The Basics Of Bass Guitars

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Since the beginning of music and the dawn of musical composition there has always been a demand for low-pitched instruments. In nearly all modern musical arrangements the most desired instrument is a bass guitar.

A bass guitar is very much like a regular guitar, although many differences are apparent. While both bass and normal guitars can be acoustic, electric bass guitars are widely preferred over acoustic versions. Bass guitars are usually limited to only four strings, which are tuned one octave lower than the lowest four strings on a normal guitar. In addition, the frets of a bass guitar may be removed. This has been copied by guitar players over time, but interestingly enough bassists were the first to try it.

There are many methods to playing a bass guitar, and each method suits different styles of music. One might play a bass guitar with their fingers only, using their fretting hand to depress the strings and choose notes while their other hand plucks the strings. This fingerstyle method is prominent in all styles of music where bass guitars are used and is sometimes said to be the most versatile way to play.

When bass guitars were first separated from upright basses, the guitar players of the time could all be seen using picks more often than not. Not surprisingly, many bass guitar players use ordinary guitar picks to play also. The string is simply strummed with the pick, resulting in a sharper tone compared to a bass guitar played with the fingers only.

Applications of Bass Guitars

Musically, the bass guitar is not as versatile as a regular guitar. Having two less strings makes less chord tones available, which limits the bass guitar to a more rhythmic role instead of a melodic one. In modern rock, a genre the electric bass guitar is well suited for, the bass guitar usually forms the backbone of a song along with the drums. By playing single notes in a rhythmic fashion, the bass moves the song along from chord to chord and keeps the music going. In more extreme hard rock and metal music, the bass is often distorted much like an electric guitar and played just as quickly as the lead guitar player might play.

Jazz is another musical genre in which the bass guitar is often heard. Jazz often uses swing rhythms, and since the bass guitar is an important part of all rhythm sections, you can often feel the bass pushing the music along. In jazz, one type of bass line is very common: the walking bass line. In walking bass lines, chord tones are played one after another, one note per beat, hitting every beat of the measure. Even though walking bass lines were first developed on upright basses before normal bass guitars were made, the walk is still used in jazz today.

Although bass guitars are sometimes seen as boring instruments when compared to regular guitars, the endless possibilities that a bass guitar presents make it an exciting instrument. When it comes to versatility in terms of playing methods and different musical styles, the bass guitar may very well be unrivaled in the modern musical world.