trowaclown
New member
Welcome to the Bass FAQ section in soft.com.sg. This little article hopes to answer some of the common questions asked by beginner bassists and those who are considering to pick up this instrument. If you have an unanswered question, first use the forum's search function to check if someone else asked it. Let's keep this forum clutter free and post new topics only when necessary.
1. Bass? The four string guitar?
2. So what does bass do?
3. What's this thing about P and J basses?
4. Are there other differences between the two bass types?
5. What about other basses?
6. What are extended range basses?
7. What about fretless basses?
8. What else affects the sound/tone of a bass?
9. Can you recommend me a bass to get as a beginner?
10. Where can I buy <insert brand> or jam?
1. Bass? The four string guitar?
Yes, and no. The electric bass you see nowadays is actually an offspring of, and replacement for, the double bass. Back then, bassists were still using double basses to cover the lower frequencies in band settings, and found it increasing hard to cut through the mix (of all the instruments and vocals) to be heard, as the electric guitar with its amplifier was far louder than what a double bass can naturally provide.
Leo Fender invented the first electric bass guitar in 1951 to replace the double bass in bands, with features borrowed from his earlier success, the Telecaster guitar, such as electric pickups with amplifiers for the eventual output of sound. Frets were also introduced so that bassists could intonate precisely, thus giving birth to the Precision Bass.
The most basic form of the bass is a four string instrument (just like the double bass) tuned from low to high E A D G (just like the double bass). This tuning is coincidentally just like the last four strings of a guitar (E A D G B E), but one octave lower. Compared to a guitar, the bass is physically larger, owing to its longer scale length (in layman's terms, the length of the vibrating string). This is necessitated by its lower tuning, as a shorter scale length wouldn't sound as good tonally. Consequently, a bass guitar tends to weigh heavier.
To differentiate between the different incarnations of the bass, we refer to basses as such:
-Upright/double bass: The traditional double bass still used in orchestras and some jazz bands
-Electric bass: Basses that require amplification to produce any audible sounds
-Acoustic bass: Like classical guitars, these basses do not require external amplification, instead the sound board (not the hole) vibrates to amplify the string vibrations. Hybrids exisit with pickups that can allow external amplification, while the bass will still be able to fall back on its own without external amplification.
2. So what does bass do?
The bass is very verstatile, being able to:
-Provide the rhythmic backbone in a band, influencing the harmony while helping to keep time
-Being a lead instrument
-As a solo instrument
-Anything else you can think of. I use mine as eye candy sometimes.
3. What's this thing about P and J basses?
Ah, the most common question. When new bassists appear on the forum asking for virgin gear recommendations, the first question we tend to ask is the tone they're looking for, whether it's the P or J tone. P actually stands for Precision (mentioned above) while J stands for Jazz. The Jazz bass is actually the second model introduced by Leo Fender, originally as a Deluxe model. The most important difference between the two is that the Precision bass has a split single coil humbucking pickup while the Jazz bass has 2 single coil pickups.
The humbucking pickups (so named because they buck the hum, more on this later) give a more punchy sound with more low end, and are noiseless. The single coil pickups have more prominent mids and are described as growly. If these don't make sense, please listen to some sample clips below.
Jazz Bass samples:
http://images.misupply.com/downloads/Fender/019_0209.wav
http://images.misupply.com/downloads/Fender/019_0300.wav
Precision Bass samples:
http://images.misupply.com/downloads/Fender/019_0116.wav
http://images.misupply.com/downloads/Fender/019_0115.wav
The magic word that emcompasses all these funny words (like punchy and growly and throaty and singing) is 'timbre'. Simply put, timbre is the 'colour' of the sound, and describes its musical quality. As an illustration, a flute and a guitar may both be playing the same note at the exact same frequency and loudness, but you'll be able to tell the two apart, because the timbre of the notes are different.
The single coils in a Jazz bass and the split single coils (wired in humbucking mode) in a Precision bass produce different timbres due to their location relative to the string's vibrating length and their circuitary. Jazz basses are capable of a wider tonal range, as there are two pickups to blend and play around with, while the Precision bass' humbucking single coil only has a volume control and a tone control. However, single coil pickups also pick up (hur hur pun there) the 60Hz cycle of your power supply, so if you dial up one pickup louder than the other you'll get an audible hummmmmmm even when you're not playing anything. The single coil pick up on the Precision Bass is split, and the two split sections are wired in series, with opposite polarity and wire windings. The hum these 2 sections pick up thus cancel each other. (Physics 101. It's okay if you don't understand, the tonal differences are more important here.) You cannot judge whether one is better than the other, but you can come to a decision as to which you prefer.
