Follow You Follow Me - First time with a fretless bass

“Follow You Follow Me” is a legendary track, but even more legendary is its bassist, Leland Sklar. I’ve decided to “follow” Leland on bass, but of course, I didn’t want to make it easy for myself. I went for a fretless bass. Even though you can see the fret lines, they’re just painted on—there are actually no frets. And man, playing a fretless bass is a real challenge; I only realized that once I picked it up and started playing. It’s a bit like riding a bike for the first time… without training wheels. Every slight movement of your finger on the string changes the note, either up or down. Honestly, the first day was intimidating—I almost gave up and decided to play the song on a fretted bass. But you can’t give up (and by the way, it was smart to have the fret markers for now—they help a lot. One day, though, I’ll take those “training wheels” off). That said, I discovered that I love the sound of the fretless, and more than that, I love playing it—even more than a fretted bass. Playing it is incredibly satisfying. The strings and neck feel soft and smooth, almost frictionless. It’s an experience you really have to feel. And then there’s this tone, almost like a viola da gamba or an upright bass. Every time, it’s a huge emotional thrill. To make things even more interesting, I couldn’t find the extended version of this song on iTunes, so I had to work with Leland’s own recording, which means you can actually hear him at times. Later, I plan to get some decent software to separate the instruments and clean things up. For now, the journey is steep, and there’s still so much to learn. But next, I’m moving on to another song. If you want to follow Leland, he has his own YouTube channel, and if you’re a bassist, it’s an absolute must—at least in my opinion. Thanks for listening, and forgive any mistakes. I’ll keep improving, I promise.”