Do you call your bass a guitar?

[pacojas]

it's an Electric, Bass, Guitar!!!!

(now get over that)

 

[RonChase]

never really thought about it I suppose I call it a guitar or a bass,musicians know its a bass but to my mother or something its a guitar

 

[jabsys]

It's a bass, I call it a bass.

 

[Gaius46]

I often call my bass guitars just guitar, since that's what they are. If I have to distinguish between them I'll
say something like "the fretless" or "the jazz" or "my classical guitar"

 

[dalkowski]

It's a bass, I call it a bass.

By that definition, my bass clarinet is also a bass.

For me, it depends on the context. If I'm at a gig, I'll say I'm the bass player. If I'm speaking to the great unwashed in a non-musical setting, I'll usually say I play the bass guitar.

 

[HaMMerHeD]

It is an electric bass guitar, so yeah, it's a guitar. It has rather a lot more in common with a standard (tenor) guitar than it does with a contrabass.

 

[T-MOST]

It is a "guitar" but I always throw in "bass"" to avoid any confusion.

 

[Scott549]

I call it a bass, although it's technically also a guitar. Reading this thread, it occurred to me that there are probably quite a few people in a typical audience who don't know the difference between the various guitars and basses the band members are playing. They don't know what sound is coming out of what instrument. That hadn't occurred to me before, but it's probably true.

 

[LIONFURY]

I say guitar when I'm talking to people that wouldnt know the difference between a bass and a 6 string guitar.

+1

 

[EADGCoffee]

I call it a bass when speaking to people who know what it is. When I'm speaking to non-musicians, I call it a bass guitar.

I have no problem with people calling it a guitar... but I hate when people see/hear me play and come up to me and talk to me about my "guitar playing" or asking why my "guitar is so different."

I find it amazing that people can listen to rock music or a relatively popular type of music that often has great/cutting bass players, yet they still don't know what a bass is.

 

[RufusSPatches]

"hey milktoast! hand me that geet-stick!"
that's all there is to it buddies.

 

[Dave Vader]

its actually a guitar. a bass guitar. the 6 string is called a tenor guitar. just like a bass clarinet or alto clarinet. its the same instrument in a different octave. johnny a.

Nope, tenor guitar has 4 strings and is tuned GDAE like a mandola, your basic 6 EADGBE guitar is a Baritone.
</geekmode>

Your basic gist was right though, matters not what you call the damn thing.

Long time no post by the way...

 

[carl h.]

My upright is a bass, the thing on a strap is a guitar.
At the gig they're both basses, but when a band member calls and asks what I'm bringing it's either a bass or a guitar.

 

[boynamedsuse]

I say "guitar" to people that can't tell the difference.

Yup. Most people will tell me what they call it (usually guitar) when they first mention it in conversation and I will continue to use their terminology.

I swing both ways.

Totally sigworthy, but I will resist the temptation.

 

[dave64o]

I normally don't mind when someone says guitar, but my mother-in-law insists on calling it a guitar and we always have the same conversation:
- MIL: You never played me anything on your guitar.
- Me: Well, there are some people who play it like a solo instrument but I don't. It's really a different instrument from a guitar.
- MIL: Well, it has strings and makes a lot of loud noise. It's just a guitar to me.
- Me: ARRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHH!!!!!

She's a singer, and was a pretty talented one in her day. I decided to have some fun one time and said something about how she's a decent yodeler. She looked at me funny, like "what the hell are you talking about?!?!". So I said, you know, when you yodel in church, you yodel show tunes when my father-in-law plays the piano. You know ... yodeling. Well, I don't know what you call it, I don't get all that fancy classical stuff, it's just all yodeling to me.

That did NOT go over well at all. But, I reminded her what she says to me about MY instrument and how her comments sound to me. So she finally got it. I made my point and she finally understood. OK, problem finally solved.


Then a week or so later, "You never played me anything on your guitar." ....

ARRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHH!!!!!

 

[FretlessMainly]

I never refer to any bass as a guitar. In my mind, the only similarity between an electric bass and a guitar is the shape. The "standard" tuning of the electric bass, E A D G, was not derived from a guitar, it was derived from the double bass.

In the 1700s, double basses were typically three-stringers; often tuned A' D G or G' D G. As music evolved, the low E was added to extend the range. In 1951, Leo Fender developed the Precision bass as a fretted alternative (hence the name) primarily for jazz players - both to allow for amplification and greater ease of playing well-intonated.

So the standard electric bass tuning is a direct evolution from its noble Father, the double bass. Any resemblance to the lowest four strings of a guitar is a coincidence; albeit a convenient coincidence.

 

[superfunk47]

They're not guitars.

A bass guitar would be something along the lines of a Fender Bass VI, tuned exactly like a guitar, only an octave lower. We play the electric bass. It's descended from the double bass, copying the design elements of the (also brand new at the time) electric guitar. The double bass wasn't/isn't "missing" two strings - it was designed with what it's got (more or less - there were plenty of tunings, once upon a time, but that's a totally different story).

It's a matter of considering it from the perspective of intent rather than physical design - if you go with the latter, there are plenty of electric mandolins, banjos, etc. that you would be calling "guitars" with the same degree of accuracy (if not more, since the mandolins actually ARE from the lute family with the guitar) as with basses.

Look at the ancestry, not just the aesthetics.

 

[buffalobillh]

I never refer to any bass as a guitar. In my mind, the only similarity between an electric bass and a guitar is the shape. The "standard" tuning of the electric bass, E A D G, was not derived from a guitar, it was derived from the double bass.

In the 1700s, double basses were typically three-stringers; often tuned A' D G or G' D G. As music evolved, the low E was added to extend the range. In 1951, Leo Fender developed the Precision bass as a fretted alternative (hence the name) primarily for jazz players - both to allow for amplification and greater ease of playing well-intonated.

So the standard electric bass tuning is a direct evolution from its noble Father, the double bass. Any resemblance to the lowest four strings of a guitar is a coincidence; albeit a convenient coincidence.

Fine explanation.

I have slabs, planks, sticks, and doghouses, but they are all basses. They perform the bass function, regardless of their respective shapes. So, to me, they are all basses. For purposes of clarification, I may label them as bass guitar, electric bass, upright bass, double bass, doghouse bass, electric upright bass, stick bass, acoustic bass, or something along those lines that the other person would understand. But they are all basses nonetheless.

My humble $.02

 

[Scogman]

I call my J-Bass the Tree Frog with this pickguard:

Invalid Link Removed

 

[MatticusMania]

Meh.