Article Advise

submitted: Jun 5th 2008 | by: ChrisChanning | Total views: 3 | Word Count: 489 | |

Chances are that if you're writing a piece of music that calls for a low-pitched instrument, you're not going to have many choices. Luckily, the bass guitar is an instrument that can be put to a variety of uses in modern music.

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument which usually has four strings and is often tuned one octave lower than a regular guitar, although obviously many tuning configurations are possible. Another difference between bass guitars and regular guitars is the fact that some bass guitarists prefer to remove the frets from the necks of their instruments. This fretless variation was first used on a bass guitar, but many guitar players are now following suit. Bass guitars may be either electric or acoustic, but electric versions are far more widely used and popular.

Different variations exist on how to actually play a bass guitar, and each method is rather well suited to different styles of music. Perhaps the most widely used method is called simply fingerstyle. As its name implies, fingerstyle playing using only the fingers, both for fretting notes on the neck and plucking the strings of the instrument.

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.

Bass Guitars in Modern Music

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.

Another genre in which the bass guitar has gained much acclaim is jazz. Using swing rhythms, jazz bass guitarists can create exceptionally creative bass lines that push the music forward. The walking bass line, used by nearly all jazz bass players since the days of the upright bass, is a trademark example of jazz bass playing. By playing chord tones on every beat of every measure and swinging the notes ever so slightly, walking bass lines can really propel jazz pieces in a creative way.

Although the bass guitar may seem like an instrument that lacks versatility, looks can be deceiving. The bass guitar can be played in a variety of ways and is used to fill roles in many different musical genres.

About the Author

Learn more about bass guitars and electric bass guitar.

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