The
acoustic bass guitar (also called
ABG or
acoustic bass) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually somewhat larger than a steel-string
acoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only acoustic methods to project the sound produced by its strings. The term is a retronym, coined after the advent of electric guitars, which depend on electronic amplification to make their sound audible....
. Like the traditional electric bass and the
double bassThe double bass, also called the upright bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra. The name, "double bass," derives from the early use of the instrument to double—an octave lower where possible—the bass part written...
, the acoustic bass guitar commonly has four strings, which are normally tuned E-A-D-G, an
octaveIn music, an octave , is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon which has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music," the use of which is "common in most musical systems." It may be derived from the...
below the lowest four strings of the 6-string
guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
, which is the same tuning pitch as an
electric bassElectric bass can mean:* Electric upright bass, the electric version of a double bass.* Electric bass guitar....
.
Because it can be difficult to hear an acoustic bass guitar without an amplifier, even in settings with other acoustic instruments, most acoustic basses have pickups, either magnetic or piezoelectric or both, so that they can be amplified with a bass amp. Traditional
music of MexicoThe music of Mexico is diverse and features a wide range of different musical styles influenced by a variety of cultures, most notably Amerindian and European...
features several varieties of acoustic bass guitars, such as the
baja sexto, with six pairs of strings, and the
guitarrónThe guitarrón mexicano is a very large, deep-bodied Mexican 6-string acoustic bass played in mariachi bands. Although obviously similar to the guitar, it is not a derivative of that instrument, but was independently developed from the sixteenth-century Spanish bajo de uña...
or
chitarrone a very large, deep-bodied Mexican 6-string acoustic bass guitar played in
MariachiMariachi, in relation to the music of Mexico, may also be defined in relation to the conditions associated with its historical development. A mariachi ensemble is an integration of stringed instruments highly influenced by the cultural impacts of the colonial era. Throughout the history of...
bands.
History
The first modern acoustic bass guitar was developed in the early 1960s by
Ernie BallErnie Ball was an American entrepreneur, musician, and innovator, widely acclaimed as a revolutionary in the development of guitar-related products...
of
San Luis Obispo, CaliforniaSan Luis Obispo is a city in California, located roughly midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles on the Central Coast. The city, referred to locally as "SLO" or "San Luis", is the county seat of San Luis Obispo County and is adjacent to California Polytechnic State University...
. Ball's aim was to provide bass guitarists with a more acoustic-sounding instrument that would match better with the sound of acoustic guitars. Ball stated that "...if there were electric bass guitars to go with electric guitars then you ought to have acoustic basses to go with acoustic guitars." Ball notes that "...the closest thing to an acoustic bass was the Mexican
guitarronThe guitarrón mexicano is a very large, deep-bodied Mexican 6-string acoustic bass played in mariachi bands. Although obviously similar to the guitar, it is not a derivative of that instrument, but was independently developed from the sixteenth-century Spanish bajo de uña...
...in
mariachiMariachi, in relation to the music of Mexico, may also be defined in relation to the conditions associated with its historical development. A mariachi ensemble is an integration of stringed instruments highly influenced by the cultural impacts of the colonial era. Throughout the history of...
bands, so I bought one down in
TijuanaTijuana , is the largest city of the Mexican state of Baja California, situated on the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to its sister city of San Diego, California. Tijuana is the westernmost city in Mexico, however, the westernmost population center is located in Isla Guadalupe...
and tinkered with it."
Ball collaborated with
George FullertonGeorge Murray Fullerton was a South African cricketer who played in seven Tests from 1947 to 1951....
, a former employee at Fender, to develop the
EarthwoodEarthwood is a brand of Ernie Ball. It is notable for:* The first modern acoustic bass guitars.* A popular line of strings for acoustic guitar and related instruments.-External links:* at www.ernieball.com....
acoustic bass guitar, which was introduced in 1972. Production of this instrument ceased in 1974, resuming a few years later under the direction of Ernie Ball's employee Dan Norton, who still works for Ernie Ball Inc., until production finally ended again in 1985. The Earthwood acoustic bass guitar was quite large (and deep) in contrast to most instruments in current production, which gave it more volume, especially in the low register.
photo 1photo 2photo 3 The Ernie Ball company describes Ball's design as "an idea before its time"; the instrument was little-used in acoustic musical performances until the late 1980s, when the acoustic basses were used in performances on the
MTV UnpluggedMTV Unplugged was a TV series showcasing popular musical artists playing acoustic instruments. The show received the George Foster Peabody Award and 3 Primetime Emmy nominations among many accolades.-Unplugged:...
television program.
