• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Is electric bass a guitar ?

Electric bass is a guitar ?

  • Yes

    Votes: 275 79.9%
  • No

    Votes: 69 20.1%

  • Total voters
    344
He called it one so I'd say yes

upload_2018-3-12_15-58-10.png
 
didn't this discussion start with the the P bass and now to add confusion to the issue at hand we a copy of a jazz
?
that is the patent sketch for the second generation Fender Precision Bass which sites it's ref: in the file to the original patent of 1953 slab body as always which came from the Telecaster guitar design, The first J bass or Jazz bass had two single coil pickups and a body more like the Jazz master guitar
upload_2018-3-12_17-26-22.png

which it was made to resemble also the first J basses had two stack knobs which controlled both volume and tone like this one next to the slab body P bass. :)

upload_2018-3-12_17-21-50.png
 
The '51 Precision Bass was the solution to the problem of not being able to hear (and sometimes) play the big, cumbersome upright in the increasingly popular bands with loud drummers and ampified guitars.

Sure, and that's a part of how it was marketed. The OTHER part of the marketing was to guitarists, to expand the number of gigs they could take by filling the bass role if there wasn't enough work on six-string. But as I posted above about multi-instrumentalists, persuading upright bassists to play bass guitar doesn't make it "not a type of guitar." Classification works by the object's own characteristics, not who plays it.
 
Gibson EB-1.png '94  Gretsch    G6119B.JPG Since it's pretty obvious that Leo Fender developed his from the guitars he was making, and the obvious fact that some others did too, I think it's fair to say that the "correct" term is "Electric Bass Guitar". This Gretsch Broadkaster is pretty much identical to a Gretsch Tennessee Rose guitar. the pickups are the same; the wiring harness is the same (without the "mud switch"), and the body is certainly the same. Only the neck, the tailpiece, and the bridge are different. You could make the case that a Gibson EB-1, since it was made to be played on a post (stick, monopod, whatever), it should rightly be called an "Electric Bass", but it had frets, and you could play it like a guitar if you wanted. So, which is it? Personally, I don't really care; I don't think there IS a "correct" term for them any more. I use "Bass"; "Bass Guitar"; "Electric Bass'"; or "Electric Bass Guitar", depending on the cluelessness of the person I'm talking to. Simple as that...:whistle:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Old Garage-Bander
If a bass is a guitar, then an apple must be an orange... Both a bass and a guitar have strings and both an apple and an orange are fruits. There are 4 string guitars and there are 6 string basses. To me it's like the guy that points to a truck and says I have my car... I guess that if you play both an upright or double bass and an electric bass then you are a bass player. But if you only play electric bass then you are a bass guitar player right?
This is a terrible misuse of syllogistic logic.
 
Sure, and that's a part of how it was marketed. The OTHER part of the marketing was to guitarists, to expand the number of gigs they could take by filling the bass role if there wasn't enough work on six-string. But as I posted above about multi-instrumentalists, persuading upright bassists to play bass guitar doesn't make it "not a type of guitar." Classification works by the object's own characteristics, not who plays it.

Yeah because most guitar players weren't classically trained upright players so Leo's invention was the perfect solution to this problem. Now they could play both instruments and get more gigs. It's awesome how the Fender Bass was actually Fender's first dual cutaway design. Such a stroke of genius.
 
  • Like
Reactions: hrodbert696
View attachment 2947546 View attachment 2947547 Since it's pretty obvious that Leo Fender developed his from the guitars he was making, and the obvious fact that some others did too, I think it's fair to say that the "correct" term is "Electric Bass Guitar". This Gretsch Broadkaster is pretty much identical to a Gretsch Tennessee Rose guitar. the pickups are the same; the wiring harness is the same (without the "mud switch"), and the body is certainly the same. Only the neck, the tailpiece, and the bridge are different. You could make the case that a Gibson EB-1, since it was made to be played on a post (stick, monopod, whatever), it should rightly be called an "Electric Bass", but it had frets, and you could play it like a guitar if you wanted. So, which is it? Personally, I don't really care; I don't think there IS a "correct" term for them any more. I use "Bass"; "Bass Guitar"; "Electric Bass'"; or "Electric Bass Guitar", depending on the cluelessness of the person I'm talking to. Simple as that...:whistle:
And if I'm having that discussion with Mr. Clueless, why should I care what he thinks?
 
Structurally similar, functionally very different. Bass and guitar serve different purposes in the music except if you are Jason Newstead.

Due to the low frequency with less harmonics, chords dont sound very good on the low register of the bass.
 

Latest posts