Bass Guitar

The bass guitar is very similar to an electric guitar in appearance, but it actually has a larger body, a longer neck, and a bigger scale length. It became popular in the 1950's, and in popular music it has been largely used as a substitute to the double bass. The bass guitar gives the player a low-pitch bass line, and can be used in a range of styles, from rock and metal to blues, jazz and even funk. If you want to learn different styles of guitar, the Learn & Master Guitar series is highly recommended.

It was invented in the 1930's by Paul Tutmarc, who also named it "electronic bass fiddle". But it did not make a success instantly. So, it was modified to a format that looked more like a guitar in order to make the instrument easier to be held and played. However, it was not until the 1950's, when Leo Fender developed the first electric bass that was mass-produced, that it accomplished some success among the players.

In 1953, Gibson invented and released a new model which was violin-shaped. This model was followed by a more conventional looking bass guitar, released in 1959. But in 1960, Fender introduced the first bass guitar specifically made for jazz players, the Fender Jazz Bass. In the 1970's, active electronics became popular, and specific models started to be identified with particular styles of music.

The hollow-bodied acoustic bass guitar became popular in the late 1980's. The acoustic bass guitar generally has four strings and its standard tuning is E-A-D-G in an octave below the lowest four strings of a 6-string guitar. Moreover, in the 1990's, 5-string bass guitars became more affordable and available. It featured onboard electronics which consisted mostly of pre-amplifiers and equalizer circuits once they became less expensive.

In the 2000's, we saw the introduction of digital modeling circuits located inside the instrument in order to recreate tones and sounds from distinct models of basses. It also started to offer an incredible range of options for the body, neck, and pickups of the guitar, among others. The material used to construct the body also varies a lot, and it has a great impact on timbre. The players can also choose a fretted or fretless bass, the later creating distinct sounds.

Nowadays, the standard design features four strings and the "E-A-D-F" tuning, but you can also find different tunings and 5 and 6-string bass guitars. The strings can be in four different types: flatwound (which is more a vintage style that was largely used in the 1950's), roundwound (which was largely used in the 1960's and 1970's and has a brighter timbre than the flatwound), groundwound, and halfwound. Another characteristic of modern electric basses is the use of "combo" amplifiers, which means that the amplifier and the speaker are placed in a single cabinet, or you can choose to have them in separate cabinets. Also, in the 1990's and early 2000's, distortion devices, equalizers, compressors or limiters became quite popular. So, you can find a variety of accessory devices to complement your electronics nowadays.