Bass guitar
Bass Guitar
A sunburst-colored Fender Precision Bass
String instrument
Other names
electric bass guitar,
electric bass, bass
Classification
String instrument
(plucked or picked)
Hornbostel-Sachs
Classification
321.322
(Composite
chordophone)
Inventor(s)
Paul Tutmarc
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 electric bass guitar[1] (also called elec-
tric bass,[2][3][4] or simply bass; pronounced
/ˈbeɪs/, as in "base") is a stringed instrument
played primarily with the fingers or thumb
(either by plucking, slapping, popping, tap-
ping, or thumping), or by using a plectrum.
The bass guitar is similar in appearance
and construction to an electric guitar, but
with a larger body, a longer neck and scale
length, and usually four strings tuned to the
same pitches as those of the double bass,[5]
which correspond to pitches one octave
lower than those of the four lower strings of
a guitar (E, A, D, and G).[6] The bass guitar is
a transposing instrument, as it is notated in
bass clef an octave higher than it sounds (as
is the double bass) in order to avoid the ex-
cessive use of ledger lines. Like the electric
guitar, the electric bass guitar is plugged into
an
amplifier
and
speaker
for
live
performances.
Since the 1950s, the electric bass guitar
has largely replaced the double bass in popu-
lar music as the bass instrument in the
rhythm section. While the types of basslines
performed by the bass guitarist vary widely
from one style of music to another, the bass
guitarist fulfills a similar role in most types of
music: anchoring the harmonic framework
and laying down the beat. The bass guitar is
used in many styles of music including rock,
metal, pop, country, blues and jazz. It is used
as a soloing instrument in jazz, fusion, Latin,
funk, and in some rock and metal (mostly
progressive rock and progressive metal)
styles.
History
1930s
In the 1930s, inventor Paul Tutmarc