Musicians come to bass guitar from a wide range of unique paths. Regardless of origins, bass is a versatile instrument that elevates rhythm and sets the foundation for song.
Listen to Another One Bites the Dust by Queen or Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes and you’ll hear how a bass can stand on its own. A bass also complements and enhances other instruments.
Body & Neck
When shopping for a bass guitar, it is important to consider the neck and body. The neck holds the fret board and head stock, which all connect to the body of the bass. While it may not be obvious at first glance, different neck and body types can have a huge impact on the overall tone of the bass guitar.
Alder is a popular choice for bass bodies, as it is inexpensive and provides a balanced sound. It has a slight emphasis on the lower and mid ranges. Ash is also a popular choice, as it has a very warm and full sound. It has bold low frequencies and a smooth, subdued upper-midrange and high frequency range.
Other common choices include Maple and Mahogany. Maple is a very bright wood, which can provide a great deal of sustain. Mahogany is a darker wood that can produce a more balanced and warm sound. Both of these options can be paired with various other woods to achieve unique attributes, such as a more deep and warm or bright and sharp tone respectively.
When selecting a neck, it is important to take into account the size of your fingers and whether you want a fast or slow action. A fast neck is ideal for people with larger fingers, while a slow neck will be easier to play for those with smaller hands. It is also important to choose a neck that fits the body you have chosen, as not all necks are compatible with all bodies.
Another consideration when choosing a bass is the role it will play in your band. Traditionally, the bass guitar will support the drummer by providing the rhythm and setting the foundation for the rest of the instrumentation.
Fretboard
The fretboard is the part of the neck that holds the strings and is shaped in an arc to accommodate the fingers of your hand. This arc is called the fretboard radius. The fretboard is usually made of a different material than the rest of the neck.
The lines on the fretboard are called frets and each one represents a note in relation to the open string. For example, the first fret on the A string has the same note as the open A string, only two octaves higher. This is why learning to read bass tabs requires some familiarity with how the fretboard works.
To help bass players keep track of where their fingers are on the fretboard, small markers (also known as inlays, fret dots, or position markers) are placed on the frets. These are typically made of a beautiful, shiny substance like mother-of-pearl or pearloid. Those little marks are important because they make it much easier to navigate the fretboard, especially for beginners.
Fret markers also help students learn the notes on a scale by color. If a fret marker has a black dot then it represents an A and if it has a white dot then it means an E. This helps bass players easily find their way around the fretboard and avoid getting lost while they are learning to play.
Lastly, fret marks also help with interval memorization. Having a clear understanding of key intervals will allow bass players to move up and down the fretboard quickly without having to count up or down each time they shift positions.
For example, if you know that the 5th fret on the A string is an C and that it is a minor 6th interval apart from the open A string then you will be able to easily move up and down the fretboard calling out these names as you go.
Pickups
The pickups of a bass guitar determine a large portion of the instrument’s sound. Changing the pickups is relatively easy and can open up new worlds of tone and phrasing.
The basic workings of a bass guitar pickup is a coiled copper wire shielded by a magnet. When a string vibrates it disrupts the magnetic field around the pickup and this creates an electric current in the coil that is picked up by the bass amplifier and translated into sound.
Most basses have two pickups that can be used individually or blended in combination depending on the sound desired. There are also a variety of different types of pickups.
A single-coil pickup has one coil of wire wrapped around a bobbin with pole pieces under the strings. They are often found on bass acoustic guitars and have a bright, clear sound. Everything from the amount of coiled wire to the type and size of magnets and pole pieces can affect the pickup’s tone.
Double-coil pickups have two coils side by side with larger pole pieces. They are able to pick up a wider range of frequencies, including ambient noise and buzzing, like radio waves, computer monitors, and florescent lighting.
Piezoelectric pickups are less common but can be found on some basses. These are similar to acoustic pickups and use pressure changes that the strings produce to detect vibrations and create an electric signal.
The newest kind of bass pickup is the optical, which uses light to sense the strings’ vibrations and create an electrical signal. These are most commonly seen on acoustic-electric bass guitars but may eventually become more popular on electric basses as well.
Electronics
The bass guitar uses a combination of electronic circuitry to transform the vibrations of metal bass strings into an electric signal that can be amplified. The rectangular black boxes that are placed on the bass guitar body under each string are called bass guitar pickups and contain magnets which create a magnetic field around the metal strings. These magnetic fields are disturbed when the bass strings vibrate and produce an electronic signal that can be sent to a bass guitar amplifier and converted into sound. Active electronics on a bass guitar allow for better control over the tone of the instrument as they minimize interference between pickups, long cable lengths and the amplifier input which can all degrade the bass guitar signal.
The choice of tonewood on a bass guitar will also have an effect on the frequency response (the way in which frequencies resonant within the body and surroundings before they are picked up by the electric pickups). Most bass guitar bodies are made from woods like Northern hard ash or the appropriately named Basswood. Bassists can shape the timbre of their instruments by using different pick styles, finger positions, playing techniques and adjusting the amount of pressure applied to the strings when they are played.
One of the earliest pioneers of bass guitar technology was Ron Wickersham who developed the first basses with active electronics. Bassists such as Stanley Clarke used this new style of bass guitar technology to develop a hybrid approach to playing which blended fingerstyle and slap techniques into the one voice. He was also one of the very few bassists to use a bass with passive electronics and was an advocate for the more ‘colourful’ timbre that the older style of basses produced.
Accessories
Bass guitars are used in many musical genres to add depth by providing a lower harmony as well as maintaining a rhythmic foundation. They have a unique role in the band and have influenced popular music styles from rock, metal, pop, punk, and country. They are also used as a soloing instrument in jazz, fusion, and Latin music.
The majority of bass guitars are solidbody, which means they don’t have a hollow body that allows sounds to reverberate like acoustic instruments. They are often constructed from softer woods such as ply, with more expensive models using harder woods such as mahogany or rosewood. These woods produce different tones – mahogany has a dense and rich sound that works well with country and blues music while maple is more metallic and works best in rock and heavy metal music.
Strings are a crucial bass guitar accessory as they have the power to shape your tone. You can change the gauge (thickness) of your strings to alter their sound. Thicker strings will give you a more powerful and punchy sound that’s ideal for rock, blues, and Motown music while thinner strings will provide a subdued, deep, and warm sound that’s perfect for reggae and old-school rock.
Another essential bass guitar accessory is a metronome. Bassists are heavily reliant on their sense of rhythm and time, especially when performing live. A metronome will help you develop this essential skill and keep your timing on point during practice, making you a better musician overall. Other useful accessories for bass players include a gig bag, strap, spare strings, and a guitar repair kit with a spare peg winder, screw driver, and wire cutters.