Is electric bass a guitar ?

[knight of ni]

Obviously since it looks like a guitar it should be one, or that's what wikipedia says. But apart from somewhat sterile instrument family trees, I feel naming bass a guitar or rather giving it a guitar status leads to misconceptions that go beyond that.
It implies that if you know how to play guitar you somehow know how to play bass. That if you teach guitar you should somehow know how to teach bass.
I feel this is wrong, I mean the closest instrument I feel bass is related to is double bass not guitar ! If I get a second instrument it will be EUB for sure. I actually created some problems at the (small) music school where I get instruction because I asked the violin teacher (also a bassist) for instruction and not the guitar teacher, who is supposed to be in charge of bass instruction but not himself a bassist... and plays bass like a guitar (you know what I mean).

One point maybe in favour of electric bass not really belonging to a guitar family is that it is often played fretless whereas fretless guitars are (very ?) uncommon, in fact the very definition of a guitar states that it is fretted.

Sorry if the subject has been discussed before, it is obviously quite difficult to search forums based on "bass guitar" keyword.

Opinions anyone ?

 

[Gorn]

Conversations can get bogged down in labels and their definitions. Sometimes it's better to just explain what you're talking about. It's a bass guitar. It's a bass. It's a cheeseburger. If you explain what you mean than there's no confusion.

 

[JimK]

Couple years ago, I am at our Dispensary getting a physical for a DOT license. The Dr. does some kinda test with my hands & asks, "...do you play the guitar or the violin"?
I hold my hands like I'm playing the electric bass & say "I play the bass".
He sez, "No, you play the guitar".
Then he holds his hands like he's playing an URB...& sez "See, I play the violin".
And then we had a nice chat & I ended up burning him a few Jazz albums.

 

[Drgonzonm]

Clerance defined his mod of the telecaster as a bass guitar.
This forum is bg. And DB, short for bass guitar and double bass respectively.

 

[GrooverMcTube]

According to Carol Kaye, electric bass is electric bass. It is not a guitar.

'Course back in the day electric bass meant Fender bass...

 

[easyj]

Yes, it is a guitar, of the bass variety.

You make a lot of interesting points, and I see that you are trying to make a strong argument to differentiate the two. You could make an argument that all stringed instruments are different and deserve their own category just as well as you could argue that they are all similar.

An electric bass guitar is pretty much an electric guitar with a longer neck designed to handle the lower strings. I understand how it has four strings and handles the lower registers, just like a double bass, but it is ultimately a guitar designed to do so. The frets make it a guitar. Electric bass guitars were designed to have frets, and be strapped on your shoulder, and to be picked...like electric guitars.

Your point about fretless bass guitars is really where you can start building a case that it is actually a bass. If guitars have frets, by definition, then you can argue that fretless bass guitars are technically no longer guitars.

It would be really great to hear some other opinions on this.

 

[Nashrakh]

Bass is, from the standpoint of ergonomics, more like a guitar than a double bass. And then, your run of the mill finger style has more in common with finger picking on guitar than plucking a double bass. The electronics are mostly the same in design, layout and functionality. Double basses have no tort, but guitar does.

I don't see the problem really. And outside of TB, I've never run into any situation in which anyone has made a deal out of it.

 

[easyj]

According to Carol Kaye, electric bass is electric bass. It is not a guitar.

'Course back in the day electric bass meant Fender bass...

I have a great deal of respect for Carol Kaye. Carol was a guitar player before she started playing bass guitar, and she used a pick on her electric bass guitar.

 

[Watchootognbout]

According to Carol Kaye, electric bass is electric bass. It is not a guitar.

'Course back in the day electric bass meant Fender bass...

Then why does she use a pick?
Is it a horizontal double bass?

 

[Ant Illington]

Follow the link to Anthony Jackson Wikipedia page then click on "contrabass guitar" (which he is credited as being the first to conceptualize and play a 6 string- tuned BEADGC) .... Jackson is known as quite the persnickety dude who first studied guitar. If his persnickety and accomplished self is calling a 6 string bass a guitar then I'm inclined to say electric bass is a guitar. But I dont care either way, just thought you might be interested in seeing the link and his quote:

Anthony Jackson (musician) - Wikipedia

 

[Rev J]

I always thought of it as the lowest pitched member of the guitar family.

C/S,
Rev J

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Folks just say bass, but it's a euphemism for bass guitar.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Read the whole thread. Decided I don't care what anyone calls it.

 

[hieronymous]

Does it have to be either/or? I think it could be considered a combination of guitar and bass viol - or a bass viol played in guitar form. It can be played "guitaristically" - Chris Squire is a good example. Or it can play things like they would be played on upright bass - James Jamerson as the paragon of that school? But often the lines get blurred - new things get done on the electric bass, like John Entwistle or Jaco Pastorius, in which case maybe it's not so significant that it's a guitar-family instrument, but also not so important that it's a viol family instrument either.

When I'm playing along with groove stuff like James Brown or the Meters then I'm not so worried about whether or not it's a guitar - in fact sometimes I try and approach it more like an upright bass. But when I play my Rickenbacker with a pick and distortion, then I definitely feel like the guitar-aspect is an important part of my approach. Not that I'm trying to play it like a guitar, I still feel 100% like a bassist. Maybe the pick does have something to do with it?

Don't get me started on the Kala U-Bass!

 

[40Hz]

In my younger days I used to insist on “electric bass” rather than “bass guitar” and was quick to correct people about it.

Eventually I realized nobody really cared about it one way or another, and I eventually stopped caring about it myself.

There’s some things that are just too trivial to worry about.

Or so I think anyway. YMMV

 

[Whippet]

I never gave it a thought. I just plug and play.

 

[Chrisk-K]

Why does it matter whether a bass is a guitar?

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

This has been discussed here before and we've had disagreements of course some of us think using the word 'guitar' diminishes the mighty role of BASS! Some prefer 'bass player', 'electric basist', or 'bassist' over 'bass guitarist'.

With all my respect, I think a bass guitar is a bass instrument that relates to the guitar family. Thus, it is completely ok to call it a 'bass guitar', and the player a 'bass guitarist'. You're not going to be any less of a bassist because you used the word 'guitar'.

 

[jamro217]

I voted "No" because the reason for the existence of this particular instrument was not to augment the number of guitar types, but to make an electrified portable DB. Whether or not frets were added for the convenience of making an easier learning curve for students or for more precise intonation for pros doesn't matter. The other argument is that they could have been copying the guitarron. Gibson was making the ES series of electric guitars (ES is short for 'electric Spanish") since the 1940's, predating Fender basses, but not Tutmarc's Audio Vox. The next logical step would be to round out that line of instruments by creating a bass guitar. History shows that the bass guitar was not taken up by guitarists as a low register guitar, but rather as a substitute for the DB. A true bass guitar would probably be the Fender Bass VI. Not exactly the same as a P bass. The very name Precision bass was a clue that one of the selling points was the addition of frets, which virtually all other guitars feature but were absent on basses.

 

[LowActionHero]

Words. . . .