Pros and cons exist for these 2 basic bass types. Of course, compromises exist as well. For example, the Warwick Streamer Stage II bass has both P and J pickups, so you can get the best of both worlds. In addition, the traditional single coil sound can now be reached without the hummmmmm as it can be wired to be a humbucker while emulating the tone of a single coil pickup. You can buy both basses in time, to cover both bases (hur hur pun there) and use each accordingly. There are many workarounds for this age old question.
4. Are there other differences between the two bass types?
Of course! Visually, you'll notice that the Jazz bass has an oh-so-sexy off-set waist, meaning that its body isn't quite symmetrical. In addition, the nut at the Precision bass is wider, thus making it feel chunkier. Whether this is a pro/con is entirely personal, so you must try both to find out which you prefer.
5. What about other basses?
Other basses exist, of course, and many have arguably grown to be as popular as the two classics. Some other basses to read up on include:
-Musicman Stingray (Also by Leo Fender, albeit in a different company. This model is the 'third twin' to the Precision and Jazz.)
-Gibson/Epiphone Thunderbird (With its reverse bodystyle, this bass is a sight to behold.)
-Warwick Thumb (Arguably one of the most popular models from Warwick, a company famous for alternative body shapes, exotics woods and unique tones.)
-Hofner Violin (Made famous by Paul McCartney, a Beatle.)
-Rickenbacker 4001 (Another model famous by association, also to Paul McCartney.)
-Steinberger Spirit (One of the iconic headless basses still popular today. They pop up for sale in the used section from time to time.)
6. What are extended range basses?
Extended range basses are basses that play beyond the notes allowed on a typical bass guitar.
Taking a classic Fender Jazz bass, the lowest note you can play is the open E string, sounding an E1, while the highest note you can play is a D# 3 semitones above C3, by fretting on the 20th fret on the G (first/thinnest) string. Some songs call for a drop tuning, sometimes up to two half steps. By tuning down 2 steps, the lowest note played reaches D1, which is an extension of a step. Not a lot, actually.
Extended range basses can go lower and higher in a few ways. 5 string basses, for example, typically have an added B string (B0) to increase the lowest note reached by 2 steps. You can't go lower than a low B string because you're already hitting the floor of the audible human range of frequencies. Going higher can either mean you add frets, up to 24 typically, or you add another high string above your G string. 4 extra frets add two steps to your range as well, while a high C string increase your range by two and a half steps.
Luthiers typically stop at 24 frets, as increasing the frets will make little sense since the frets get so close together to make them unplayable. Instead, extreme forms of extended basses take on the form of even more strings, beyond the 6 strings you get by adding a high and a low string. Monsters can include up to 12 or more strings that are played in atypical ways, such as bass tapping.
1. Bass? The four string guitar?
2. So what does bass do?
3. What's this thing about P and J basses?
4. Are there other differences between the two bass types?
5. What about other basses?
6. What are extended range basses?
7. What about fretless basses?
8. What else affects the sound/tone of a bass?
9. Can you recommend me a bass to get as a beginner?
10. Where can I buy <insert brand> or jam?
1. Bass? The four string guitar?
Yes, and no. The electric bass you see nowadays is actually an offspring of, and replacement for, the double bass. Back then, bassists were still using double basses to cover the lower frequencies in band settings, and found it increasing hard to cut through the mix (of all the instruments and vocals) to be heard, as the electric guitar with its amplifier was far louder than what a double bass can naturally provide.
Leo Fender invented the first electric bass guitar in 1951 to replace the double bass in bands, with features borrowed from his earlier success, the Telecaster guitar, such as electric pickups with amplifiers for the eventual output of sound. Frets were also introduced so that bassists could intonate precisely, thus giving birth to the Precision Bass.
The most basic form of the bass is a four string instrument (just like the double bass) tuned from low to high E A D G (just like the double bass). This tuning is coincidentally just like the last four strings of a guitar (E A D G B E), but one octave lower. Compared to a guitar, the bass is physically larger, owing to its longer scale length (in layman's terms, the length of the vibrating string). This is necessitated by its lower tuning, as a shorter scale length wouldn't sound as good tonally. Consequently, a bass guitar tends to weigh heavier.
To differentiate between the different incarnations of the bass, we refer to basses as such:
-Upright/double bass: The traditional double bass still used in orchestras and some jazz bands
-Electric bass: Basses that require amplification to produce any audible sounds
-Acoustic bass: Like classical guitars, these basses do not require external amplification, instead the sound board (not the hole) vibrates to amplify the string vibrations. Hybrids exisit with pickups that can allow external amplification, while the bass will still be able to fall back on its own without external amplification.
2. So what does bass do?
The bass is very verstatile, being able to:
-Provide the rhythmic backbone in a band, influencing the harmony while helping to keep time
-Being a lead instrument
-As a solo instrument
-Anything else you can think of. I use mine as eye candy sometimes.
