Top 10 Metal Fretless Bassists

The sound of fretless bass became one of my most favorite sounds. This instrument usually creates that smooth “bwoww” sound but it can also create a sad, crying "muwahh" sound that is good for some sad parts in the songs.

Fretless bass is most often used in death metal - progressive and technical death metal, in particular. Fretless bass is harder to play than the fretted bass so the guys on this list are very talented. And I guess they practiced a lot. Talent + hard work.

The Top Ten

1 Steve Di Giorgio

His double neck bass enables him switch easier between fretless and fretted (standard) bass at live shows. The upper neck on the image is fretted, the lower one is fretless.

2 Jeroen Paul Thesseling

3 Dominic "Forest" Lapointe

Band: Beyond Creation (Canadian band, progressive/technical death metal).
His masterful playing takes the modern fretless bass playing to its extreme.
Albums: The Aura (2011), Earthborn Evolution (2014)
Song: Omnipresent Perception (youtube video: Beyond Creation - Bass Video - Omnipresent Perception)

4 Robin Zielhorst

5 Joe Lester

6 Sean Malone

7 Johan De Farfalla

He played bass for Opeth only on 2 albums, one of them is Morningrise (1996).

8 Brandon Giffin

Band: The Faceless (Progressive/Technical Death Metal/ Technical Deathcore)
album: Planetary Duality (2008)

9 Linus Klausenitzer

10 Holger

The Contenders

11 Aggelos 'Trelos'

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