Frank Blank

That’s great news! Thanks for the update, gives me an opportunity to remind you (just in case, I’m sure you remembered) about the black truss rod cover. It might be a two bass week here!

No sign of it yet but I’ll let you know as soon as it arrives and we can sort out a meet.

I'm not sure it's technically 'rock star' but you are, without a shadow of a doubt, The Man.

Nope... 1995 2012

...nor grammar.

I can hear that from over here.

Thanks so much for this. My bass tutor has sent me some files of drones in various pitches to play scales along with, I’ll get to it! Thanks again.

Despite being an almost complete novice on a fretless I nearly went all snob about him when I need to do exactly the opposite and be open to all things fretless. I actually think this has been a really good exercise in not instantly going up my own a***. Cheers.

I’m actually digging him, I wasn’t at first but I’m warming to his videos.

I may be a talentless vagabond Sir but I do have standards

I just spat coffee all over my iPad.

Welcome. I’m relatively new on here and I must say it’s been a gas. Really helpful, really informative and most importantly as reasonable as I’ve known a forum to be. Enjoy.

Tony Franklin, as in Whitesnake?

Some kind of inverse formula going on I think, the times when I wasn’t in a band were the times when I most looked like someone in a band.

This is, I’ve found, very common with bands I’ve played for or worked with, small and big, not bearing about the bass player nor their gear, but some exceptions have been quite the opposite and those bands always sound the better for it. Any group of selfish individuals who are only concerned with their own sound and not the blend of those sounds is not only going to be a drag to play with but a drag to listen to as well. The simple fact of the matter is that the bass is as vital as every other instrument and as ‘of course’ as that sounds it is a) rarely acknowledged, let alone applied in practice and b) rarely defended or even mentioned by us bass players while singers, guitarists and drummers ruin everything because of ego and intransigence. I no longer have any truck with people who do not understand the democracy of sonics and I am incredibly lucky to play with people who don’t bring ego to the stage nor the rehearsal room. It’s a difficult balance to strike, especially when egos are involved but stand your ground Sir, you and your bass are as important as every other element of the band, don’t get pushed around because you are new or consider yourself lucky

Forgive my ignorance but could you explain the last bit in a bit more detail? I mean I understand the essence of what you are saying but do you mean playing long notes in the same key as the fixed pitch? Or some variant? I think when I was younger I would have simply tried to emulate Mick Karn but now I’m simply trying to find my own voice using fretless. I will forever, no doubt, be influenced by his playing but I play in a wholly different genre and, more to the point, I am not him.

Ha ha. I might do just that with the old bass when I get a new fretless.

This seems to be the constant throughout everyone’s advice, luckily I was doing just that, so hearing it from everyone gives me confidence. Because I learned to play by ear I am already naturally adjusting when my intonation is off. I am playing through our songs using the fretless but just as if it were fretted and even when I’m experimenting new stuff on the fretless I am concentrating on my style rather than sliding everything. I’m finding the ‘less is more’ approach definitely works in as much as if you don’t force the bass to do the fretless thing you end up with a lovely sound.

I’ll check this out when I get home, thanks!

Just google on stage telepromter bands and see how many rock bands use them. As someone who spent many years working backstage I can safely say it’s many more bands than most people would imagine who use them. I think the operative here is prompt, many bands have them there as much for security as anything else, in case they need a prompt rther than actually relying on it. It seems like a bad thing until you realise you’ve seen some brilliant bands performing brilliantly whilst using them, it’s just they can afford the type of teleprompter audiences can’t see. I suppose it’s easy to judge until you need one yourself.

I will check these players out and thanks for the advice. I think I’m in trouble with Pino and Jaco because both leave me cold, which is odd. I have been doing exactly as you suggested and playing tunes I usually play on a fretted bass on the fretless and trying to steer away from the slides, glad to know I was doing something right!