PINO PALLADINO answers readers' questions on the hitting, sliding, bending and shaping of the fabulous fretless bass, while Tony Bacon makes rapid notes. Send your questions for other Famous Playing Persons to the editorial address or the One Two Helpline ((Contact Details)).

I'm about to buy a new bass and am wondering about the pros and cons of fretless. What advice does Pino have, and what made him choose to play fretless? (John Grahame, Malvern Wells, Worcs.)

"Personally I prefer the sound of fretless. Even if I play a sort of fretted part with no slides or anything I actually prefer the sound of a fretless, it's very warm. The sound 'swells' on a fretless, the quality is all in the decay of the sound. On a fretted it's very much attack, but not much sustain — to do with the string against metal rather than against wood.

"I made no big decision about fretless, I just thought I'd have a go at it, about five years ago. I had a fretted Precision for about six months before I bought a fretless. I didn't really use it — I played it a little bit, but never used it on a session — until I did my stint with Gary Numan and he specifically wanted fretless bass. That Precision was a good fretless, but I didn't realise it at the time. I sold it and bought a Kramer because it looked fashionable with its aluminium neck. It seemed OK in the shop but it turned out to be a mistake, I soon got rid of it. It didn't sing, didn't have the sustain you need. Then I bought my Music Man in New York, which I still use. I knew it was right as soon as I picked it up, and it still is.

"I think part of the reason I took up fretless may have been the influence of the synth bass parts on Stevie Wonder's 'Talking Book' LP, that's beautiful. And another early influence was John Martyn — Danny Thompson's double bass was having an effect on me even before I thought about playing bass, it must have gone in sub-consciously somewhere."

What should I look for when choosing a fretless bass? Is it, for example, good to have fingerboard markers or side markers, or to have a cambered fingerboard? (P Martin, Tamworth, Staffs.)

"I think in a way that a fretless has to be better made than a fretted, particularly the neck and fingerboard. But I would definitely suggest you listen for something that sounds good acoustically, you should be able to hear the warmth like that. I can pick up a bass and play it without an amp and feel whether it's going to sound good plugged in.

"I don't think its essential to have fret markers. Personally I'd never get by if I didn't have dots on the edge — it gets very sticky otherwise! I find markers are actually confusing. The dot on a normal fretless without markers is right on the note, but on a marked bass the dot is in the middle of the frets. It's a matter of choice, but I prefer side dots and a clear neck — in a way a clear neck seems to make you play a little differently, in that there are no lines for you to 'follow'... you just sort of find things by yourself.

"I've got a Pedula bass that I bought in New York from the same person in the same shop where I got my Music Man, so I thought it had to be some sort of omen. That has fret markings. I used it for a few things on the last Paul Young album, mostly for the higher, flashy stuff. It does help to have fret markers when you're doing that sort of thing. So if you want to play solos much on the bass I'd say that fret markers are a good idea. For general use, though, I'd stick to side dots.

"The camber of the neck doesn't bother me — the Pedula, for instance, has got quite a camber, but the Music Man hasn't. I've never even thought about it, and so I don't think it can affect the way you play."

What's the easiest way of tuning a fretless bass? (Gary Husband, Sunderland.)

"I usually do it with harmonics, but of course a tuner makes it really easy. On stage I use the Boss chromatic tuner (TU120), where you don't even have to set a note, you just play a string and it'll tell you how near you are. It doesn't respond too well to the low notes, but if you just use harmonics it's fine. I tune with the harmonic from the fifth 'fret' on the lower string matching the seventh 'fret' on the higher string, in pairs across the neck. It's not totally accurate because the seventh fret will always be a tiny bit sharp. But it's hardly audible, and I don't worry about it."

I find that when I play open strings on my Precision fretless they sound odd compared to the rest of the fingered notes in the run. Why is this? (Andy Hillman, London N16.)

"I very rarely use open strings; the E occasionally. And it's for that reason — they don't sing like the 'fretted' notes, and it's to do with the open string resting in the nut, whereas the fingered notes use the warmth of the wood to make the note. I think I became aware of this difference in sound as I did more sessions — studio engineers are very touchy about consistency of sound, and as soon as you hit an open string it jumps out. It's really a matter of reworking the run."

I have trouble keeping my lines in tune on my fretless bass. Are there any short cuts to improvement in this area? (Tony Wilkie, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.)

"There are definitely no short cuts. What I do regularly is to play a scale up and down, two octaves, and go through each note very slowly to make sure they're all in tune. It can be even more helpful to do that with a chromatic tuner, to see just how accurate you are. I work on the problem in that way, but when I come to play I don't worry about the accuracy of my intonation. If I started worrying, I'd play out of tune. The intonation also becomes more critical as you move higher up the neck; the positions obviously get more cramped, so you have to be even more careful up there. It's a good area where private practice can improve your sound."

Is it best on a fretless bass to use vibrato along the string or the usual up-and-down method? And I'm having trouble playing chords on fretless — is it worth persevering? (L Slade, Norwich.)

