Why fretless, Steve?

[NicholasDWolfwood]

Hey Steve,

I was just wondering why you decided to start playing a fretless as your primary bass. Fretless isn't often used in metal, however you defy many other "rules" of metal with stand-out bass playing and using a tenor 5-string and whatnot. But, why did you decide to start fretless?

I'm also a bass player, as I've documented here in the past couple of months, and your work (along with Jaco Pastorius's work) was why I decided to make the jump to a fretless bass. I'm just wondering why you did it?

Jason

 

[Disincarnate]

thi is kinda off topic but i would also like to ask that did you need to make some truss rod adjustments when you replaced the low b with high c

i recently got my self a high c string so should i make any adjustments with my truss rod for my 5 string bass?

 

[HippieOfDoom]

I wish I had some profound answer to why fretless became my primary bass. It's just a simple - "because I like the sound of it." That's it man. I learned bass from a contrabass (stand up bass, acoustic, doublebass, whatever) so lack of frets was actually commonplace for me. With contrabass or cello or violin you learn the notes by position not from lines and dots. And the positioning on the electric bass was easier for me than upright, so there was no transition period for me. And incorporating it in metal was the exact same task as incorporating myself and my style in metal. Just play it normal, but utilize the sounds it has over fretted.
It's true I string up the five stringers with high C instead of low B. I didn't make any changes to the bass when I did it. No truss rod adjustment needed, unless the neck is bowed or curved and twisted. The nut is a little wider for the normally thicker strings, but this dropped the strings lower to the neck and that's the way I like it. Almost laying right on the fingerboard, and yes; buzzing and clicking away. It's part of my sound and if I ever play a bass where the action is too high I'd rather go shoot arrows with it rather than play the bass line to "Mamma's Got A New Washtub" on it.
SDG

 

[MaskedJackal]

Interesting, Steve. In regards to the action, I did notice that your strings were really close to the fingerboard when I was watching you set up at Deathfest.

 

[Disincarnate]

thanx Steve

 

[NicholasDWolfwood]

The nut is a little wider for the normally thicker strings, but this dropped the strings lower to the neck and that's the way I like it. Almost laying right on the fingerboard, and yes; buzzing and clicking away. It's part of my sound and if I ever play a bass where the action is too high I'd rather go shoot arrows with it rather than play the bass line to "Mamma's Got A New Washtub" on it.
SDG

Why the decision to play with the insanely low slap/click action? Just a characteristic in the sound/playing, or was there more to it? I've never played an upright before so I have no idea how it compares to a fretless electric bass.