Bass is an significant part of music, it’s always been that way for both the music of yesterday and the modern music of today. Whether it is using the foot keyboard on an organ, playing a standing double bass with a bow, or playing the tuba, all music has needed a foundation, and this is found in the form of a bass line. Music would sound hollow and incomplete without a driving bass line. With the advent of jazz, blues and then rock and roll, a different type of instrument was needed to play a strong bass line. This is how the electric bass guitar era came into being.
Though the very first electric bass guitar was invented in the 1930′s it never achieved the critical mass of popularity until the Fender bass guitars brought the electric bass to the masses. The equivalent prior instrument, the upright bass existed for hundreds of years prior to this. With a sound that was different from the familiar upright acoustic basses in use, the electric bass guitar offered a variety of tonal adjustments, playing techniques, sounds and all of this could be heard clearly and loudly with new electric amplification, which in and of itself offered some means of creative tonal adjustments and sound shaping. Unlike the acoustic bass which is played vertically, the electric bass guitar is played horizontally like a regular guitar. From a distance, the electric bass guitar could easily be mistaken for an electric guitar as the both look very similar with the same solid body shape, however the bass usually has a longer neck. Also while similar to an acoustic guitar in playing position, the electric bass differs in it’s sound production. The bass guitar has pickups underneath it’s strings, the pickups send the sound to the amplifier which the bass is connected to and we hear the notes via the amp’s speakers. The bass guitar generally has four strings which are tuned in 4ths like the 4 lowest strings on the guitar but they are tuned an octave lower than those on the guitar. While guitars are primarily strummed and picked, the bass can be played with a variety of techniques as well including, fingering, picking, slapping,thumb play, muting thumping and more. Because bass guitars lay the foundation of the music harmonically as well as keeps the beat, like the drums, it is considered a rhythm instrument.