"Vibrato is much more effective done along the length of the string, rather than the up-and-down type you'd use on a fretted bass. When I do vibrato on fretless I actually move my finger along the string — I don't leave it in position and let the skin do it, I actually move my fingers. But the movement comes from the wrist, and it's important that your thumb stays in the same position on the back of the neck. You don't need to use too much pressure, either.

I never use up-and-down vibrato on fretless — it's harder to do, anyway, because you haven't got the fret to hold the string in position, so it wobbles all over your finger.

"I mainly use two-note chords — or double-stops, as the Americans call them — and I generally go for simple root-and-third shapes. Beyond two notes it's difficult. It's actually very hard to play three notes on a fretless and get them all in tune with each other."

Is Pino still using his Music Man bass, and are these instruments still being made? (Charlie Jacobs, London N7.)

"Yes. I'm still using it. I've found out that Ernie Ball has taken over Music Man.

"The beauty of the Music Man bass to me is its simplicity: just one pickup, which I love, and not a great variation in sound, just a volume, bass pre-amp and treble pre-amp. One of the problems with Music Man is that there were so many differences in the earlier ones: different sized necks, a lot of the bridge positions were different, and some of them, I think just in the first two years, had the strings going through the bridge to the back of the body, like mine, which gives a lot more sustain.

"So Ernie Ball are now making a new fretless for me — and they now have an extra middle pre-amp, too. For me, they're also putting on a D-Tuner thing you can get in the States, a replacement machine head for the E-string that lets you detune to a D or a C by flicking a switch at the headstock (see Shredder November issue). Already in the set with Paul I tune down to D for three of four numbers, so it will be useful. On a similar note, Yamaha have just built me a five-string bass, a one-off, with an extra low string, which I hope to start using soon, although it does take some getting used to with the strings so close together."

I've just started playing an Ibanez fretless bass in addition to my Squier Precision, and wondered how I can incorporate harmonics into the fretless style? (Richard Foreman, Edinburgh.)

"Actually, I think harmonics sound better on my fretless bass for some reason, I don't know why. That's probably partly because my bass sounds good in the first place. One unique thing you can do with fretless is to slide harmonics, and it sounds very good. What you do is to hit a harmonic in the normal way, touching your left finger against the string, plucking it with the right hand, and pulling the left finger away slightly. You let the harmonic sustain for a bit, then press down the string and slide it. The harmonic will then go up or down in pitch as you slide. That's something you can't do on a fretted bass, you'd hear the notes going up. And if you're brave you can slide harmonics within chords, too.

"I tend to use harmonics at the fifth and seventh 'frets' mostly, and there's a good one somewhere between the third and fifth, almost on the fourth. Those are the main ones, and you can get a good range from them by rooting them with various bass notes. Experiment..."

I'm going to get a fretless bass soon. Is it best to play with bare fingers or with a plectrum? (R Hutchings, Lincoln.)

"I always use fingers — I think it's a bit contradictory to use a plectrum. The whole sound of a fretless, as I said earlier, is a warm sound. A plectrum immediately makes it very live and toppy. I don't know any fretless players who use a plectrum, in fact. A plectrum gives you attack, whereas fretless is all about decay."

In the interview in the first issue of One Two Pino Palladino said he was using Ampeg amplification. What does he use now? (Rob Holland, Reading, Berks.)

"That was before I could afford Trace Elliot, ha ha! The Ampeg did a good job, but I've had my Trace Elliot set-up for two and a half years now, and it's never broken down, very solid stuff. In the studio I always DI, hardly ever use amps. But on stage I've got... well, if I said I've got a 'Spinal Tap' bass rig, would you know what I mean? A wall of sound. Over the top. Actually, I think anyone thinking about getting into rock'n'roll should see that film, 'Spinal Tap'. Seriously. We watch it all the time on the tour coach, it keeps us sane.

"Anyway, the first Trace Elliot set-up I had was two 15s, big cabs with two 10s on top. Now I've got four of those, and two 500 watt amps. I blush when I say this — but it is good. I prefer to have the headroom, that's another excuse. And another reason is that with the stage set-up I end up playing about 20 feet from the drummer, so I need a lot of volume. But it is quite expensive stuff.

"For me there are different considerations for amplifying fretted and fretless — if I was playing fretted slap bass most of the time, for instance, then I'd get 10s. They give a definite, tight sound, so I'd get as many as I could afford. But I do like 15s with a fretless, you really get the warmth from them. Trace Elliot used to make my set-up with 12s instead of 10s; they're really cutting but not that punchy. The combination of 15s and backed-off 10s is ideal for me.

"I don't really use any effects live, just my old faithful Boss Octave II. I use that all the time on fretless, although I don't like the sound of it on fretted bass. I use the octave-below setting, and mix the controls so it ends up as one thick sound rather than a distinct octave doubling. That's a great sound for fretless — cheap, too.

"I've tried Harmonizers and even considered taking out a mortgage on an AMS for stage work, but those kinds of machine I've found seem to change the sound too drastically, you tend to lose any character that your original sound may have had. I've given up trying to get my recorded sound on stage anyway — what with different halls and different PAs it's just not worth it. We all started out touring with loads of gear, and have all ended up more or less going straight in these days."