2019 RiP Deadland Ritual - Geezer Butler - by 2eight - 8SC9785

A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or trombone. Different

musical genre A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from ''musical form'' and musical style, although in practice these terms are some ...

s tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments. Since the 1960s, the electric bass has been the standard bass instrument for

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

, R&B, soul music, rock and roll, reggae,

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...

, heavy metal, country and pop music. The double bass is the standard bass instrument for

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

, bluegrass, rockabilly, and most genres of jazz. Low brass instruments such as the tuba or sousaphone are the standard bass instrument in Dixieland and New Orleans-style jazz bands. Despite the associations of different bass instruments with certain genres, there are exceptions. Some new rock bands and bassist used a double bass, such as Lee Rocker of Stray Cats,

Barenaked Ladies Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their self-titled 1991 cassette becoming the first independent release to be certified gold in Canada. They reach ...

and Tiger Army.

Larry Graham Larry Graham Jr. (born August 14, 1946) is an American bassist and baritone singer, both with the psychedelic soul/funk band Sly and the Family Stone and as the founder and frontman of Graham Central Station. In 1980, he released the single "O ...

, Bernard Edwards, Mick Hogan, Andy Fraser, and Mel Schacher used electric bass guitar. Some funk, R&B and jazz, fusion groups use

synth bass A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

or keyboard bass rather than electric bass. Bootsy Collins, Stevie Wonder, Kashif and Kevin McCord(One Way) used synth bass. Some Dixieland bands use double bass or electric bass instead of a tuba. In some jazz groups and jam bands, the basslines are played by a

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

player, who uses the bass

pedal keyboard A pedalboard (also called a pedal keyboard, pedal clavier, or, with electronic instruments, a bass pedalboard) is a keyboard played with the feet that is usually used to produce the low-pitched bass line of a piece of music. A pedalboard has long ...

or the lower manual for the low notes. Keyboard driven bass also occurs occasionally in rock bands, such as The Doors and

Atomic Rooster Atomic Rooster are a British rock band originally formed by members of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, organist Vincent Crane and drummer Carl Palmer. Throughout their history, keyboardist Vincent Crane was the only constant member and wrote ...

Electric bass players

Lemmy Kilmister Motorhead in NYC by John Gullo

Electric bassists play the bass guitar. In most rock, pop, metal and country genres, the bass line outlines the

harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

of the music being performed, while simultaneously indicating the rhythmic pulse. In addition, there are many different standard bass line types for different genres and types of song (e.g. blues ballad, fast swing, etc.). Bass lines often emphasize the root note, with a secondary role for the third, and fifth of each

chord Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord ( ...

being used in a given song. In addition,

pedal tones Pedal tones (or pedals) are special low notes in the harmonic series of brass instruments. A pedal tone has the pitch of its harmonic series' fundamental tone. Its name comes from the foot pedal keyboard pedals of a pipe organ, which are used ...

(repeated or sustained single notes),

ostinato In music, an ostinato (; derived from Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces include ...

s, and bass riffs are also used as bass lines. While most electric bass players rarely play chords (three or more notes all sounded at the same time), chords are used in some styles, especially

, R&B, soul music, jazz, Latin and

heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...

Double bass players

Classical double bass players

See the

List of contemporary classical double bass players Contemporary classical double bass players are performers who play the double bass, the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed string instrument. They perform European art music ranging from Baroque music, Baroque Suite (music), suites and W ...

Jazz double-bass players

See the List of jazz bassists, which includes both double bass and electric bass players.

Popular music double bass players

See the List of double bassists in popular music, which includes blues, folk, country, etc.

References