Bass Guitars
The Foundation. The Root. The Big Bottom. These are just a few of the descriptions for what the Bass provides in contemporary and historical music. The first Precision Bass Guitar, created in 1951 by Leo Fender, revolutionized the music industry around the world and replaced the upright bass for most musical genres except for classical music, bluegrass, and, to a small extent, jazz.
As it is tuned similarly to an upright bass viol, the Bass Guitar has the same range of notes and also has frets, like a guitar, which Fender also promoted to guitar players so that they could play bass notes, “with precision”. Originally made from a solid piece of ash (modern basses are made from a range of woods and composite materials and can also be hollow bodied), it has magnetic pickups that produce a sound when fed electronically to a bass amplifier.
Rock, Pop and Rhythm and Blues were the primary music styles to originally embrace the bass Guitar. The portability of the smaller, cheaper and infinitely sturdier solidbody Bass Guitar versus the unwieldy, expensive and fragile upright bass won over many professional and amateur performing musicians, and later on, studio musicians.
The Beatles’ Paul McCartney and The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson were the first rock star bass players. Although both were known primarily for their singing, the Bass Guitar was an integral part of their songwriting and performances. The Beach Boys records also featured the Precision Bass playing of Carol Kaye, a legendary studio musician whose gender and guitar skills were secondary to her prolific track record of hit single chart recordings. In Detroit, the Motown sound became the sound of “Young America”, and many of the hit songs had iconic bass playing from the unsung James Jamerson.
The Bass Guitar became a virtuoso instrument as the 60’s progressed. Jack Casady of the Jefferson Airplane, John Entwistle of the Who, Jack Bruce of Cream and Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone pushed the Bass Guitar envelope as the range of available sounds from the instrument grew proportionately with the advances in electronics and amplification and the increased sonic demands from sophisticated musicians.
The Bass Guitar has now achieved enough of a history to have its own heroes and exponents, both past and present. Names like Jaco Pastorius, Sting, Randy Jackson (American Idol), Stanley Clarke, Flea, Bootsy Collins, Gene Simmons, Gary Sinise (CSI NY), M’shell Ndegocello, and Sheryl Crow are just a few of the many celebrities that play the Bass Guitar and have added to its considerably vast body of work and musical legacy.