Calling a Bass a "guitar"...

[Tony G]

I just wanted to quote this portion quickly, as I honestly think it is really the only thing I'm trying to get across. All the debate in the end means nothing if this is all I'm trying to get across:

Originally Posted by Tony G

Why exactly is that a problem that I think it should be specified? I wouldn't tell someone I play "guitar". I'd tell them I play "bass" guitar, as I couldn't pick up a regular guitar and do anything worth while with it.

forget everything else that I said before...

[keb]

Well, in terms of actual physical characteristics of the two instruments, they are quite similar. They share much of their DNA and I stand by that.

Now, in terms of playing techniques, feel, role in music... that's entirely up to the player. And that's where the real differences begin.


Hmmm... wait, that's pretty much what you just said, oh well. Just +1 then.

[dancehallclasher]

I think it's all about how it looks. They have very similar bodies and headstocks, they have exactly the same parts, they're held in the same position, and although the technique involved is different it can look pretty close to the untrained eye.

[bluestarbass]

read some bass playing members of this website saying there are more similarites than differences, it seriously makes me wonder about the experience and capability of said member on bass...

It makes me wonder how many different instruments youve played? Im not trying to be mean but have you played a pretty diverse amount of instruments? How close are a piano and bass? considering how different instruments makes their sounds, electric bass and electric guitar are pretty darn similiar. Could a really good guitar player who had never played bass sit down and play a bass with some skill, absolutely. Could that same guitarist played piano, or trumpet, or cello, no probably not. Of course their schemantics that make it different.

In the end who cares. Most people who would call it a guitar wouldnt know the difference between a drum set and a bass anyway. Unforunately electric bass has been around less time than almost any widely accepted instrument. It just takes people a while to come around.

[stedtale]

IMR the electric bass was developed for upright bass players to play so they could be electrified and amplified and louder, not so guitarists could play lower. Therefore it is technically an "electric bass" not a "bass guitar" in my mind.

[stedtale]

but it's all semantics...so I really don't care.

[T-MOST]

It's a guitar tuned to the bass F clef. Traditional tunings are the same and the notes are in the same place so yes it is a "bass" guitar.

[stedtale]

Originally Posted by T-MOST

It's a guitar tuned to the bass F clef.

tuned to the F clef? Does not compute.....

techically it doesn't even play in the F clef, F clef 8 v.b. perhaps.

[Philbiker]

Electric bass guitar is a kind of guitar. I call mine guitars all the time.

[Philbiker]

Originally Posted by stedtale

IMR the electric bass was developed for upright bass players to play so they could be electrified and amplified and louder, not so guitarists could play lower. Therefore it is technically an "electric bass" not a "bass guitar" in my mind.

The fretted electric bass guitar as we know it, first popularized by Leo Fender in 1951, was specifically designed to be a bass instrument which standard "E-A-D-G-B-E" guitar players could play. The intonation "Precision" of the frets and easy transition from one instrument to the other were big selling points.

There were older electric bass stringed instruments before Leo's archetypical '51 P-Bass, but these were very limited in their use and adoption.

[stedtale]

Originally Posted by Philbiker

The fretted electric bass guitar as we know it, first popularized by Leo Fender in 1951, was specifically designed to be a bass instrument which standard "E-A-D-G-B-E" guitar players could play. The intonation "Precision" of the frets and easy transition from one instrument to the other were big selling points.

There were older electric bass stringed instruments before Leo's archetypical '51 P-Bass, but these were very limited in their use and adoption.

Bikers can teach us so much.

[Meyatch]

Originally Posted by Tony G

In that other thread, somebody mentioned about sax players that play different types of saxaphones as a comparison to bass and guitar; the types being baritone, tenor, etc. Just to comment on the different types of saxophones...do you completely change your playing technique when moving to a baritone sax from a tenor sax, in such a way as you change your technique and playing style when you play a bass as compared to guitars?

I wonder if anyone on here actually plays saxaphone and can answer you for sure, but as far as I know, a saxaphone in a different range is fingered the same (just like bass and guitar) but I'm sure they are playing different parts (just like bass and guitar)

Unfortunately I know nothing about how you actually make sound come out of a saxaphone besides blowing into it, but I'd venture a guess that there are some differences in the techniques. If nothing else it probably takes a lot more air to sound a baritone sax than an alto sax.

I agree with the guy that said if you don't think bass and guitar are very similar in playing mechanics, you havn't played many different instruments.

P.S.
The Double Bass and Cello are in the same family as the Violin, despite being played in a much different manner; more different than the bass and guitar.

Actually the double bass and cello aren't even tuned the same way, so if the classification is based almost solely on construction techniques, there can be almost no argument that an electric bass is not in the guitar family.

[Tony G]

Originally Posted by bluestarbass

It makes me wonder how many different instruments youve played? Im not trying to be mean but have you played a pretty diverse amount of instruments? How close are a piano and bass? considering how different instruments makes their sounds, electric bass and electric guitar are pretty darn similiar. Could a really good guitar player who had never played bass sit down and play a bass with some skill, absolutely. Could that same guitarist played piano, or trumpet, or cello, no probably not. Of course their schemantics that make it different.

