Bass Guitar from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
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Bass guitar From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bass guitar A Music Man StingRay bass String instrument Other names Bass, electric bass guitar, electric bass Classification String instrument (fingeredor picked; rarely strummed) Hornbostel–Sachs 321.322 classification (Composite chordophone) Inventor(s) Paul Tutmarc, Leo Fender Developed 1930s Playing range (a standard tuned 4-string bass guitar) Related instruments Electric guitar Double bass Acoustic bass guitar Musicians List of bass guitarists The bass guitar[1] (also called electric bass,[2][3][4] or simply bass; /ˈ be ɪ s/) is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb, by plucking, slapping, popping, (rarely) strumming, tapping, thumping, or picking with a plectrum, often known as a pick. The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a longer neck and scale length, and four to sixstrings or courses. The four-string bass, by far the most common, is usually tuned the same as the double bass,[5] which corresponds to pitches one octave lower than the four lowest pitched strings of a guitar (E, A, D, and G).[6] The bass guitar is atransposing instrument, as it is notated in bass clef an octave higher than it sounds (as is the double bass) to avoid excessive ledger lines. Like the electric guitar, the bass guitar is plugged into an amplifier and speaker for live performances. Since the 1960s, the bass guitar has largely replaced the double bass in popular music as the bass instrument in the rhythm section.[7] While types of bass lines vary widely from one style of music to another, the bassist usually fulfills a similar role: anchoring the harmonic framework and establishing the beat. Many styles of music utilise the bass guitar, including rock, metal, pop, punk rock,country, reggae, gospel, blues, and jazz. It is often a solo instrument in jazz, jazz fusion, Latin, funk, progressive rock and other rock and metal styles. Contents [hide] 1 History o 1.1 1930s–1940s o 1.2 1950s o 1.3 1960s o 1.4 1970s o 1.5 1980s–Present 2 Design considerations o 2.1 Fretted and fretless basses o 2.2 Strings and tuning . 2.2.1 Alternative range approaches 3 Pickups and amplification o 3.1 Magnetic pickups o 3.2 Non-magnetic pickups o 3.3 Amplification and effects 4 Playing techniques o 4.1 Sitting or standing o 4.2 Performing techniques . 4.2.1 "Slap and pop" . 4.2.2 Picking techniques . 4.2.3 Palm-muting techniques . 4.2.4 Fretting techniques . 4.2.4.1 Two-handed tapping 5 Uses o 5.1 Popular music o 5.2 Solos in metal, funk and progressive rock o 5.3 Jazz and jazz fusion o 5.4 Contemporary classical music 6 Pedagogy and training o 6.1 Formal training o 6.2 Informal training 7 See also 8 Footnotes and references 9 Further reading 10 External links History[edit] 1930s–1940s[edit] Musical instrument inventor Paul Tutmarc outside his music store in Seattle, Washington In the 1930s, musician and inventor Paul Tutmarc from Seattle, Washington, who was manufacturing lap steel guitars, developed the first electric string bass in its modern form, a fretted instrument designed to be played horizontally. The 1935 sales catalog for Tutmarc's electronic musical instrument company, Audiovox, featured his "Model 736 Bass Fiddle", a four- 1 [8] stringed, solid-bodied, fretted electric bass instrument with a 30 ⁄2-inch (775 mm) scale length. The adoption of a "guitar" form made the instrument easier to hold and transport than any of the existing stringed bass instruments. The addition of frets enabled bassists to play in tune more easily than on acoustic or electric upright basses. Around 100 of these instruments were made during this period. Around 1947, Tutmarc's son, Bud, began marketing a similar bass under the Serenader brand name, prominently advertised in the nationally distributed L. D. Heater Music Company wholesale jobber catalogue of '48. However, the Tutmarc family inventions did not achieve market success. 1950s[edit] Design patent issued to Leo Fender for the second-generationPrecision Bass In the 1950s, Leo Fender, with the help of his employee George Fullerton, developed the first mass- produced electric bass.[9] His Fender Precision Bass, which began production in October 1951, became a widely copied industry standard. The Precision Bass (or "P-bass") evolved from a simple, un-contoured "slab" body design and a single coil pickup similar to that of a Telecaster to a contoured body design with beveled edges for comfort and a split single coil pickup with four poles on each half, two poles for each string. This "split pickup", introduced in 1957, appears to have been two mandolin pickups (Fender was marketing a four string solid body electric mandolin at the time). The pole pieces and leads of the coils were reversed with respect to each other, producing a humbucking effect. A Fender Standard Jazz Bass (front and back views) The "Fender Bass" was a revolutionary new instrument, which could be easily transported to a gig, and amplified to just about any volume without feeding back".