Is the Bass a Guitar?

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='chris_b' post='901892' date='Jul 22 2010, 01:54 PM']An EUB is derived from a double bass, but the Fender Precision was derived from the Fender Broadcaster/Telecaster. One is fretted, the other isn't. One is a guitar the other isn't!!

How on earth can we get 2 pages of disagreement on this??[/quote]
And not for the first time ... or probably last time.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Rich' post='901887' date='Jul 22 2010, 01:51 PM']OK. What's this?

[/quote]
It's an acoustic bass guitar.

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='Rich' post='901887' date='Jul 22 2010, 01:51 PM']OK. What's this?

[/quote]

Its probably not loud enough to keep up with an acoustic guitar.

[Sarah5string]

[quote name='dlloyd' post='901871' date='Jul 22 2010, 01:38 PM']The double bass is a member of the violin family. The bass guitar isn't.[/quote]
True, but then what about fretless basses... they're more like double basses!

[Mr. Foxen]

What about Wishbasses?

[Sarah5string]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='901913' date='Jul 22 2010, 02:05 PM']What about Wishbasses?[/quote]
They're just freaks of nature..

[chris_b]

[quote name='Sarah5string' post='901911' date='Jul 22 2010, 02:04 PM']....True, but then what about fretless basses... they're more like double basses!....[/quote]
No they're not. They are exactly like an electric bass guitar which doesn't have any frets!

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='Sarah5string' post='901911' date='Jul 22 2010, 02:04 PM']True, but then what about fretless basses... they're more like double basses![/quote]

An unsuccessful mutation of the bass guitar.

[Mr. Foxen]

^All of this is why I call it 'a bass'. I advise you all to do the same.

[Sarah5string]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='901931' date='Jul 22 2010, 02:15 PM']An unsuccessful mutation of the bass guitar.[/quote]

[MIJ-VI]

[quote name='Rich' post='901874' date='Jul 22 2010, 08:40 AM']But the tuning is exactly the same as a P bass, albeit with two extra top strings. [u]So what makes this a 'guitar', and a Precision not?[/u][/quote]

The Fender VI is better suited to a playing style which incorporates more guitar technique and more complex chord voices. (That being said, with the exception of slap, it can perform electric bass duties as well as any 30" scale four stringer.) Here's a video which illustrates the contrast between a 'VI, and a P: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihk4Jp5yO4g"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihk4Jp5yO4g[/url]

[quote name='Rich' post='901874' date='Jul 22 2010, 08:40 AM']But so is this:



[u]Are you saying there are more similarities between this and a P bass, than between the P bass and the Bass VI?[/u][/quote]

In terms of their timbre and the pizzicato playing styles commonly employed on long scale four stringed bass instruments, yes.

[Rich]

So these three are all the same thing? Wow, I'm really confused now.

[Dave Vader]

Tuba occupies the same space musically, is the bass actually a tuba?
(Quite truthfully, both me and my Tuba playing friend describe ourselves as bass players)
Is it actually a very big ukulele? It's got 4 strings and frets?
Perhaps a mandolin? Or not quite a banjo?

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Rich' post='902017' date='Jul 22 2010, 03:29 PM']So these three are all the same thing? Wow, I'm really confused now.

[/quote]
No, not all three the same. Only the B.C. Rich can be used to take the cap off a beer bottle.

[OldGit]

[quote name='MIJ-VI' post='901983' date='Jul 22 2010, 02:59 PM']Here's a video which illustrates the contrast between a 'VI, and a P: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihk4Jp5yO4g"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihk4Jp5yO4g[/url][/quote]

The Fender VI is definitely a "Crazy Guitar"

[Davo-London]

Quite an amusing thread.

We have:

URB Upright Bass
EUB Electric Upright Bass
EBG Electric Bass Guitar
ABG Acoustic Bass Guitar

I quite like the idea that the bass isn't a guitar but when you look at the stratocaster and a precision you cannot really pretend the EBG isn't a guitar. It would be nice just to call it a bass, but that will also lead to confusion with all other variants. The frets are what makes the EBG a guitar in my view. No previous variant had frets. Of course the fretless is then by inference and association with it's fretted cousin a guitar also.