Construction and tuning
Unlike the
electric bass guitarThe electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum....
, which is generally a
solid bodyA solid-body instrument is a string instrument such as a guitar, bass or violin built without its normal sound box and relying on an electric pickup system to directly receive the vibrations of the strings....
instrument, the acoustic bass guitar usually has a hollow wooden body similar to (though usually somewhat larger than) that of the steel-string acoustic guitar. The majority of acoustic basses are
fretA fret is a raised portion on the neck of a stringed instrument, that extends generally across the full width of the neck. On most modern western instruments, frets are metal strips inserted into the fingerboard...
ted, but a significant number are
fretlessA fretless guitar is a guitar without frets. It operates in the same manner as most other stringed instruments and traditional guitars, but does not have any frets to act as the lower end point of the vibrating string...
instead. Semi-fretted versions also exist, although they are quite rare.
Like the traditional electric bass and the
double bassThe double bass, also called the upright bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra. The name, "double bass," derives from the early use of the instrument to double—an octave lower where possible—the bass part written...
, the acoustic bass guitar commonly has four strings, which are normally tuned E-A-D-G, an
octaveIn music, an octave , is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon which has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music," the use of which is "common in most musical systems." It may be derived from the...
below the lowest four strings of the 6-string
guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
. Like the electric bass guitar, models with five or more strings have been produced, although these are less common. In part, this is because the body of an acoustic bass guitar is too small to produce a
resonanceIn physics, resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate at larger amplitude at some frequencies than at others. These are known as the system's resonant frequencies . At these frequencies, even small periodic driving forces can produce large amplitude vibrations, because the system...
of acceptable volume at lower pitches on the low "B" string. One solution uses the five string acoustic bass to add an additional high string ("E-A-D-G-C") instead of adding a low "B". Another solution is to rely on amplification to reproduce the low "B" string's notes.
Because it can be difficult to hear an acoustic bass guitar without an amplifier, even in settings with other acoustic instruments, most acoustic basses have pickups, either magnetic or piezoelectric or both, so that they can be amplified with an
instrument amplifierAn instrument amplifier is an electronic amplifier that converts the often barely audible or purely electronic signal from musical instruments such as an electric guitar, an electric bass, or an electric keyboard into an electronic signal capable of driving a loudspeaker that can be heard by the...
or a public address system.
There are also semi-acoustic models fitted with pickups that are intended to be used with an amplifier. The soundbox of these instruments is not large enough to amplify the sound; instead, it is designed to produce a distinctive tone when amplified, similarly to semi-acoustic
electric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses pickups to convert the vibration of its steel-cored strings into an electrical current, which is made louder with an instrument amplifier and a speaker. The signal that comes from the guitar is sometimes electronically altered with guitar effects such as...
s. Thin-body semi-acoustic basses such as the violin-shaped
HöfnerKarl Höfner GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of musical instruments, with one division that manufactures guitars and basses, and another that manufactures string instruments....
made famous by the early
BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960 who became one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music...
and several Fender models are not normally regarded as acoustic basses at all, but rather as hollow-bodied bass guitars. There are also semi-acoustic basses such as
Godin Guitars- History :Godin started building Robert Godin's guitars in 1982 in La Patrie, Quebec.Godin Guitars' head office is located in Montreal, and they build their instruments in six factories in four different locations, three in Quebec and one in New Hampshire....
' "A-Series" that, once amplified, sound much closer between acoustic bass guitars and
Upright BassesThe double bass, also called the upright bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra. The name, "double bass," derives from the early use of the instrument to double—an octave lower where possible—the bass part written...
