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Frank Blank

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Posts posted by Frank Blank

    Acoustic bass questions

    in Bass Guitars

    Posted

    15 minutes ago, Soledad said:

    The Godin sounds interesting and seems to get good reviews, player feedback.

    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.

    Acoustic bass questions

    in Bass Guitars

    Posted

    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.

    Lightest Gauge Strings

    in Accessories and Misc

    Posted

    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?

    Reggae Bass?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Ricky 4000 said:

    @Frank Blank

    Frank! Cancel that order for the Ovation Unobtanium Grand Magnus Magnum!!

    It was a bloody P bass! You can get one of those for like, 60 quid. 👍

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

     

    GK 112 Neo

    in Amps and Cabs

    Posted

    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.

    Playing fretless bass?

    in Theory and Technique

    Posted

    2 hours ago, MacDaddy said:

    I've always played fretted. Over the years I've had a fiddle with fretless, but never got on with them.

     That is until I played Frank Black's Rob Allen Mouse at the last SE Bass Bash.

     I have being fortunate to procure my own...

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

    • Thanks 1

    Hello there.

    in Introductions

    Posted

    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!

    • Like 3

    Playing fretless bass?

    in Theory and Technique

    Posted

    11 minutes ago, ezbass said:

    Step right this way, sir. 

    First up, I agree that PP’s playing on I, Assassin does seem to channel the mighty Karn. Being stupid as a teenager is in the job description, man alive I did some stupid things that make me shudder now, but it’s a rite of passage.

    Anyway, the first 2 Paul Young albums (No Parlez and The Secret of Association) are pretty much obligatory, No Parlez is one the main reasons I picked up a bass in the first place. David Gilmour’s About Face features Pino, the track Murder certainly. Don Henley’s Sunset Grill from Building the Perfect Beast is another good one, as is New York Minute from End of the Innocence. Joan Armatrading’s The Shouting Stage is all Pino. He is on the first Go West album at least (Call Me is just brilliant). Sowing The Seeds Of Love by Tears For Fears is Pino again. Then you have his fretted playing with John Mayer (Continuum is my favourite), D’Angelo (Voodoo is meant to be brilliant if you like that genre) and of course The Who (not that I feel it suits him really, but those are some boots to fill). 

    There are plenty of other artists who have employed his bass stylings, here’s a link to the Wiki page https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pino_Palladino .

    Hope this gives you something to pick from.

    Superb, cheers!

    Playing fretless bass?

    in Theory and Technique

    Posted

    4 minutes ago, ezbass said:

    You are spot on there. For me, the man can do no wrong. He even seems like a really nice, modest chap when interviewed. What a b*****d! 😂

    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...

    Playing fretless bass?

    in Theory and Technique

    Posted

    3 hours ago, paul_c2 said:

    ETA and of course, vibrato is entirely possible on a fretted bass - you either bend up the note fretted a semitone below, so you have the ability to pitch up and down around the desired note; or accept the compromise of bending the note only up in pitch (then returning to the pitch). 

    I guess, with fretless, its more accessible, so its easier to do it. And a minority misuse vibrato to hide intonation issues.

    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.

    Playing fretless bass?

    in Theory and Technique

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, ezbass said:

    Just been playing my fretted and fretless back to back, playing the same riffs (funk type stuff, no slides, no vibrato - boo 😉). I actually surprised myself how accurate I was on the fretless without looking, at least up to about the 10th fret/position (it actually 'felt' easier if I closed my eyes, no distractions). However, I feel the occasional peek and check take the 'worry' out, even on fretted. Beyond the 12th fret/position, because it all gets a bit tight, I'm going to look and really listen, the upside of which really makes it look like I'm into what I'm playing. I should also point out that I'm no stranger to fretless, I've playing fretless almost as long as fretted - it's all Pino's fault. Speaking of whom, here is the Welsh wizard being unprofessional and looking continuously at his fingering 😱!

     

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

    • Like 2
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