[10] Monk Montgomery was the first bass player to tour with the Fender bass guitar, with Lionel Hampton's postwar big band in 1953.[11] Roy Johnson, and Shifty Henry with Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five, were other early Fender bass pioneers.[9] Bill Black, playing with Elvis Presley, adopted the Fender Precision Bass around 1957. [12] The bass guitar was intended to appeal to guitarists as well as upright bass players, and many early pioneers of the instrument, such asCarol Kaye and Joe Osborn, were originally guitarists. Following Fender's lead, in 1953, Gibson released the first short scale violin-shaped electric bass with extendable end pin, allowing it to be played upright or horizontally. Gibson renamed the Electric Bass in 1958 to the EB-1 [13] (The EB-1 was reissued around 1970, but this time without the end pin.) Also in 1958 Gibson released the maple arched top EB-2 described in the Gibson catalogue as A hollow-body electric bass that features a Bass/Baritone pushbutton for two different tonal characteristics.[14] In 1959 these were followed by the more conventional-looking EB-0 Bass. The EB- 0 was very similar to a Gibson SG in appearance (although the earliest examples have a slab-sided body shape closer to that of the double-cutaway Les Paul Special). Gibson EB-3 Whereas Fender basses had pickups mounted in positions in between the base of the neck and the top of the bridge, many of Gibson's early basses featured one humbucking pickup mounted directly against the neck pocket. The EB-3, introduced in 1961, also had a "mini-humbucker" at the bridge position. Gibson basses also tended to be smaller, sleeker instruments; Gibson did not produce a 34-inch (864 mm) scale bass until 1963 with the release of the Thunderbird, which was also the first Gibson bass to use dual-humbucking pickups in a more traditional position, about halfway between the neck and bridge. A small number of other companies also began manufacturing bass guitars during the 1950s: Kay in 1952, and Danelectro in 1956;[12] 1956 saw the appearance at the German trade fair "Musikmesse Frankfurt" of the distinctive Höfner 500/1 violin bass made using violin construction techniques by Walter Höfner, a second generation violin luthier.[15] The instrument is often known as the "Beatle Bass", due to its endorsement by Paul McCartney. In 1957 Rickenbacker introduced the model 4000 bass,[16] the first bass to feature a neck-through-body design; the Fender and Gibson versions used bolt-on and glued-on necks. 1960s[edit] With the explosion of the popularity of rock music in the 1960s, many more manufacturers began making electric basses. First introduced in 1960, theFender Jazz Bass was known as the Deluxe Bass and was meant to accompany the Jazzmaster guitar. The Jazz Bass (often referred to as a "J- bass") featured two single-coil pickups, one close to the bridge and one in the Precision bass' split coil pickup position. The earliest production basses had a 'stacked' volume and tone control for each pickup. This was soon changed to the familiar configuration of a volume control for each pickup, and a single, passive tone control. The Jazz Bass' neck was narrower at the nut than the Precision bass 1 3 — 1 ⁄2 inches (38 mm) versus 1 ⁄4 inches (44 mm). 1970s Fender Jazz Bass with maple fretboard Another visual difference that set the Jazz Bass apart from the Precision is its "offset-waist" body. Pickup shapes on electric basses are often referred to as "P" or "J" pickups in reference to the visual and electrical differences between the Precision Bass and Jazz Bass pickups. Fender also began production of the Mustang Bass; a 30-inch (762 mm) scale length instrument used by bassists such as Tina Weymouth of Talking Headsand Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones ("P" and "J" basses have a scale length of 34 inches (864 mm), a design echoed on most current production electric basses of all makes). In the 1950s and 1960s, the instrument was often called the "Fender bass", due to Fender's early dominance in the market. TheFender VI, a baritone guitar, was tuned one octave lower than standard guitar tuning. It was released in 1961, and was favored by Jack Bruce of Cream.[17] 1 [18] Gibson introduced the short-scale 30 ⁄2-inch (775 mm) EB-3 in 1961, also used by Jack Bruce.