The Electric Bass Guitar
Bass is an important component of music, it’s always been that way for both the music of yesterday and the modern music of today. From the pedal board for the bass notes of an organ, the orchestra double bass, contra bassoon or tuba, bass instruments serve as a needed harmonic reference point and a bass foundation for the music. Without a bass line to provide a point of reference for the chords and harmony, much of the music we listen to would sound incomplete. With rapidly evolving styles of music in blues, jazz, r&b and rock plus an ever increasing need for portability and stronger, louder bass lines prominently featured in musical hooks, there was clearly a need for a new kind of bass instrument. The electric bass guitar was created to fulfill these needs.
Bass guitars have been around since the 1930’s though not quite in the exact same form as the Fender bass guitars that we know today, but you could say that their predecessors, the acoustic Basses, have been around for many years longer. With it’s range of tone, techniques and amplification the bass guitar offered a bass sound that was different from any other that had been heard before from more traditional bass instruments. Held and played horizontally like a regular guitar, the electric bass differed from it’s predecessor, the upright bass not only in it’s orientation during playing but also in it’s ease of use and portability. Electric bass players were no longer burdened with a huge lumbering akward instrument to carry and protect. With the exception of a longer neck and having 4 strings instead of 6, the electric bass guitar looks very much like the electric guitar as they both have a solid body that is often shaped the same. Also, unlike an acoustic guitar which is hollow, with a sound hole to allow for amplification, the sound of a Fender bass guitar is amplified by plugging it in to an amplifier and speaker. A bass guitar typically has four strings which are tuned an octave lower than the lowest strings of a regular guitar. It is played with a variety of techniques including fingering, thumping, picking, slapping and thumbing. Advanced players can also play certain chords and creatively use harmonics. Because of it’s close relationship to the drums and the pulse of the music, the bass guitar is considered to be a rhythm section instrument.
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