History of the Electric Bass Guitar

The double bass instruments are colossal classical instruments that have been around for hundreds of years. They are played with the instrument placed in a vertical position on the ground and the musician using a bow across the strings. In 1935, Paul Tutmarc developed the first embodiment of the electric bass. It was to be held in a similar fashion to guitars, and an amplification device could be used in conjunction with it. However, Paul’s instrument never appealed to the crowd.

Second, Guitars are masterpieces of equipment there are many types of guitar like the spanish guitar and others. You probably didn’t know where electric guitars started do you? Acoustic guitars were started before electric. They are made by hollowing out a piece of wood and they pick the different wood to have different sounds, but this isn’t about acoustic guitars it is about electric. The some of the first guitars ever made wher... ... middle of paper ... ...eal hero.

Later, in the eighteenth century the five-course guitar evolved in to the most popular model, the six-string guitar. Eventhough it’s not certain were exactly the six-string originated from it is said to originate from, France, Italy, or Germany. The first classical six-strings were considered to be very beautiful. The new guitar design led to different ways the guitar could be played. The new guitars gave birth to the “Floating arm” technique, which allowed the guitarists right arm to pivot from the elbow, but the strings were still only plucked using the thumb, index, and middle finger.

The people of Malaga are said to have invented the first instrument recognized as the guitar (Kentor Michael 2). This early version of the guitar incorporated tied frets and gut strings that were arranged in pairs. Pairing the strings gave the instrument the ability to produce a louder, fuller sound. The Malaga’s instrument did not gain much popularity although it did appear in Juan Gil of Zamora’s publication of “Ars Musica.” The next step leading to the modern guitar was the Guitarra Moresca. The Guitarra Moresca was a four stringed instrument with tied frets, similar to the lute, that orginated from Spain in the Thirteenth Century.

Acoustic guitars have hollow, wooden bodies. When the strings are played, the sound is amplified and echoes in the resonating body (New Grove 827). Today the common guitars, acoustic and electric, have six strings and on average of nineteen frets that range 3 ½ octaves. An octave is a unit of measurement obtaining to tones. Each string has a name.

The guitar is present until the 15th century, but before then its sister instruments will begin the string instruments’ roots. Guitar-like instruments began only being used for accompanied, impromptu parts for secular music. This was seen throughout in the minstrels and troubadours that used them to travel from town to town performing. “Some of the early guitar-like st... ... middle of paper ... ...e big band era of the 1930s; the Gibson Super 400 was widely imitated. In 1952, Gibson introduced its first solid-body electric guitar, the Les Paul which became its most popular guitar to date— designed by Ted McCarty and Les Paul” (Hall).

With this new pick-up, Beauchamp had Harry Watson carve a body for his first electric guitar. They called this the "Frying Pan" due to its similar shape. This was the first guitar fitted with an electric pick-up. Around the same time, Llyod Loar, acoustical engineer for Gibson, had started marketing a new Spanish style acoustic electric guitar. Loar, famous for the mandolin, headed the subdivision of Gibson responsible for producing these guitars, named Vivi-Tone.

In this paper, I am going to discuss my experiences playing in the WNE, the bass guitar, and the one and only Willie Nelson. In the legendary WNE, I am the bass player. For this project, it took hours on end of studying the bass inside and out to become this legendary player that I dreamt of before this project. The electric bass, a mystical object that is the foundation of every song, was invented by Paul Tutmarc. Since the 1960s the bass guitar has replaced other instruments like the tuba, the organ, and other low pitched bass instruments.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues-rock) Psychedelic rock the definition of this interesting and influential genre is a style of rock music that attempts to reproduce the mind-altering experiences of many different hallucinogenic drugs. It started from garage and folk bands in the early 1960s in Britain and the United States. Some of its typical instruments included the electric guitar with effects like fuzz, phaser, and reverb. Other instruments were bass guitar, a drum kit, the electronic organ, a sitar, a moog synthesizer, and theremin. One of the greatest psychedelic rock bands in the United States would be the Grateful Dead.

Besides George Beauchamp, another pioneer of the electric guitar was jazz guitarist Charlie Christian. Most famous for his work with The Benny Goodman Sextet, his string technique along with the amplified instrument brought the guitar to the forefront. Charlie Christian paved the way for Les Paul, Eddie Cochran, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, and T Bone Walker. T Bone Walker did for the blues what Christian did for jazz.