The Electric Bass Essay -- Music

The creation of the electric bass, or an electric guitar envisioned double bass, has revolutionized the way music is both written and performed and will continue to be a driving force behind virtually every genre of music. Even though the electric bass* can be seen as a necessary creation in order to match the ever-increasing volume of live music, especially rock, it can also be viewed as a breath of fresh air and new outlook on acoustic instruments. The electric bass has both physically and functionally had an interesting development since its birth, but one thing for certain is that even trailing behind the electric guitar at first, this instrument has stepped away and cemented its place into music. Electric basses share some of the basic physical aspects of their acoustic brethren, the upright double bass, but also have their own defining characteristics that make the electric bass what it is. Generally speaking, an electric bass is composed of three major parts on which it is further subdivided: â€Å"You can divide the bass into three sections: The neck, the body, and the innards. The different parts of the neck and the body are easy to see, while the innards aren’t so obvious† (Pfeiffer, Patrick). Looking to the neck, one can see that there is actually at least four other important parts, those being: the headstock, tuning machines, nut, and fretboard. Their functions, respectively, are: to provide a spot to which the tuning machines can reside; tunes the strings up or down to achieve a particular pitch; keeps the strings held off of the fretboard and spaced evenly; the place in which you fret notes to be played. The body of the bass is where most of the reso nation will come from and the tonewood will dictate the overall char... ...layer and teacher based in Seattle, Washington† who set up the company Audiovox and produced the Model 736 Bass Fiddle around 1936. Its design consisted of â€Å"†¦a roughly guitar-shape walnut body, a single pickup and control knob on a pearloid pickguard, a neck with 16 frets, and a cord emerging from a jack on the upper side of the body† (Bacon 8-9). Tutmarc was the first to get almost everything right in designing an electric bass, but did not meet with good commercial sales. Then, in 1951 Leo Fender would set the standard for electric basses by introducing his Precision Bass to the world. Works Cited Bacon, Tony, and Barry Moorhouse. The Bass Book. New York: Backbeat, 1995. Print. Jeans, Sir James. Science & Music. Cambridge: University Press, 1953. Print. Pfeiffer, Patrick. Bass Guitar for Dummies. Indianapolis, Indiana: Wiley Publishing Inc, 2003. Print.