Hammond Music

Posts Tagged ‘bass guitars’

In the 1950s, Fender put out the very first mass-produced electric bass guitar that anyone could purchase to start their music career. Quickly after its release, the Fender Bass Guitar found a place with some of the most popular musicians of the day like William ‘Monk’ Montgomery, Lionel Hampton and Roy Johnson, who had unique musical visions and visionary players in their bands, taking the Fender electric bass and making it a respectable, important instrument in the musical landscape. Within a moment of the Precision Bass being released by Fender, another electric bass guitar was brought forward by Gibson. This new bass guitar looked more of a violin than the Fender bass. Now, electric instruments were here to stay and play a significant role in the musical industry as we now know it.

Fender bass guitars have changed very little since their introduction, despite a few cosmetic changes over the years. There is a significant demand for original vintage Fender basses from the fifties, sixties, and even seventies, because Fender began to create basses that significantly deviated from the original models and they were met with extreme dissatisfaction from many bass players.

Despite the huge conflict about which makes a better bass guitar, you can now find bass guitars in many shapes and materials. Which guitar you want to get depends on your sensibilities. Wood is the most normally used construction material for bass guitars. Different types of woods are, however, being used, and received well, such as alder and ebony as well as graphite. The sound of each different variety of guitar varies, and as such you should try out each one in order to find your preference. An additional, most professionals select whether or not the neck should have frets. This gives a distinctive effect on the guitar’s sound, as a bass missing frets will have the strings vibrate on the wooden neck itself.

No matter the style of bass anyone would purchase, they are fun and have aided in making music more entertaining to listen to.

Buying A Bass Guitar

A bass guitar is pretty similar to a normal electric guitar, except the typical version only has four strings and it has a larger body plus a slightly longer neck. The first lesson in learning bass is to understand the instrument’s role in the band and the second lesson should be to get a grasp on the different ways to play the guitar depending on the different genres of music adopted by the band.

There are a variety of different and interesting techniques which can be used to play the bass guitar.  For example, slapping is a technique where you use your thumb to strike the E string (normally) before quickly pulling it away to make a slapping sound.  The E string is the largest string, the one that plays the lowest sound.  Funk music is one of the genres that uses this technique extensively.

Another technique is known as ‘popping’ and this involves putting one of the fingers underneath the string and pulling it outwards, before releasing it so that it ‘pops’ back. These two techniques (slapping and popping) are often used in quick combination to create some amazing sounding riffs.

The main backbone of a band is made up of the electric bass guitar working closely with the drummer. This section provides the rhythm, the main melody and the basic harmonic foundation for the rest of the band who play chords over the top of this foundation. Obviously, the bassist therefore needs to have particularly good timing. You will normally find more men than women playing the bass, not least because of how thick the strings are, therefore it needs a reasonable amount of finger strength and toughness to be able to play the instrument for very long periods of time without causing injury.  It is more likely to be the case if it is a particularly aggressive, rapid style of bass playing required for that type of music.

Another reason for this, is that many larger men have wider fingers, bigger hands, and longer arms which makes it much more comfortable than easy for them to play the bass, whereas it can be quite difficult for them to cope with the intricacies of the electric guitar.  For example, a rhythm guitarist will mainly play chords which are more suitable to smaller fingers and a dextrous hand.  Therefore for someone with quite large fingers who is possibly a little more clumsy than someone without, the bass guitar might be a much better choice.

Bass guitars are most usually played by using the middle finger plus the index finger to alternatively pluck the strings.  The thumb is usually used as a support and is most commonly rested just on top of the pick-up.  You can also play the bass guitar with a pick (otherwise known as a plectrum) and there are bass pics manufactured specifically for the bass guitar-these are thicker and more sturdy than the typical electric guitar pick.

If you are looking to buy a bass guitar on the internet, some good tips are to check that the sender will be using adequate packaging to protect the item in transit. Also, you should view pictures of the guitar closely if it is second-hand in order to try and find any marks or other giveaway signs that the instrument has been mis-treated or dropped, as any damage could affect the quality of the sound produced by it.

