The bass guitar which predominantely refers to the electric bass (pronounced “base”) is primarily played with the fingers and/or thumb as well as using a plectrum. Similar in appearance to an electric guitar, the bass guitar has a larger body and a longer neck. Most bass guitars have four strings, however, there are many instruments that come with five or six strings. The tuning of a bass guitar is the same as the acoustic double bass and sounds one octave lower than written on the bass clef; string pitches being E, A, D, and G. The bass guitar needs a bass amplifier for it to be heard.
History of the Bass Guitar
The electric bass became popular in the 1950s and is used in musical styles as diverse as rock, metal, pop, punk rock, country, blues, and jazz. fusion. Most other forms of jazz music continue with the acoustic double bass as opposed to the electric bass. One of the defining instruments of the electric bass guitar is the Fender precision bass which quickly became the industry standard when introduced in the early 1950s and has been the model from which most contemporary bass designs have followed ever since. The reason for the electric basses popularity was it’s ease of transportation as well as the fact that it virtually never gave instrumental feed back through bass amplifiers.
The Bass Guitar in Modern Music and Bands
The electric bass has had many modern exponents that have raised the profile of the instrument to the same heights as the electric guitar. Jack Bruce of Cream, Sting of The Police and seminal jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius are a small selection of the many varied musicians that have both pushed the bass guitar into the limelight as well as taking the techniques and performance of the instrument to new heights.
The Evolution of the Bass Guitar
The techniques used to play the bass guitar continue to evolve with string popping (using the thumb on the strings), tapping (using pull of and hammer ons with the left hand whilst tapping with the right hand index finger on the desired string) and playing chordal passages have all come to the fore in recent decades. The technique of popping was the hallmark technique of bassist Mark King of Level 42 whilst Jaco Pastorius was at the forefront of harmonic devices behind the chordal background.