, and have been used in professional circles to "simulate" one when it would be impractical for transportation and other reasons to use a full-sized Upright bass. As with semi-acoustic electric guitars, the line between acoustic instruments fitted with pickups and electric instruments with tone-enhancing bodies is sometimes hard to draw, especially when some instruments can also be equipped with a variety of pickups such as
piezoA piezoelectric sensor is a device that uses the piezoelectric effect to measure pressure, acceleration, strain or force by converting them to an electrical signal.-Applications:...
pickups, the "standard" of acoustic-electric instruments as well as
synthA synthesizer is an electronic instrument that is capable of producing a variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different frequencies...
pickups which can replay "virtual" Upright bass sounds and bring a semi-acoustic bass much closer to a
Double BassThe double bass, also called the upright bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra. The name, "double bass," derives from the early use of the instrument to double—an octave lower where possible—the bass part written...
sonically.
Saga Musical InstrumentsSaga Musical Instruments is a manufacturer and wholesale distributor of stringed instruments, particularly fretted instruments and members of the violin family, and parts and accessories for them.Their brands include:* Blueridge* Gitane* Valencia* Rover...
produces a four-string bass
resonator guitarA resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar whose sound is produced by one or more metal cones instead of the wooden soundboard . Resonator guitars were originally designed to be louder than conventional acoustic guitars which were overwhelmed by horns and percussion instruments...
under their
RegalThe Regal Musical Instrument Company was established in 1908 in Chicago. By the 1930s, they were one of the largest manufacturers of musical instruments in the world.Regal specialised in:...
brand name.
videos National Reso-Phonic GuitarsNational Reso-Phonic Guitars is a manufacturer of resonator guitars and other resonator instruments including mandolins, ukuleles and 12 string guitars.The company was formed in 1989 by Don Young and McGregor Gaines, in a Californian garage...
also produce three models of resonator bass guitar.
http://www.nationalguitars.com/newinstruments.html#bass
Manufacturers
Other manufacturers of acoustic bass guitars (not mentioned above) include Alvarez,
IbanezIbanez is a guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki and based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. Hoshino Gakki were one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in the United States and Europe.-History:...
,
ApplauseApplause is primarily the expression of approval by the act of clapping, or striking the palms of the hands together, in order to create noise. Audiences are usually expected to applaud after a performance, such as a musical concert, speech, or play...
, Breedlove,
CortCort Guitars is a guitar manufacturer centered in South Korea. The company is one of the largest guitar makers in the world, and produces instruments for many other companies.- History :...
,
CrafterCrafter is the international division of Sung-Eum music Co Ltd. It is a manufacturer of acoustic and electric guitars.
- History :Founded by Hyun Kwon Park in April 1972, the first "factory" of Sung-Eum music Co Ltd. was in Hyun's own basement. During this so called "early period," they produced...
, Jerzey,
Dean- Company Overview :Dean Guitars founded in 1976 in Chicago, IL, by Dean Zelinsky. But is currently owned by Armadillo Enterprises in Tampa, Florida. They have a 110,000 square foot facility that houses expanded warehousing, a quality control center, administrative offices, an assembly operation...
,
EpiphoneThe Epiphone Company is a musical instrument manufacturer founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos. Epiphone was bought by Chicago Music Company in 1957 who also had owned Gibson Guitar Corporation. Epiphone was Gibson's main rival in the archtop market...
, Eston, Furch,
GibsonThe Gibson Guitar Corporation, of Nashville, Tennessee, USA, is a manufacturer of acoustic and electric guitars. Gibson also owns and makes guitars under such brands as Epiphone, Kramer, Valley Arts, Tobias, Steinberger, and Kalamazoo. In addition to guitars, the company makes pianos through its...
,
GuildThe Guild Guitar Company is a USA-based guitar manufacturer founded in 1952 by Alfred Dronge, a guitarist and music-store owner, and George Mann, an ex-executive with the Epiphone Guitar Company....
,
WashburnWashburn Guitars is an American guitar manufacturer. It was established in 1883 in Chicago, Illinois. Washburn is a part of U.S. Music Corporation.- History :...
,
MatonMaton is an Australian manufacturer of guitars and other fretted musical instruments.Maton was founded in 1946 as the Maton Musical Instruments Company by Bill May and his brother Reg...
,
OvationThe Ovation Guitar Company, a holding of Kaman Music Corporation, is a guitar manufacturing company based in New Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Ovation primarily manufactures acoustic guitars....
