![]() ![]() The tuba is almost as tall as an upright bass and weighs a bit more. Put it alongside the upright bass, and you could consider them the granddaddies of all bass instruments we know today. The tuba is the granddaddy of all brass instruments. However, they remain crucial to certain genres around the world. They usually have three valves, and require a tremendous amount of air.īack in the days when classical music was hip, they were used all the time. Brass Bass Instrumentsīrass instruments are wind instruments made out of metal (hence the name). While a full exploration is beyond the scope of this article, here are some interesting ones you can check out on your own: the kora from West Africa, the oud from the Middle East, and the surbahar from the Indian subcontinent. There are approximately 300 kinds of string instruments around the world today! The World Music Rabbit Hole …Įven though this list is very comprehensive when it comes to Western music, one fact remains: when you take every music tradition into account from around the world, you just can’t name every single stringed instrument out there. If you’re into classic rock, you have to hear Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust.” 3-5. If you want a taste of how virtuosic and groovy an electric bass can be, check out any classic funk tune. Whatever the mode, their use is widely varied between genres. In terms of tone, electric basses are often played with a punchy, bold sound, but they can also be mellow and smooth. Compared to a normal electric guitar, the strings are larger and the frets are wider apart. It has four strings and a really long neck. ![]() The electric bass was invented in the 1950s as a bass alternative to the electric guitar. I would venture to say that over 90% of the pop songs you hear have use the electric bass. In terms of popular music, the electric bass is hands-down the most popular bass instrument. Infectious by nature, they’re basslines were enough to get the crankiest curmudgeon on the dance floor! 2. In jazz big bands, it was plucked rhythmically to the tempo of each song. In classical orchestras, its resonant tone was used to create the rich “sound bed” that the rest of the orchestra played above. While not as popular today as it was a hundred years ago, the upright bass remains essential to classical music and jazz. You can literally feel the air vibrating in the hollow body. ![]() Some of its strings are almost the size of your pinkie!Īs one would expect, its massive body creates an astoundingly rich, full tone. At four feet tall, it weighs 25 pounds and has to be played standing up. The upright bass is the violin’s gigantic, intimidating big brother. Even before that though, we had a gigantic boss called the “upright bass.” We’ll start there! 1. Within the last hundred years, stringed instruments have become the go-to instruments for playing bass in popular music. Now that we have a better understanding of how bass works, let’s check out my bass instruments list! Stringed Bass Instruments Lastly, bass instruments can be incredibly melodic in their own right. By playing the root notes, bass outlines the structure of a song. We’ll see that with some of the instruments below.įor harmony, bass instruments often play the “root” of each passing chord, which is the most important note in a chord. Since bass forms the fundamentals of a song, it makes total sense that it’ll influence the three main elements of music: rhythm, harmony, and melody.įor rhythm, bass instruments often play in a way that emphasizes repetitive beats and beat-keeping. Plus, since they produce so many overtones, they actually fill the “spaces” between the other instruments. In a nutshell, bass notes tell us how a song “works” – they’re like its source code. If we didn’t have the bass note, we wouldn’t have any harmony or notes at all! This is why we call them “fundamental tones.” Those other notes create unique chords that form the basis of Western harmony. Since these notes are higher and quieter, we call them “overtones.” These vibrations actually produce other notes. When you make bass vibrations, they actually create other vibrations too. Slower and bigger vibrations create lower sounds. When you make any sound – music or not – you make the sound with vibrations. We need to understand this information before we look at the instruments. Second, it ties all the elements of music together. However, even if it’s not always obvious, bass is always doing important things in the background.įirst, it’s essential for creating a full, rich sonic landscape. Most of the time, bass doesn’t get as much attention as melody and harmony. Bass clarinet: the guy that everyone mistakes for a saxophone ![]()
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