Of course, as with any purchase on the internet, is a good idea to have a good look at the credentials of the summer (for example if the seller is on eBay) or if it is on a website, it is wise to thoroughly check out the legitimacy of the website, how long it has been selling for online, and any customer reviews who have previously bought from that website.  Be sure to check out the refund policy as well as any other terms and conditions.

Yamaha guitars have been made for over 60 years and the company itself is more than a century old.Yamaha started out making organs, pianos, harmonicas, even furniture before they got round to making their first acoustic guitar in 1942. It was only in 1965, a year after the Beatles broke in the USA on the Ed Sullivan Show,  that Yamaha began to make solid body electric guitars with electric bass models appearing a year later.

By 1970 Yamaha was being noticed by major exponents of guitars as the lead instrument of a generation such as Carlos Santana and Bob Marley.  That same year they introduced the dovetail neck joint to their guitars which provides the best neck to body contact and helps to resonate vibrations from the neck to the body, producing the balanced tone and response that Yamaha electric guitars are famous for.

Blending different kinds of wood is also extremely important to produce a great sound where the guitar player has complete control of the note texture.  Another important factor in the construction in Yamaha guitars is the types of lacquer they use so the guitars can look great and have a chance to breathe.

Yamaha have achieved anm enviable reputation in the electro-acoustic field as well as in bass guitars. The Yamaha RBX170 for example is amazing value for money yet the quality is everything you would expect from a decent bass. The solid agathis body, sleek, wide-cutaway contours allow easy access right to the top of the 24-fret, full-scale neck.

Yamaha is the guitar of choice for many famous artists, and one of the most popular makes for session men in the recording studio. John Denver, John Lennon, Bob Marley, Brian May, Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page, Carlos Santana, Bob Seger, Billy Sheehan, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen have all gigged with Yamaha at some time in their careers.

If you’ve decided that you want to take up the guitar, but prefer to live in the engine room of any band by playing the bass, then you are obviously a lover of rhythm and the groove. The bass guitar, together with the drums, forms the rhythm section of a band and so it will be important to develop a good sense of timing and beat.  Choosing the correct instrument is important, as is dedication to practicing in order to become an accomplished bassist.

Iconic bass guitars like the Fender Precision not only drove many a jazz, rock and surf band but became as recognisable as the screaming lead instruments.  Unlike lead guitars, where most novices are advised to start out with an acoustic, prospective bass players will probably go straight to a four sting electric bass guitar. Great brands for starters include Washburn, Squier and Epiphone. These companies produce guitars that look good and play great for the price. Fretless, acoustic and five-string basses each have their own type of sounds and can be very powerful and sonorous, but they are very hard to learn compared with the four string electric bass. Most tutorial books or tuition CDs for beginners are written with the four-string fretted bass in mind.

You can buy a cheap, second hand bass guitar.Most used equipment drops in price over the years and can offer better quality and sound for the same price as a new bass.Many other used instruments have poor sound quality and setup with unreasonably high action, or simply do not hold tune correctly.  Always check a used instrument for damage, and play it (or have someone else play it) before buying it.   The time and effort you would have to put into carefully selecting a used bass guitar is substantial, and it’s probably safer to look at some of the quite reasonably priced electric guitars and bass starter packages from well known brand names.

The Behringer bass guitar pack for example includes the guitar and a bass guitar amplifier, padded gig bag, cable, an adjustable strap and picks. The Ibanez GSR190J 4-String Bass Guitar Pack also includes a 10 watt amplifier and accessories at a very affordable price.Or you could move straight to Squier Precision bass guitars.They are the worlds best-selling bass guitar because of excellent value. They feel good, sound good and fit the needs of any starting-out bass player on a budget.

Whichever route you take, always try before you buy.Most guitar shops will let you plug in and play around with any instrument so you can check how it sounds, looks, and feels in your hands. Do not buy something used without playing it first unless it comes from a reputable source you trust and has some sort of return policy. There are very reputable and well established Internet-based music stores that can generally offer better deals than high street retail but be very cautious about buying instruments on Internet sites such as eBay.  Bring someone along who is an experienced bassist and let them play any instruments you are considering buying.