,
Michael KellyMichael Kelly Guitars is an American guitar, bass and mandolin manufacturer, based in Clearwater, Florida. They are a division of HHI Music Brands, who also own B.C. Rich Guitars. They started shop in 1999. Recently they have gained popularity, particularly due to the Dragonfly II acoustic bass,...
, Prestige, Ribbecke Halfling Bass, Sunlite,
Takamineis a Japanese guitar manufacturer based in Nakatsugawa, Gifu, Japan. Takamine is known for its steel-string guitars.The company was founded in May 1962; in 1978 they were one of the first companies to introduce acoustic-electric models, where they pioneered the design of the preamp-equalizer...
,
TacomaTacoma Guitars is a line of musical instruments from Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Tacoma brand guitars were originally manufactured in Tacoma, Washington.-History:...
,
TanglewoodTanglewood Guitars is a British company of luthiers that manufacture a variety of stringed instruments such as guitars and associated products.-Range:Tanglewood Guitar Company is best-known for its line of acoustic guitars...
,
TaylorTaylor Guitars is an El Cajon, California‐based luthier, specializing in hollow-body acoustic guitars, as well as semi-hollow and solidbody electric guitars...
,
LarrivéeJean Larrivée Guitars Ltd. is a family owned and operated Canadian company that manufacturers acoustic guitars. Founded in 1967 by Jean Larrivée, the company was moved from Toronto, Ontario to Victoria, British Columbia in 1977, and to Vancouver in 1982, where the company remains today...
,
WarwickWarwick is a bass guitar company founded in Germany in 1982 by Hans-Peter Wilfer.-Bass Guitars:Warwick offers more than 20 bass models. Warwick basses are renowned for their unique "growling" tone and prized for their use of high quality tonewoods and unorthodox aesthetics. Their slogan is "The...
, Fender and Martin.
Mexican bass guitars
Traditional
music of MexicoThe music of Mexico is diverse and features a wide range of different musical styles influenced by a variety of cultures, most notably Amerindian and European...
features several varieties of acoustic bass guitars. The
baja sexto, with six pairs of strings, resembles a twelve-string guitar tuned an octave lower. The heavy gauge strings generate a large string tension, yet the guitar is built relatively lightly. The baja sexto began to be used in
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
in the 1920s with the rise of "
Tex-MexTejano music or Tex-Mex Music is the name given to various forms of folk and popular music originating among the Hispanic populations of Central and Southern Texas...
" music, where it continues to be used to play the parts which would be played by the
pianoThe piano is a musical instrument which is played by means of a keyboard. Widely used in Western music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
in traditional
American popular musicAmerican popular music had a profound effect on music across the world. The country has seen the rise of popular styles that have had a significant influence on global culture, including ragtime, blues, jazz, rock, R&B, doo wop, gospel, soul, funk, heavy metal, punk, disco, house, techno, salsa,...
. A Mexican variation of the baja sexto is called
bajo sextoA bajo sexto is a musical instrument with 12 strings in 6 double courses, used in Mexican music. It is used primarily in norteño music of northeastern Mexico and across the border in the music of south Texas known as "Tex-Mex," "conjunto," or "música mexicana-tejana"...
and matches the standard tuning of a 12-string guitar, one octave lower. The tuning of these instruments is (capital letters are an octave lower than small letters):
- BAJA SEXTO - Ee Aa Dd Gg Cc Ff
- BAJO SEXTO - Ee Aa Dd Gg Bb ee
The
guitarrón or
chitarrone is a very large, deep-bodied Mexican 6-string acoustic bass guitar played in
MariachiMariachi, in relation to the music of Mexico, may also be defined in relation to the conditions associated with its historical development. A mariachi ensemble is an integration of stringed instruments highly influenced by the cultural impacts of the colonial era. Throughout the history of...
bands. Other Latin American acoustic bass guitars exist as well, see:
BordonuaThe Bordonua is a large, deep body bass guitar which is native to Puerto Rico. They are made using several different shapes and sizes....
Also, since the classical
contrabass guitarA contrabass guitar is a low-register plucked string instrument in the guitar family, which has six strings.-History:Instruments called contrabass guitars having existed at least since 1899, when a "Grand Concert Contra Bass Guitar" was listed in Mr. Joseph Bohmann's catalogue. Bohmann, a violin,...
shares the same range as an ABG, it is a type of acoustic bass guitar, found in Mexico
External links