but there are so many other possibilities. The concept for bass guitar is in a permanent state of evolution, as well as the players themselves.
I began bass guitar and upright bass almost at the same time (13 years old). But at the age of 20, I decided to concentrate exclusively on bass guitar, because of the reasons above… I still love the sound of the upright (my favorite upright player is Charlie Haden). Maybe I will play some upright again, just for my own pleasure… but I’m still, and will always be a bass, contrabass and sub-bass guitarist.
If you consider also the extended range basses, which are still something very new, you can see that there are so many variations for a fretless bass guitar. And some of those variations are just impossible to achieve with an acoustic instrument. The “sub” register is close to impossible to reproduce with an upright bass. You would have to consider the giant one which is called the “Octobass”, which was used for some of Hector Berlioz’s symphonic work in the nineteen century!
I’ve made the choice 6 years ago to develop my sub-bass concept. My fretless sub-bass has a low E, one octave below standard, and the biggest bass I use (the 12 string) even has the low B one octave below standard.
My song “Holy Spirit” was composed on an 8 string fretless sub-bass. I still feel that at this point in time I don’t have any clichés with this instrument. I was just concentrating on the music… and I was discovering my own voice!
Please click below to listen to my song “Holy Spirit”
from the album “Carbonne Di Piazza Manring” and
then click on NEXT PAGE to continue reading
A fourth reason, I feel the fretless bass can be a more expressive instrument than a fretted bass.
The possibilities of phrasing on fretless are endless. On fretted, obviously, there are possibilities as well, but you’re limited by the fret. You can extend the pitch of a note going up (making a bend), but not going down.
Conclusion: I recommend exploring fretless to every bassist. It’s difficult, but it can give you an incredibly powerful melodic voice that you might not have experienced yet.
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
FEATURED @bacchusguitars @franz.bassguitars @mendesluthieria @ramabass.ok @meridian_guitars @adamovicbasses @shukerbassguitars @fantabass.it @andys_vintage_guitars @valdesbasses
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
FEATURED @murraykuun_guitars @ja.guitars @combe_luthier @overloadguitars @kevinhidebass @franz.bassguitars @indra_guitars @petercrowdesign @baboomin_bass @jcrluthier
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
FEATURED @sandbergguitars @benevolent_basses @rayriendeau @olintobass @wonkorbasses @bite.guitars @adamovicbasses @maruszczyk_instruments @skervesenguitars @ramabass.ok
Photo: Self-portrait by Melissa Auf Der Maur
Melissa Auf Der Maur is a Canadian bassist who played with Tinker, Hole, and The Smashing Pumpkins. She released her own work and is a photographer with photos published in Nylon, Bust, and National Geographic. She released her ‘90s Rock Memoir “Even The Good Girls Will Cry” on 17 March 2026.
KB: Did you always want to be a singer-musician growing up?
I’ve played music my whole life. In school, I played trumpet and sang in a children’s choir, so music was always within me. My mother was the first female disc jockey on the Montreal airwaves; her record collection played a huge role in my inspiration and love of music.
KB: When did you start playing bass, and why this instrument?
When I was 19, the early 90s music explosion began to percolate in tiny clubs around the world. I was lucky to be a ticket girl at Montreal’s underground music club. In one year, I saw Hole, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, White Zombie, and The Breeders – all had female bass players. That’s when the seed was planted. By the age of 22, I was the bass player of Hole.
KB: Which brands of basses have you used in your career, and which one are you using now?
The first bass that I learned on was a vintage Squier Precision. Hole was sponsored by Fender guitars, so I upgraded to Fender Custom Shop Precisions. That is all I play, but I have a cool vintage 8-string Greco that I use on recordings to thicken up guitar parts.
KB: What equipment do you use or have you used with your basses?
Ampeg SVT amps and cabinets, a couple of Sans-Amp pedals, and that is it.
KB: How did you become a member of Hole, and what is your fondest memory of that time?
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins was helping scout a replacement for (RIP) Kristen Pfaff, Hole’s bass player. My band, Tinker, opened for them on the Siamese Dream tour, so Billy had seen me play and could vouch for me. Courtney trusted her talented friend, and that was it. I initially said “no thank you” due to my commitment to my photographic studies and the drama and chaos surrounding the band during the “Live Through This” album release. Courtney took it as a good sign that I said no, so convinced me to reconsider, and soon after, I accepted their invitation, in the name of helping put females in the male-dominated landscape of rock music. My fondest memory is every show we played as a mostly female band, symbolizing what a woman could do in a rock band. Every show had a purpose: get more women to play music.
KB: You are a photographer as well. What makes a great picture? Do you shoot in color or b/w?
I started shooting photographs at age 15. Initially only shot black & white and worked in the art school darkroom. In university, I took a color photography course, and shifted mostly and forever to that, because it was easier to process film on the road when I joined a rock band. I experimented with many cameras, point and shoots, manual, polaroids, medium format, and vintage finds. The trick to a good photograph is to shoot many and all the time – the magic is in the edit and selection process.
KB: Are there artists you would love to collaborate with or wish you had?
??I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite musicians in my career. I would still love to collaborate with a new generation heavy electronic artist on an analog bass, heavy electronic drums, and synths collaboration project. Take me out of my usual zone, merging the past and future: my love of 80s dark new wave and new artists exploring that genre. It was very futuristic back then, and we are now, after all, living in the future. I am in the mood to play bass to heavy beats I want to dance to.
KB: What are your 7 favorite bass lines in music across all genres? And why these 7?
“Mountain Song” – Jane’s Addiction (love a rambling, rolling bass line – feels like the ocean waves)
“Black Top – Helmet” (was the first bass line I taught myself)
“Gold Dust Woman” – Hole from “The Crow 2” Soundtrack (it was my first bass line contribution to the band)
“Get Ready” – The Temptations (Motown just feels so good, because of the bass)
“Lucretia My Reflection” – Sisters of Mercy (makes me want to hit the dance floor and play bass simultaneously)
“Be My Druidess” – Type O Negative (full chord bass playing at its best by iconic, demonic, Peter Steele, RIP)
“Romantic Rights” – Death from Above (1979 – unique distorted overdriven tone, combined dance rhythm and melodic intelligence, all in one shot – also! Shout out to a bass & drum only band, which is awesome, and we should have more of, but the bass player needs to be a killer to fill that role.
KB: What are you currently up to?
Releasing my ‘90s Rock Memoir “EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY”. Visceral healing process, it was to get it out of me and write it, but I suspect the real magic will begin by putting it into the world and reflecting with others on what the magic of the ‘90s was all about. Powerful music decade that carried us into what is now a brave new world of digital corporate weirdness – may the past shed a light on our future. That’s my hope for this book release and tour.
Visit online:
Official Website
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Spotify
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
FEATURED @marleaux_bassguitars @jonesbasses @elegeecustom @vlcekbasses @stradiluthier @bassviolinshop @overloadguitars @sadowskybasses @ramabass.ok @alpherinstruments
Gear News: Fender Unveils Highly Anticipated Vintera III Series
New Music: Oteil Burbridge & Lamar Williams Jr. New Single, Hush
Interview With Bassist Virginia Franks
Nathan East, Echoes of a Lineage – April/May 2026 Issue
Gear Review: Italia Leather Straps
Feb 16 Edition – This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
Feb 23 Edition – This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
Mar 2 Edition – This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
Mar 9 Edition – This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram