When is a bass not a bass? Over the past few years, there has been a rising popularity in multi-range guitars. It started with the baritone guitar and then, later, the 8-string “extended range” guitar.
But at what point is a bass not a bass (or are all stringed instruments of this type just “guitars” and nothing more)?
Find out here, and be sure to leave a comment there with your thoughts.
I still have trouble with 4 strings! My old Jazz Bass and a pile of electronic devices give me all I can handle.
I play a 5 stringed Dean Fretless, can hardly play a four. I need more sound gadets though.
When is a Bass not a Bass? When its a steel-guitar-Bass, that’s when.
When it plays notes it’s not supposed to be playing! A six string tuned BEADGC should give you more than enough options as far as range and register. Any lower and you can’t hear anything; any higher and you may as well admit you’re a frustrated guitarist.
when the strings get smaller and the notes get higher. My opinion, after the 5 string is when a bass is not a bass. the G string should be the smallest string. So, yeah 6 string is out.
I’ll go up to a six, not because I want to get up into the guitar registers all the time, but mainly for being able to play those higher passages quickly without having to readjust hand positioning all the time. Aside from that, I do not have much use for a 6. In fact, I do not even own one.
For me, a bass just has that more mellow tombre than a guitar, much like a cello compared to a violin. I don’t necessarily think it’s to do with the amount of strings, but maybe more the pitch of the strings, fair enough you get piccolo basses but it still has that bass tombre.
It’S works both way there is 8 string guitar and even 9 strings guitars. I think the mains difference is in the length of the neck, Well, Mehsugga guitars have almost a scale of a p-bass
When a bass player try to make a one-man-band show with all songs that full of “two-hand-tapping-technique”. I’d say he should learn piano or at least, get a band.
When it’s played like a guitar!
when the music you are looking at is written in treble cleff
The bass guitar is from the GUITAR family, not the viol family so, to paraphrase Anthony Jackson: ‘The bass guitar should have started off with 6 strings in the first place.’ After that, it’s all about TIMBRE. The same pitched note sounds different on a guitar compared to a bass because of timbre, so the range of either is irrelevant.
In term of my personal preference, I think a low ‘A’ like a piano is low enough and use an octaver for anything lower and a top ‘E’ a major 3rd above the 24th fretted ‘C’ on a six string. So a 28 fretted 6 string with a hip tuner would be my ultimate range.
I tend to be “old school” but I think the bass becomes not a “bass” once it has more than 4 strings and the guitar becomes not a “guitar” when it has more than 6. Also with the respect to what it said in the article about scale lengths and what not. Look at all of the best players of all time, they all played instruments how they were supposed to be. Bass: Geddy Lee, Bootsy Collins, Steve Harris, Marcus Miller, John Paul Jones, John Entwistle. Guitar: Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, BB King, Billy Gibbons, Buddy Guy, (Way too many more to list). I feel that the whole “pushing the instrument to it’s full potential” is just a way for people who don’t know how to really wield an instrument make them look better in other ways. They are going for the “quantity not quality” approach. Just my personal opinion.
A Bass Guitar is not a Bass when it starts looking like a furniture. Old school 4 string Bass is the only way for me.
I’ve never had anything more than 4, but would love a 5-string. Low B? Hell yes. And how would that not be a bass?