Tony Franklin is an English musician. His most famous work is on the fretless bass guitar with heavy rock bands The Firm (also featuring Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and Bad Company vocalist Paul Rodgers), and Blue Murder (featuring former Whitesnake guitarist John Sykes (also on vocals) and drummer Carmine Appice). The fretless guitar is a guitar without frets (including similarly configured bass guitars known as fretless bass). ... Martin EB18 Bass Guitar in flight case The electric bass guitar (also called electric bass or simply bass) is an electrically amplified plucked string instrument. ... The Firm were a rock group comprising ex-Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, former Free and Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers, ex-Uriah Heep drummer Chris Slade, and Roy Harper bass player Tony Franklin. ... This article or section is missing references or citation of sources. ... Self-titled album cover Bad Company was a British rock band founded in 1973, consisting of band members from Free (Paul Rodgers, Simon Kirke), Mott The Hoople (Mick Ralphs) and King Crimson (Boz Burrell). ... Paul Rodgers (2005) Paul Rodgers is a British singer, born on December 17, 1949 in Middlesbrough, England. ... Blue Murder was a melodic heavy metal band from England, founded by drummer Carmine Appice, ex-Whitesnake guitarist John Sykes and ex-The Firm bass player Tony Franklin, in late 1985. ... For other uses, see Whitesnake (disambiguation). ... John Sykes, born July 29, 1959 in Reading, England, is a Heavy Metal/Hard Rock guitarist in the United Kingdom who has played in bands Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, Tygers Of Pan Tang, Blue Murder and his solo project John Sykes. ... Carmine Appice is one of the more well-travelled and versatile rock drummers of the second half of the 20th century. ...

He is credited with introducing the fretless bass to the heavy metal and hard rock audiences, as the fretless bass is not commonly heard in these genres. He also has an instructional video on playing the fretless bass. In this video Franklin also discusses his playing of other instruments (string or upright bass and clarinet) in symphony and classical ensemble environments.