Information About

Bassist





ELECTRIC BASS (AKA BASS GUITAR) PLAYERS


There have been a great many players of the electric bass in jazz, rock and roll, and pop genres, including such widely influential artists as Paul McCartney , John Giblin , Jaco Pastorius , James Jamerson , Bootsy Collins , Jack Bruce , Marcus Miller , Steve Harris , Flea ( Michael Balzary ), Geddy Lee , and Victor Wooten . Electric bassists are generally thought to be "The Wild Card" of the band. Some are cool and calm members of a band, keeping the rhythm and leaving the stage antics to the singer and guitarist. An example of this persona would be The Who bassist, John Entwistle . On the other hand, some bass guitarists do not rest while performing, creating an entertaining visual performance as well as performance in musical technicality. An example of this persona would be Dark Shift's bass guitarist, Brett Dumstrey .

Bassists play what is known as a bass line, which is a single monophonic line of music, which determines the key, chords and style of the song. The bassist often plays the root of the chords, pedal tones or ostinatos & bass riffs. Double Basses and Bass guitars have 4 strings. E A D and G. The strings of a guitar are E A D G B and E, so a bass guitar is just the four bottom strings of a guitar tuned one octave lower. Five-string basses usually add a low B below the E string and six-string basses usually add this "bottom B" and a C above the G string.
There are also new basses with 7, 8 and 10 strings




DOUBLE BASS PLAYERS


Notable classical double bass players of historical importance



Contemporary classical double bass players




Jazz double bass players

See List Of Jazz Bassists , which includes both double bass and electric bass players.



Double bass players in other popular genres




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