Frank Blank

In my twenties I was a complete c*** but I managed, somehow, to doss around having a gas. As I’d been kicked out of ‘home’ at the age of sixteen I’d had to very quickly become adept at living without an income, I became very good at it indeed. I was a drummer at this point but was always sneaking a go on the bass during rehearsal fag breaks. By the end of my twenties I was a drum and/or bass tech for touring bands. I didn’t get a full-time ‘straight’ job until I was thirty eight. I realise I was a complete c*** in my youth but I was too ignorant and selfish to care. Now, in my mid-fifties, I am still a c***, albeit a much wiser one but, having scrutinised and analysed myself quite critically, I find that I really just don’t care about anything, none of it. I play bass badly, pick my nose, take a lot of photographs that invariably don’t include people and write bleak abstract lyrics that would depress a Norwegian death metal crowd. I never had any illusions of ‘making it’ as a musician, I never made mainstream music and I quickly learned what a trompe l'oeil successful rock and roll was during my years as a tech. The two constant threads throughout my life have been ontological nausea and train spotting. in summary... 20s - deluded participant. 50s - informed, ambivalent misanthropic observer.

I’ve just got NMA tickets as well as loving Charles Mingus.

I want the recording to be me, my bass, my tone along with my playing idiosyncrasies. That having been said I’m not averse to taking a good verse or chorus of Saturday d playing and dropping the good ones in, I doo feel a bit odd about it but I don’t really think I’m good enough, or consistent enough to get the takes in one, by the time I’ve played it enough to get consistency I’m so knackered the vibe has gone out of the song. There’s an excitement live of only getting one shot at it but I want a recording to be a document. I’m not averse to leaving mistakes in if it’s a good take, by that I mean a take that conveys the things I’m trying to impart with the song, to me the technical proficiency of the bass line is secondary to the feeling I want to get over. I’m an old punk so I don’t want to be virtuosic, I’m barely bothered about being proficient. I seem to remember extracting a particularly dug in bogey on stage one evening, no one noticed, I just played open dropped D until the b45t4rd was out, we still rocked the joint. Btw the particular concept I was trying to get over with this track was, I’m an unpleasant son of a Gündersson.

Updated Raffle List 1. EHX Mini QTron - Walman 2. Set of strings - Silverfoxnik 3. Couple of Bass tuition books - Silverfoxnik 4. Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler with power supply but no box - Frank Blank 5. Behringer BD121 Amp Modeller (boxed) 6. A big bundle of roots, blues, Americana ex-review CDs 7. Alesis SR18 drum machine, no box or power supply - Frank Blank 8. Boss BF3 Flanger, boxed, no power supply - Frank Blank 9. 10.

I forget how funky they are in that film.

I watched Stop Making Sense last Sunday and it was so damn good I watched it again today. I dislike concert films usually but Talking Heads are so damn good. Tina Weymouth is an excellent bassist, just like you say, simple bass lines that serve the song, height of the art as far as I’m concerned.

Updated Raffle List 1. EHX Mini QTron - Walman 2. Set of strings - Silverfoxnik 3. Couple of Bass tuition books - Silverfoxnik 4. Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler with power supply but no box. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Updated FOR SALE list: 1. Mesa Boogie Big Block 750 Amp, Footswitch & Rack Case, £550 o.n.o. - Silverfoxnik  02. Schecter Diamond P5, 5 String Bass & Gig Bag, £350 o.n.o. - Silverfoxnik 03. Behringer 5 Band parametric 19" Rack Unit, £25 - Silverfoxnik 04. Fender Nate Mendel Precision , £575 - obbm 05. "I’m thinking of having one of my basses for sale.", £TBA - ezbass 06. EBS Compressor, Chorus & Octave, Dr Green Bass reverb & Joyo D-Seed echo and a small Pedaltrain board & bag (Mini I think), £TBA - WalMan 07. Fretless Fender Modern Player, £250 - Frank Black 08. EHX Hot Tubes Nano overdrive £39, Biyang TR8 Tremolo £25 - JapanAxe 09. 10.

Yes, you have to go, like I did, just be prepared to yawn, perhaps take something to read?

Me too, I’ve seen them twice, the last time being at the O2 last year, both times were lacklustre performances, like they were just going through the motions, with or without Becker. I love SD but do be prepared to be disappointed, I left the last gig half way through.

I will be bringing a fretless Fender Modern Player that’s for sale.

That’s a good saving, I might grab some!

I completely agree.

I do! The bottom Alex is now a bank, the crew that used to inhabit the top Alex are probably more likely to be found in The Railway these days. I’m not a native Southender only having been here for ten years but everyone here gets a bit misty eyed about the top Alex. Where in Westcliff were you?

Good on them!

I think this is a general rule of thumb with clip on tuners, the more you pay the more durable they are rather than actually being ‘superior’ tuners.

The strobe clip on is perfect for exactly this imho.

I do t feel proficient enough to do that yet, although I do think it is something that’ll happen with time, which is an improvement on how I felt at first, until then I need all the help I can get!

Duh, sorry, repeating your post essentially.

Have you set the Polytune to bass? They come (usually) set to the guitar default. I had the same problem as you until I switched it to the bass setting then it worked on the deeper notes.

I use the TC Polytune and the TC Unitune on my fretted basses but I must admit I prefer the Peterson StroboClip HD on the fretless.