The electric bass guitar is a bass stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers (either by plucking, slapping, popping, or tapping) or using a pick. The bass 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, or one octave lower in pitch than the four lower strings of a guitar (E, A, D, and G). Since the 1950s, the electric bass guitar has largely replaced the double bass in popular music. The bass guitar provides the low-pitched bass-line (s) and bass runs in many different styles of music ranging from rock and metal to blues and jazz. It is also used as a soloing instrument in jazz, fusion, Latin, funk, and rock styles.
Double Bass
The modern
double bass is
not a true
member of either
the violin or
viol families.
Most likely its
first general
shape was that
of a violone,
the largest
member of the
viol family.
Some of the
earliest basses
extant are
violones,
(including
C-shaped sound
holes) that have
been fitted with
modern
trappings. At
the beginning of
the 17th
century, Michael
Praetorius
(1571-1621)
described a
violon da gamba
sub-bass, a
five-stringed
specimen tuned
DD EE AA D G.
While this
monster (over 8
feet tall) was
tuned very much
like the modern
bass, it must be
considered an
unusual bass
instrument for
any era.
Praetorius noted
that the player
of this
instrument had
to read the
regular notation
for the bass
line even though
the sounds he
produced were
actually an
octave lower
than what he
saw, a practice
that is the
standard
procedure for
the double bass
players of
today. It is
also interesting
to note that
Praetorius'
drawing of the
instrument was
patterned more
after the violin
shape than that
of the viol. At
the same time
the neck
appeared fretted
and the bow held
underhanded
after the manner
of the viols. It
was not until
around 1800 that
the frets were
finally removed.
The underhanded
bowing style is
still with us
today.