I voted guitar without reading all the arguements but I now reinforce that view.

Davo

[Doddy]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='901882' date='Jul 22 2010, 01:48 PM']In terms of position in music, yes. Although I've not seen a bass VI used much, it has general performed chordal or at least multi string duties.[/quote]

Although it was often used in country music to double what the Upright played,which was known as 'Tic-Tac'.

I've just found a quote from Leo Fender where he says that "We needed to free the bass player from the big
doghouse,the acoustic bass........
..........The old bass took up too much room,and it was difficult to haul it around"

In the same quote he also says that "sometimes guitar players would have an advantage if they could have an
instrument with frets that would make doubling on bass easier for them"

So it appears the Fender was looking at the instrument from both a guitar and bass player point of view.


I wouldn't say that it's the frets that make it a guitar,because there have been examples of fretted
double basses long before the first bass guitar.

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='Doddy' post='902123' date='Jul 22 2010, 05:08 PM']I've just found a quote from Leo Fender where he says that "We needed to free the bass player from the big
doghouse,the acoustic bass........
..........The old bass took up too much room,and it was difficult to haul it around"

In the same quote he also says that "sometimes guitar players would have an advantage if they could have an
instrument with frets that would make doubling on bass easier for them"

So it appears the Fender was looking at the instrument from both a guitar and bass player point of view.[/quote]

Fairly sure he was looking at it from an engineers point of view.

I'm so glad my electric bass stuff is so much easier to lug around than an upright.

[Cat Burrito]

I see myself as a bassist but it is a bass *guitar* I'm afraid. I too play a bit of upright, now that isn't a guitar. However I have to admit I'm much more of a bass guitarist. To use an earlier quote, who cares? It doesn't really matter

[XB26354]

It is a guitar. The only similarity it has with double bass is that the standard model is tuned EADG. Everything else is different. The tone is by and large totally different, especially with roundwound strings, which as far as I am aware are not really employed on the upright. I'm with Anthony Jackson too - as the lowest member of the guitar family it should always have had 6 strings, not 4. Just my opinion, and the good thing about bass guitar is that there are so many variations.

[Doddy]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='902128' date='Jul 22 2010, 05:19 PM']Fairly sure he was looking at it from an engineers point of view.[/quote]

Yeah he probably was,but he was also hoping to pitch it to both guitarists and bass players,hence the
34" scale,as it sits in between the Upright and a Telecaster.

[Alfie]

[quote name='Commando Jack' post='901652' date='Jul 22 2010, 09:42 AM']Hi there,

So I was over on Fark.com when I came across this video (below for anyone interested) for "famous guitar tunes without a guitar" kind of thing. Now, I know that the guy was aiming for "there is no lead guitarist here so its cool", but the band had a bass, and it sparked a (small) [url="http://www.fark.com/cgi/comments.pl?IDLink=5495932&cpp=1"]debate[/url] on whether a bass was a guitar or not, potentially nullifying the claims of the original link. So I was thinking, what does everyone here think?

To get the ball rolling, my logic is that the bass guitar is a larger and lower tuned version of a guitar, much like a bass clarinet or baritone sax (which I know would be analagous to the baritone guitar, but I'm makin' a point here ), so they are both part of the wider guitar family. Of course this would make a bass a guitar.

However it seems that a few people over on Fark are saying that because it's a double bass lay on its side that it is derived from another family of instruments and is not a guitar. I've enabled voting so everyone can have their say without having to necessarily write a big list of links etc to defend their opinion. The video:

[/quote]


A video of someone on keys trying to play guitar lines is my idea hell on earth.

Impressive, but at the same time totally totally sh*te.

[allihts]

whats wrong with calling it a bass? simples!

[discreet]

[quote name='Davo-London' post='902099' date='Jul 22 2010, 04:46 PM']The frets are what makes the EBG a guitar in my view. No previous variant had frets.[/quote]



The Bass Viol had frets. In 1701.

[Alfie]

[quote name='discreet' post='902163' date='Jul 22 2010, 05:59 PM']

The Bass Viol had frets. In 1701. [/quote]

That thar be fightin talk!