Fretless Bass Guitars

For jazz and fusion music, fretless bass guitars add an element unmatched by a standard bass with frets. The purpose of frets on any stringed instrument is to provide you with precision in getting your notes on pitch. In fact, one of the first electric bass guitars was called the Fender "Precision" because the frets made it easy to get the note you wanted.

The fiddle or violin is a fretless instrument. If one slides one's finger along the neck of such an instrument, they can slur the notes together, which is called a glissando. This is impossible with fretted instruments, and it is one reason fretless bass guitars are popular for some types of music.

Because of the lack of frets, the fretless requires precise fingering. Some of them have lines visible where the frets would be if it had frets. These fret lines can help a bassist who was trained on a classic fretted bass guitar. In fact, one of the first fretless basses was invented by a bassist who took the frets out manually and filled the holes with plastic wood, then coated the whole neck with epoxy.

Ibanez is one company that makes fretless bass guitars. Some have five strings instead of four. Fender makes a jazz bass that is fretless as well. Many fretless basses carry a price tag of over $1000, but Rogue makes one that is available for less than $300.

There are acoustic bass guitars on the market, but it is hard to find one that is fretless. The Michael Kelly Co., a relative newcomer on the guitar scene which is gaining fans among guitarists, produces acoustic fretless bass guitars. They go by the name, "Dragonfly," and are available in black or light wood tone and in four or five string models. The neck is embellished with inlaid mother-of-pearl in a fancy design.

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