Bassist or Bass Player?

[Stub Mandrel]

Some interestingly convoluted definitions on the internet - usin g different definitions to make  or score points. Personally I consider them to have the same meaning. But this is interesting:

[Stub Mandrel]

Just to show that both terms go back to the early 19th century:

[CamdenRob]

Interesting... I use either of these terms to describe myself but I much prefer referring to the instrument itself as “Electric Bass” rather than “Bass Guitar”... I feel Electric Bass better covers the role we are performing within the band (bridging the gap between the melody and the beat, holding it all together, outlining chords etc), I feel it keeps the link to the double bass, being an electric version thereof. Whereas “Bass Guitar” conjures up images of playing the same thing as the guitar an octave down. 

[Stub Mandrel]

22 minutes ago, CamdenRob said:

Interesting... I use either of these terms to describe myself but I much prefer referring to the instrument itself as “Electric Bass” rather than “Bass Guitar”... I feel Electric Bass better covers the role we are performing within the band (bridging the gap between the melody and the beat, holding it all together, outlining chords etc), I feel it keeps the link to the double bass, being an electric version thereof. Whereas “Bass Guitar” conjures up images of playing the same thing as the guitar an octave down. 

Interesting!

Personally I think of an EUB as very different from a standard bass which I tend to think of as closely related to guitar, because of the shared construction.I'd gold up the mando-bass as evidence - tuned the same but clearly from the family mandolin - mandola - mando-cello - mando bass.

Of course it's a bit odd as the double bass is a bit of an 'instrument out on its own', as the obsolete viola and bass violin (tuned in fifths) are more closely related to  the violin - viola -cello family, although it bears a strong resemblance to them and is played.

Unlike in biology where lines of descent are clear, with instruments it's easy for things to cross over and be novel.

The defining feature of the guitar is that it's a chordal instrument and its tunings reflect this. The bass is primarily designed to be played monophonically (notwithstanding guitar solos and bass chords!) and perhaps the thing that distinguishes it most from the guitar is that it is (almost) always tuned in fourths, whatever the number of strings.

[James Nada]

It could equally be called the Stringed Tuba

[skankdelvar]

4 hours ago, James Nada said:

It could equally be called the Stringed Tuba

... or the contrabanjo.

[Bluewine]

I'm an an electric bass guitarist.

I always felt bassist and bass players were guys that play double or stand up bass.

Blue

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, Bluewine said:

I'm an an electric bass guitarist.

I always felt bassist and bass players were guys that play double or stand up bass.

Blue

Yes but you're a Yankee hoodlum 🙂

 

[itu]

7 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Of course it's a bit odd as the double bass is a bit of an 'instrument out on its own', as the obsolete viola and bass violin (tuned in fifths) are more closely related to  the violin - viola -cello family, although it bears a strong resemblance to them and is played.

Please, keep violin, viola, and cello out of our area. They do not belong to gamba family. Know your ancestors!

Sometimes I have seen the use of "a guxxxx bass, sorry about this offensive word, a g-word bass", but I just do not like it myself.

Bass is a bass, it is not a g-word. I find that as a diminutive to our honorable instrument. A double/contra/upright bass, an electric upright, an electric bass, an acoustic bass. That's it.

A bassist or a bass player, both are fine.

[Dan Dare]

According to Glenn Fricker (YouTube studio recording advice channel in Canada), we're c*+ts...

[DoubleOhStephan]

13 minutes ago, itu said:

A bassist or a bass player, both are fine.

Aye

[Stub Mandrel]

3 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

According to Glenn Fricker (YouTube studio recording advice channel in Canada), we're c*+ts...

Careful observation also reveals that bass appears to be his instrument of choice 🙂

 

[NJE]

I always preferred to be call a bass player, a bassist was always something I thought covered those that played upright and electric bass and was reserved for people who were far more competent than me on both 😄

[Twanger]

My take on it. A bassist is someone who specialises in playing bass. They are interested in the instrument, research it, learn to play the damn thing, develop virtuoso technique and so on. But the focus in on the instrument. A bass player is someone who holds down that role in a band or other ensemble. So the focus is on the music. I have absolutely no reason to think this way, it's purely my own view.

Edited September 15, 2019 by Twanger
Correct spelling mistake

[rushbo]

Here’s my well thought out opinion. After giving this some careful consideration, I have decided:

I don’t mind, really. 

Edited September 15, 2019 by rushbo

[RedVee]

I remember John Entwistle referring to himself as a Bass Guitarist, he hated it when people called him a Bass Player.

Edited September 15, 2019 by RedVee

[Davo-London]

I think you're all missing the most interest aspect of this post- we're in decline since 2000!

Davo

[Monkey Steve]

not too fussed - personally I'd say I was a bass player, but I wouldn't spit my dummy out at any of the others

As for bass guitar or electric bass, I've always favoured electric bass, probably because when I first started playing, the Big Book Of How To Play Bass that I got insisted quite forcefully that it was an electric bass, because it is an electric version of an acoustic double bass (in terms of it's role in the band and who it was aimed at when first manufactured) and not an electric version of an acoustic bass guitar, regardless of the fact that there have been acoustic bass guitars of some form or another for quite a while.

[Stub Mandrel]

Strictly speaking, 'bass' is an adjective not a noun.

When you tell someone 'I play bass' they shoudl ask 'bass what?' 🙂

[skankdelvar]

36 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Strictly speaking, 'bass' is an adjective not a noun.

"If one looks at an audio amplifier one will usually observe a rotary potentiometer marked 'bass'. This potentiometer is designed to increase or decrease the amount of bass. If bass has an amount and this amount can be adjusted then it follows that bass is a thing and therefore etymologically a noun".

Sir Roy Strong told me this when we met fleetingly at a drinks reception at the National Portrait Gallery in 1971. Nothing since has given me cause to differ from his opinion.
 

Edited September 16, 2019 by skankdelvar

[fretmeister]

Not fussed in the slightest.

[Twanger]

4 minutes ago, skankdelvar said:

"If one looks at an audio amplifier one will usually observe a rotary potentiometer marked 'bass'. This potentiometer is designed to increase or decrease the amount of bass. If bass has an amount and this amount can be adjusted it's a thing and therefore etymologically a noun".

Sir Roy Strong told me this when we met fleetingly at a drinks reception at the National Portrait gallery in 1971. Nothing since has given me cause to differ from his opinion.

Sir Roy Strong is not wrong. From a linguist's perspective, I would say that if the word can be preceded by a preposition ("amount of bass") then it is grammatically a noun. However, etymology ain't nothing to do with word class, so it ain't a noun etymologically. However again, it's possible for the word "bass" to be either an adjective or a noun. "The sound is too bass", for example. So, yay! Everyone wins. Everyone's happy!

[Stub Mandrel]

23 minutes ago, skankdelvar said:

"If one looks at an audio amplifier one will usually observe a rotary potentiometer marked 'bass'. This potentiometer is designed to increase or decrease the amount of bass. If bass has an amount and this amount can be adjusted then it follows that bass is a thing and therefore etymologically a noun".

Sir Roy Strong told me this when we met fleetingly at a drinks reception at the National Portrait Gallery in 1971. Nothing since has given me cause to differ from his opinion.
 

Whack!

[12stringbassist]

I'm happy with either term.

[Graham56]

I'm a bass owner...