What is the correct way to use your left hand on a fretless bass guitar?

Question

I just recently bought a used fretless bass ($200 for a Schecter Diamond series = can't pass up) and it is the first fretless bass I have ever owned. The neck has fret inlays & markings, so it's an easy step into the fretless world for me.

I was wondering about my left hand placement. Should I tune & play the bass so that the notes are in tune at the center of the fret or at the fret bar to the right of the fret?

Answer 1

I'm pretty sure you have to tune your bass to standard tuning. EADG so in order to play the notes in tune you'd have to put your finger on your left hand at the fret bar. If you wanted to play the notes at the center of the fret you would have to tune your bass accordingly, not a good idea IMO.

On a standard bass even though you put your finger in between two frets, its the fret itself that shortens the string, making the note, so you have to mimic the fret with your finger on a fretless instrument.

Answer 2

The correct way to play a fretless bass is to play by ear rather than by eye. So just tune the empty strings and then place your fingers in such a way that is sounds good. I recommend practising in darkness every once in a while^†, that removes the temptation.

If you try this and then look at what you're doing, you will (provided the markings are correct) find out yourself that the fingers should be placed right on top of the fret markings, not between them as you would do on a fretted bass; so that's what you should aim at when you're forced to play by eye (for instance when you're playing live and can't hear yourself properly).

^† I don't say you should do this all the time. It's not bad to use your eyes to find the right hand positions (and to notice when the hand is drifting out of position), but the fingers should be placed by feel / by ear.

Answer 3

All bass guitars should be tuned so that the open strings center on defined tones (usually [B]EADG[C], but drop-D and other tunings are common). This is true regardless of whether the instrument is fretted or fretless.

Then, making sure you're in tune on a fretless instrument (whether that's a fretless bass guitar or a double bass) is about hearing the note you're playing more than looking at the fretboard.

If you have fretlines on your fretless bass, you will normally find yourself putting your fingers either over or just behind the fretlines to get the note in tune. This is very similar to the proper technique on a fretted bass; you place the finger just behind the fret, which allows for buzz-free notes without bending the string sharp due to overpressure. As such, it's a good place to start when learning fretless bass.

However, many fretless basses have no fretlines; then it's purely by ear and by feel. The only hint you will get about relative position is in the harmonic points placed on the side of the neck (these are usually still present even on unlined fretless basses). The harmonic point should be right on that marker, unlike in fretted and lined fretless instruments where the dot is in the middle of the space just behind the fret or fretline that is the actual harmonic point.