How you say?... "BASS"???

[BioDriver]

Electron current enhanced low frequency stringed instrument.

 

[Sbociol]

Italian:

Bass = basso
Bass guitar = chitarra basso (really old fashioned, almost none uses that)
Electric bass = basso elettrico
Double bass = contrabbasso

 

[tojge]

All right, I'll play

Serbian (seeing as two writing systems are in concurrent use, I give them both here, Cyrillic first, followed by Latin script):

Bass: Бас/Bas
Bass Guitar: Бас гитара/Bas gitara
Electric Bass: Електрични бас/Električni bas
Double Bass: Контрабас/Kontrabas
Bassist: Басиста/Basista
Bass Guitarist: Бас-гитариста/Bas-gitarista
Bass Amplifier: Бас појачало/Bas pojačalo

 

[peledog]

Japanese

Bass: ベース (beh-su)
Electric Bass: エレキベース (ereki beh-su)

 

[Avalon]

THis is pretty cool. Thanks to everyone who has posted in this thread so far and kudos to GirlOnBass for a pretty cool idea.

 

[digitalmoney]

What does contra mean?
It crosses nearly all languages
in defining double bass
Interesting.

 

[Alvaro Martín Gómez A.]

What does contra mean?
It crosses nearly all languages
in defining double bass
Interesting.

Each octave has its own universal name. Pitches from C1 to B1, which is the most natural register for bass guitar/double bass, belong to the contra octave. Any instrument that "feels at home" in that region should be called a "contra..." (like contrabassoon, for instance). According to that, and since the bass guitar and the double bass share the same sonic range, the BG is also a contrabass.

And just in case, don't forget that the bass guitar/double bass sounds one octave lower than written.

 

[darthplagis]

What does contra mean?
It crosses nearly all languages
in defining double bass
Interesting.

well to me it means mode 7 shenannigans on a SNES Contra (video game series) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

but otherwise it means
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or
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probably refering to the fact that low end 'bass' was not a staple part of music so was contra to what was the norm

 

[James L]

Well what about acoustic bass? There are two kinds, acoustic upright and acoustic bass guitar...

 

[Alvaro Martín Gómez A.]

Well what about acoustic bass? There are two kinds, acoustic upright and acoustic bass guitar...

In Spanish, what comes to mind first when talking about a "bajo acústico" is an ABG. But the most common term for an ABG is "bajo electroacústico" since all acoustic bass guitars have a built-in amplification system. Sometimes, "contrabajo acústico" is used to differentiate the double bass from the electric upright.

 

[funkybass4ever]

when I am around non-musicians I say bass guitar but around musicians I just say bass. Upright bass is what I call double bass.

 

[girlonbass]

When my wife's really mad at me, she calls it my banjo.

(too funny!)

 

[girlonbass]

THis is pretty cool. Thanks to everyone who has posted in this thread so far and kudos to GirlOnBass for a pretty cool idea.

Yes. This is pretty interesting!

 

[girlonbass]

So I count 12 languages.

Is that all we can do!?

Terri

 

[ggvicviper]

Mandarin/Standard Chinese:
Bass: beisi (4th and 1st tones)
Bass Guitar: beisi (4th and 1st tones) jita(2nd tone, 1st tone)
Electric Bass: dien(4th tone) beisi (4th and 1st tones)

 

[mikeswals]

When my wife's really mad at me, she calls it my banjo.

Ouch!
that's hittin' below the belt.

 

[Basdyret]

Mandarin/Standard Chinese:
Bass: beisi (4th and 1st tones)
Bass Guitar: beisi (4th and 1st tones) jita(2nd tone, 1st tone)
Electric Bass: dien(4th tone) beisi (4th and 1st tones)

I'll add the double bass, correct a small pinyin error - and add characters just for fun

Bass: bèisī 贝司
Bass Guitar: bèisī jíta 贝司吉他 (but I've never heard anyone use this)
Electric Bass: diànbèisī 电贝司
Double Bass: dīyīn dàtíqín 低音大提琴

 

[KingRazor]

Japanese

Bass: ベース (beh-su)
Electric Bass: エレキベース (ereki beh-su)

Beat me to it.

 

[xxx666]

I'm starting to realize that there are tons of people from all over the world posting here. I noticed that there are lots of other ways to say bass in other languages.

What is your mother tongue and how do you say...


[*]BASS
[*]BASS GUITAR
[*]ELECTRIC BASS
[*]DOUBLE BASS


Let's see if we can find 101 ways to say bass!

Terri

Australian

Bass = Baass Mate
Bass Guitar = baass Gi-toir
Electric Bass = ACDC baass
Double Bass = Dubble Baass Mate

 

[Rune Bivrin]

Swedish:

Bass = Bas (a as in far)
Bass guitar = Basgitarr (very rarely used these days)
Electric Bass = Elbas (much more common)
Double Bass = Kontrabas, or more colloquially Ståfela (standing fiddle)