Do you go both ways?

Upright and electric .

Have never tried a fretless.

Been looking for a cheap one, Squier has a one but it has jazz bass electrics. I was hoping to get precision one, as I already have a jazz bass.

But one day I try one out.

I love the sound of Cello and Violin. Couldn't play one if I tried, well I did try a violin one time of 50 years ago and it was painfully excruciating to listen to. Have only played a fretless once. I was in a local music store checking out some basses for a cousin. One was an Ibanez that played nicely. I played it without effort then as I was putting it up I realized it was a Lined fretless. Guess I was looking at the fretboard with lines LOL. I suspect I would have issues playing an unlined Fretless but would learn over time. I do not own one though. Also, I highly respect those who read and play by music. I am very slow at it and almost entirely play by ear.

I really don’t think that the fretless is difficult to play. It may seem a little intimidating at first but if your fretless is the same scale as your fretted bass 15 to 20 minutes ought to have you dialed in.

I’ld love to be able to play the upright, the damage I did to my left hand back in 2012 may be a problem. As I’ve mentioned before my hand surgeon did and said every thing he could to convince me that the damage to my hand would make it impossible to play any instrument. However it may impede my ability to play the upright, the few times i gave it a try it wan’t too much of a problem, but that’s not any real indication of actually using the instrument. I’ve been looking for a rental or to borrow one for a month to really check it out. I’m not sure I could play the same bass lines I can on the guitar style basses. Around here most upright players are doing folk and mountain music, which I think I could handle, but for more than a half hour I don't know.

If you’ve ever tried to play an Ashbory or a fretless Kala (uke) type bass, it’s not hard at all to nail intonation, you’d think it would be with the shorter scale length. One thing I have noticed, I don’t get as many guys asking to sit in when I’m playing fretless.

Squire fretless jb with a laurel fingerboard, love it to death. Didn't expect it to grow on me like it did, small neck and all, but when I feel the need to practice or play along, the fretless comes out most of the time. I've been a complete sucker for that sound since when.

“ in my mind I thought it was a fretted instrument I didn't tell myself I couldn't play it”

Usually we don’t play “on” the fret, we finger somewhere between two frets or the nut and fret. When you played the lined fretless most likely your fingers just shifted to the point of intonation, the lines probably just removed the stress or second guessing. The fretless really isn’t difficult. On my home builds I just have side markers at the point of intonation. I’ll play the set “in tune” to find out at the break that the bass was out of tune, making the micro adjustments unconsciously.

On the 20” scale, or what ever the Ashbory is, it does get squirrelly past the 7th or 9th fret, just rolling your finger can be a 1/4 to 1/2 step. Their fun, I wish I would of kept mine.  It was those silicone strings I lost patience with. Not long after it was gone, I meet Owen Holt and his Pahoehoe strings. Though now I’m using the Aquila “Thunder Gut”, they don’t seem quite as tacky.

Victor Wooten convinced me their is no such thing as a wrong note, it’s what you do next that either makes it work or crashes. Fundamentally it comes down to not screwing up the groove, keep the beat play whatever note you want in transition, make your way back to the root. It takes some practice but it works. A while back at a rehearsal we had just finished a tune, Brownie, our mandolin/vocalist, was staring at me, he asked me “what was that Jazz rif you threw in there”  I didn’t know what he was talking about, then recalled that at one of the bridges I screwed up, I started laughing, I wasn’t aware of of what I did until Brownie pointed it out.  I said to Brownie, if you hear me breaking into a jazz it’s just me screwing up and trying to find my way back home. In a serious voice he said you need to do more of that. Thank you Victor.

RIP Brownie, miss you brother.

Glad you found your way to the low end Laker. Wife plays sax. I started on guitar(mediocre at best) and in 2004 found bass and fell in love and been down hill ride from there. I found my niche so to speak. At my age I too don't really care to devote the time to anything but a fretted bass