3. What's this thing about P and J basses?
Ah, the most common question. When new bassists appear on the forum asking for virgin gear recommendations, the first question we tend to ask is the tone they're looking for, whether it's the P or J tone. P actually stands for Precision (mentioned above) while J stands for Jazz. The Jazz bass is actually the second model introduced by Leo Fender, originally as a Deluxe model. The most important difference between the two is that the Precision bass has a split single coil humbucking pickup while the Jazz bass has 2 single coil pickups.
The humbucking pickups (so named because they buck the hum, more on this later) give a more punchy sound with more low end, and are noiseless. The single coil pickups have more prominent mids and are described as growly. If these don't make sense, please listen to some sample clips below.
Jazz Bass samples:
http://images.misupply.com/downloads/Fender/019_0209.wav
http://images.misupply.com/downloads/Fender/019_0300.wav
Precision Bass samples:
http://images.misupply.com/downloads/Fender/019_0116.wav
http://images.misupply.com/downloads/Fender/019_0115.wav
The magic word that emcompasses all these funny words (like punchy and growly and throaty and singing) is 'timbre'. Simply put, timbre is the 'colour' of the sound, and describes its musical quality. As an illustration, a flute and a guitar may both be playing the same note at the exact same frequency and loudness, but you'll be able to tell the two apart, because the timbre of the notes are different.
The single coils in a Jazz bass and the split single coils (wired in humbucking mode) in a Precision bass produce different timbres due to their location relative to the string's vibrating length and their circuitary. Jazz basses are capable of a wider tonal range, as there are two pickups to blend and play around with, while the Precision bass' humbucking single coil only has a volume control and a tone control. However, single coil pickups also pick up (hur hur pun there) the 60Hz cycle of your power supply, so if you dial up one pickup louder than the other you'll get an audible hummmmmmm even when you're not playing anything. The single coil pick up on the Precision Bass is split, and the two split sections are wired in series, with opposite polarity and wire windings. The hum these 2 sections pick up thus cancel each other. (Physics 101. It's okay if you don't understand, the tonal differences are more important here.) You cannot judge whether one is better than the other, but you can come to a decision as to which you prefer.
Pros and cons exist for these 2 basic bass types. Of course, compromises exist as well. For example, the Warwick Streamer Stage II bass has both P and J pickups, so you can get the best of both worlds. In addition, the traditional single coil sound can now be reached without the hummmmmm as it can be wired to be a humbucker while emulating the tone of a single coil pickup. You can buy both basses in time, to cover both bases (hur hur pun there) and use each accordingly. There are many workarounds for this age old question.
4. Are there other differences between the two bass types?
Of course! Visually, you'll notice that the Jazz bass has an oh-so-sexy off-set waist, meaning that its body isn't quite symmetrical. In addition, the nut at the Precision bass is wider, thus making it feel chunkier. Whether this is a pro/con is entirely personal, so you must try both to find out which you prefer.
5. What about other basses?
Other basses exist, of course, and many have arguably grown to be as popular as the two classics. Some other basses to read up on include:
-Musicman Stingray (Also by Leo Fender, albeit in a different company. This model is the 'third twin' to the Precision and Jazz.)
-Gibson/Epiphone Thunderbird (With its reverse bodystyle, this bass is a sight to behold.)
-Warwick Thumb (Arguably one of the most popular models from Warwick, a company famous for alternative body shapes, exotics woods and unique tones.)
-Hofner Violin (Made famous by Paul McCartney, a Beatle.)
-Rickenbacker 4001 (Another model famous by association, also to Paul McCartney.)
-Steinberger Spirit (One of the iconic headless basses still popular today. They pop up for sale in the used section from time to time.)
6. What are extended range basses?
Extended range basses are basses that play beyond the notes allowed on a typical bass guitar.
Taking a classic Fender Jazz bass, the lowest note you can play is the open E string, sounding an E1, while the highest note you can play is a D# 3 semitones above C3, by fretting on the 20th fret on the G (first/thinnest) string. Some songs call for a drop tuning, sometimes up to two half steps. By tuning down 2 steps, the lowest note played reaches D1, which is an extension of a step. Not a lot, actually.
Extended range basses can go lower and higher in a few ways. 5 string basses, for example, typically have an added B string (B0) to increase the lowest note reached by 2 steps. You can't go lower than a low B string because you're already hitting the floor of the audible human range of frequencies. Going higher can either mean you add frets, up to 24 typically, or you add another high string above your G string. 4 extra frets add two steps to your range as well, while a high C string increase your range by two and a half steps.
Luthiers typically stop at 24 frets, as increasing the frets will make little sense since the frets get so close together to make them unplayable. Instead, extreme forms of extended basses take on the form of even more strings, beyond the 6 strings you get by adding a high and a low string. Monsters can include up to 12 or more strings that are played in atypical ways, such as bass tapping.
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