Fretless Bass Lessons w/ Tony Franklin – Instruction Course – TrueFire – VIDEO
Tony Franklin: People can often get discouraged when first learning the fretless bass. It took me quite a while! It’s important to practice with a tuning reference. May I humbly suggest my TrueFire Fretless Course – with many tracks to practice with?
Tony Franklin, the “Fretless Monster,” has played with Jimmy Page, Paul Rodgers, John Sykes, Carmine Appice, David Gilmour, Kate Bush, Whitesnake, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Donna Lewis, Gary Hoey, Pat Travers and a host of other top artists and bands. He has appeared on more than 150 albums, been featured on countless TV shows, and helped Fender design his widely acclaimed Signature Fretless Precision Bass guitar.
We’re thrilled to welcome Tony to the family with his first TrueFire course, Fretless Bass Foundations!
For me, Fretless bass takes the fretted bass to a whole different level of expressions, nuances, sounds, and creative possibilities. It broadens our awareness musically, and I truly believe that fretless makes us better musicians. I liken the fretless to the human voice, with all its subtleties of expressions. This course and the included exercises are designed to provide you with a rock-solid foundation for using fretless bass, in any musical situation, from hard rock and pop, to funk and orchestral.”
Tony organized the course into 3 sections. The first section is a primer designed to get you up and running on fretless bass quickly. Lesson segments include: Working with Tuning Tracks, Working with Exercises, Subtleties of the Fretless Bass, Intonation: Lined vs Unlined, Fretless Vibrato Variations, Getting to Know Your Fretless, Tone & Gear Considerations, and Fretless & Tablature.
In the second section, Tony guides you through 22 exercises designed to develop and optimize your fretless technique. ”You’ve had the foundation, the overview, the subtleties of what makes the fretless bass special – now it’s on to the exercises. In Section 2, we’ll build up your fretless bass foundations so you’ll be able to play any style comfortably and confidently.”
Section 2 exercise lessons include: Playing on the Dots 1, 2, 3, and 4, Playing Between the Dots 1, 2, 3, and 4, Finger Shifting and Positioning, Four Fingers Workout, Moving About the Fingerboard, Slides & Note Entry 1, 2, 3, and 4, Slides and Subtleties, Landing Big Jumps, Playing 4ths Across Strings, High Notes Tuning, Playing Fifths, Sliding Harmonics, and Basic Chords on Fretless.
Improvisational performances are featured in the third and final section.
”In this section, I’ll show you how I incorporate the techniques and exercises that we’ve studied in this course. These will be very freeform, improvisational performances that stretch out.” Performances include Raga Groove, Groovy Boogie, Rock Jam, and Fretless Funk.
All 22 of the exercises are tabbed and notated and you’ll also have the rhythm tracks to work with on your own. You can loop and slow down the videos to work with the lessons at your own pace.
