Frank Blank

We need one of @TheGreek‘s ‘use it or lose it’ motivational messages on here...

I miss Paw...

This is the ‘manual’ for the Godin, I have never found anything online that really gave an idea of what it’s really like. If you want to try it through your own amps I’m happy to bring it to you.

I have a fretless Rob Allen Mouse (30” scale) and a fretted Godin A4 (34” scale). I have tried many acoustic basses and the Godin is the best for me. It isn’t particularly loud acoustically but when amplified it retains the characteristics of an acoustic bass in a was none of the others I’ve tried does. The Godin’s on board eq is also detailed and very varied. If you want to try them drop me a PM.

I must admit I’m partial to a twangy pluck.

Cheers @Deedee, I particularly fond of D’Addario strings so they might be just the ticket!

Thanks @HazBeen, man that’s light! Must try them all out!

Thanks @itu, that’s really cool!

My first ‘proper’ bass was a beautiful black Jaydee Supernatural that I purchased from the Bass Centre in Wapping in 1988. Before I start crying about the bass I regret parting with the most I’ll get to the point. When I bought it I asked for it to be restrung, when asked what type/gauge I just said (as a complete novice who didn’t even know why he’d asked for it to be restrung) “The lightest gauge possible please...” While it was being restrung I pondered why I was having it strung with the lightest strings possible when my aim was to play in a heavy/goth band and also why on Earth I’d bought a Jaydee given that same ambition. Anyway I loved the bass and loved those strings too, I have no idea what gauge they were or even what make. My Godin is about due a new set of strings am I’m thinking of going light again, anyone have any recommendations for really light strings? What’s the lightest gauge you’ve ever used?

Bet we could still make a huge noise...

Definitely up for it in whatever form it takes.

Absolutely...

Blimey, you live, you learn, should have just looked st this...

Who doesn’t enjoy a well finished cavity?

Order one from Hot Covers, they don’t list the particular cab you are after but just go to the custom covers section, send them the dimensions of the cab and they will make it up for you. I’ve done this twice, excellent service, really good quality and at a good price. Best covers I’ve ever had.

Attendance & Gear List: 01. Silverfoxnik - BC Rich Eagle, Ander van der End JB5, RBV5, Ampeg V4BH head and matching cabs. 02.Hamster - 03. @Frank Blank Rob Allen Mouse, Godin A4, FRFR setup (QSC K12.2 and Fishman preamp). 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.  15. 16. 17. 18. 19.  20.

So glad you are liking the Mouse and so glad I could be involved with your choice to get one.

Welcome. It took me forty years to get round to learning any scales and it’s beginning to pay off, both in note selections when writing and also in improving my dexterity. This forum has been an incredible resource for me, it’s an extremely reasonable community too, which I think stems from most members realising the forum’s worth. We have the odd spat occasionally, who doesn’t? But don’t ever be put off, it’s invariably solved reasonably and we all get on with contributing to and learning from a great site, enjoy!

Superb, cheers!

I haven't heard a lot of PP's work due to my stupidity as a teenager. The first time I heard him was on the Gary Numan album I, Assassin, on the album previous to this (Dance) Numan had used Mick Karn and I somehow thought Pino had been brought in as a replacement to kind of 'mimic' Karn's style, so, like an idiot, I took against him, suffice to say my loss. Given that rookie error I could now do with some recommendations of good Palladino playing...

Absolutely this. I bend notes like crazy on my fretted bass and I certainly don't use vibrato or slide into notes to cover bad intonation on the fretless, if I'm out I want to know I'm out.

Man alive... That's some frothy playing right there!

Proud electronic girlie right here, just standing up to be counted obviously.

I got as far as counting seventeen apostrophes then my eyes went funny 😳

I definitely lack tenacity, I’m only just beginning to play fretted without looking where my fingers are landing! I play a lot of things high up the neck on both fretted and fretless, it’s even more difficult (for me) to look away up there. I suppose what I really meant with my earlier post was not to be disheartened when you can’t do things more experienced players can but also not to be subservient to an ‘orthodoxy’ that might not suit you, or worse, possibly quash your creativity. I wasn’t saying don’t do what person a) or person b) suggests, by all means try anything and everything until you find a method of practice and style you like. I think your comment about adding things ‘to taste’ is exactly right. I play more slides and vibrato than most people recommend when discussing fretless, I was a bit crestfallen at first when people suggested just playing the fretless like a fretted bass when practicing, yet I do do this when running scales or something. I’m a big Mick Karn fan and his playing was (imho) an absolute fluid celebration of fretless sometimes to the point of abstraction, I remember reading an interview with Japan and then talking about how the band would sometimes rehearse without MK and come up with a song then he’d turn up having come up with a bass line on his own simply inspired by the title of the song, the band would then rewrite the whole thing around his bass line because it was so good. Obviously I’m not saying I’m as great a player as MK, I would consider myself a hapless beginner at best, but I am still inspired by the formative culture of my teenage years as a punk when suddenly I realised that I was free to be creative in any way I wanted. This includes very formal learning, if that’s what you want to do, after all these years I’m going to a bass tutor, loving it and my playing is improving because of it, but I am very careful not to let it impinge on my sometimes unorthodox style that Inthink is rooted in my DIY punk ethos. I’m rambling... I appreciate all the advice on this thread and the rest of BC, if I were a belligerent maverick I’d not read it at all, all I’m saying is do what you want how you want and obviously that includes learning formally if you so wish, just don’t be put off by it.