Since the 1950s, the electric bass guitar has largely replaced the double bass in popular music. The bass guitar provides the low-pitched basslines and bass runs in many different styles of music ranging from rock and metal to blues and jazz. Like the electric guitar, the electric bass guitar is always connected to an amplifier for live performances. The bass guitar is one of the easiest musical instruments to learn to play. The bass guitar is a solid body instrument, visually similar to the electric guitar with four strings just like the double bass. The bass guitar uses the amplifier to amplify the frequencies of the vibrating strings that are sensed by the pickup. The sounds of the bass guitar can also be altered by the techniques of attacking the notes (striking, plucking or slapping the strings).
Strings
The majority of bass guitars feature four strings that are tuned an octave lower than on the electric guitar. String types include all-metal strings (roundwound, flatwound, groundwound, or halfwound), metal strings with different coverings, such as tapewound and plastic-coatings. The variety of materials used in the strings gives bass players a range of tonal options. Like the electric bass guitar, models with five or more strings have been produced, although these are less common.
Playing Styles
Most bass players stand while playing, although sitting is also accepted, particularly in large ensemble settings, such as jazz big bands, or in acoustic genres such as folk music. Slap style playing was popularized throughout the 1980s and early 1990s by pop bass players such as Mark King (from Level 42) and funk-rock bassists such as Flea (from the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Alex Katunich (from Incubus). Another rarely-used playing technique related to slapping is the use of wooden dowel "funkfingers" affixed with velcro to the tips of the index and middle fingers.
Acoustic Bass
The acoustic bass guitar (also called ABG or acoustic bass) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually somewhat larger than a steel-string acoustic guitar. Acoustic bass guitars are typically equipped with piezoelectric or magnetic pickups and amplified. In the late 1980s, MTV's "Unplugged" show helped to popularize hollow-bodied acoustic bass guitars amplified with pickups.
Is the Bass Guitar for you?
Most people are into electric and acoustic guitar playing because it is pleasing to their ears but if you want to feel some beat inside your chest, choose a bass guitar. The bass guitar provides the soul to any piece of music and gives the song life. Try it out- you won’t be disappointed.
