Sting vividly recalls the first time he played a fretless bass. He'd just arrived in America with guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland to promote the first Police single, Roxanne.

Clad in an all-black cargo jumpsuit, his collar popped as he effortlessly feathered the strings of his bass, Sting was accompanied by Dominic Miller on guitar and Chris Maas in a power-trio lineup ...

1. Sting The lead singer of the British-born band The Police also had a major solo career, all the while plunking away on his bass guitar as he took the microphone to sing about “Fields of Gold.” ...

Then, switching from bass to acoustic guitar for the only time of the night, Sting sang “Fragile,” a gentle, Latin-influenced number that almost always closes out his shows.

Fretted, fretless, double bass, eight-string – Sting was unstoppable on bass, filling up the empty spaces within the trio format of the Police with a variety of lines, from the simple to the ...