In the end who cares. Most people who would call it a guitar wouldnt know the difference between a drum set and a bass anyway. Unforunately electric bass has been around less time than almost any widely accepted instrument. It just takes people a while to come around.

To answer your question, I started in music by learning piano from my Uncle, but didn't stick with it for more than a year as I didn't really enjoy it. I didn't pickup up another instrument for about 5 more years give or take until I decided I wanted to try electric bass. No other instruments were played in between that time period. Since then, I have played a little guitar here and there, learned some basic chords and such, but that was about 3 years after I first picked up electric bass, and I never really stuck with that either. Bass seems to be the only instrument that really speaks to me.

Yes, I understand there are many differences and similarities between many stringed instruments, and that includes how a bass compares to a piano making it's sound. I absolutely concede there are a lot of similarities between an electric bass and an electric guitar. However, I also believe the number of differences are at least enough for it to be properly labeled as an "electric bass guitar". I'm not going to start a long list or anything, but speaking as a bass player, I just don't feel that calling it nothing other than a "guitar" is accurate at all. Call it a "bass guitar", "electric bass guitar" or whatever, and I have no issues.

I don't really have any issues with the musically uneducated calling it a "guitar", as they just don't know enough to call it anything else. But my point still stands that when I read a fellow bass playing member here simply state that a bass (as we know it) is a guitar, without using any descriptors such as "bass" in front of guitar, well now I'm just nitpicking but I hope you get what I'm saying. I mean, I play "bass" guitar, not "regular" guitar. Why exactly is that a problem that I think it should be specified? I wouldn't tell someone I play "guitar". I'd tell them I play "bass" guitar, as I couldn't pick up a regular guitar and do anything worth while with it.

This was a silly conversation to begin with and I wonder at times why I even bothered starting it.

[will.i.am]

Originally Posted by Meyatch

I wonder if anyone on here actually plays saxaphone and can answer you for sure, but as far as I know, a saxaphone in a different range is fingered the same (just like bass and guitar) but I'm sure they are playing different parts (just like bass and guitar)

Unfortunately I know nothing about how you actually make sound come out of a saxaphone besides blowing into it, but I'd venture a guess that there are some differences in the techniques. If nothing else it probably takes a lot more air to sound a baritone sax than an alto sax.

Yes, all saxophones, or atleast tenor, barri and alto have the same fingering. Sometimes we all play the same parts, or Barri plays background while the others play the melody. I don't think there's much of a difference in technique, perhaps the Barri is played more loosely?

[Tony G]

I just wanted to quote this portion quickly, as I honestly think it is really the only thing I'm trying to get across. All the debate in the end means nothing if this is all I'm trying to get across.

Originally Posted by Tony G

Why exactly is that a problem that I think it should be specified? I wouldn't tell someone I play "guitar". I'd tell them I play "bass" guitar, as I couldn't pick up a regular guitar and do anything worth while with it.

[Tony G]

Originally Posted by dancehallclasher

I think it's all about how it looks. They have very similar bodies and headstocks, they have exactly the same parts, they're held in the same position, and although the technique involved is different it can look pretty close to the untrained eye.

This is a key phrase, and those with an "untrained eye" don't really concern me. They can call it whatever they want. It won't affect their life or mine if what they say is wrong, at least to me. But if the opportunity presents itself that I can correct them without me looking like an a$$(), I would. If they didn't care, then they don't care. No skin off my back.

[Tony G]

Originally Posted by bluestarbass

Could a really good guitar player who had never played bass sit down and play a bass with some skill, absolutely.

I'm sure there would be many who would debate this...

[Tony G]

Originally Posted by Meyatch

I agree with the guy that said if you don't think bass and guitar are very similar in playing mechanics, you havn't played many different instruments.

No, I would never say I've played a lot of instruments, but as mentioned in a previous post I do have limited experience with piano and guitar as well as bass guitar. I completely understand that "guitar" and "bass guitar" are related very closely, but so are a number of stringed instruments. A cello looks like a mini URB, but it has its own name. Yes, it is tuned differently, but the technique is very similar between the two. Violin compared to these two is a little less similar, but is still shares a lot with both. Harp is like a cross between Piano and guitar in a way, but we don't call a harp a keyless piano, or an upright guitar...and I could go on and on about stringed instruments, horns, percussion, etc...

In the end, it doesn't matter. It is just a label we give something.

[seanm]

Originally Posted by Meyatch

I wonder if anyone on here actually plays saxaphone and can answer you for sure, but as far as I know, a saxaphone in a different range is fingered the same (just like bass and guitar) but I'm sure they are playing different parts (just like bass and guitar)

I've played alto, tenor, and bari sax. They are all fingered the same way. I know the soprano is also the same, but I have never played one.

The alto and tenor tend to be used the same way depending on the band. The bari tends to be more like a rhythm instrument, but doesn't have to be.

And it is spelled saxophone

And to answer the question, I always call it a bass and say I am the bass player. But if somebody calls it a guitar, I don't correct them. My wife always calls them guitars. It doesn't bother me.

[Matthew Bryson]

I call it a boom stick. I don't care what anybody else calls it.

You can call me anything you want, just don't call me late for dinner.