Would a Baritone Guitar be considered a type of bass?

[Ritter667]

I’m certainly not opposed to using a conventional name, I just don’t know that there is one for what I have. The tuning puts it the range of a baritone guitar based on the lowest string. However based on the strings I need to buy it is a piccolo bass. It’s also an extended range with the BEAD so it’s not exactly a piccolo bass at an octave up from a standard 4.

The naming oddity I was pointing out wasn’t any particular confusion on my part. I just think calling something a piccolo bass is like needing a medium shirt and buying a small large, or would that be a large small…

I think I’m kinda stuck calling it a piccolo bass tuned BEAD. Oh, and it’s a short scale. Can’t forget to shoehorn that in there.

I would put it in the category of a tenor bass, though that is defined by a 4 string bass in A standard tuning or a 5 string bass in E standard tuning.

But I'd say close enough, only 2 half steps away, certainly closer to that definition than what is conventionally considered a bass piccolo tuning.

So I would call it a tenor bass in B standard tuning.

 

[HelpImaRock]

Currently strung E-E. I may go back to B-B at some point.

 

[MrAB4003]

Except "Tenor Guitar" (sometimes) specifically means a four string guitar.

This is true! I played tenor guitar on my first album (really badly I'll admit) because it had 4 strings and it was simpler to learn. Eastwood makes them.

 

[ardgedee]

there is something horrible wrong with that graph.

Like why do a double bass go much deeper than a bass guitar?

The chart presumes a concert bass with a C extension, not common outside of classical music. I'm not sure how common it is within classical music, although it's common enough for many compositions to expect it.

Also tenor, baritone and bass means slightly different range for different instruments.

Technically a guitar is a tenor instrument, but then you have tenor guitar, just as one example.

Not being comprehensive is not really a fault. It doesn't have to accommodate alternate string tunings, variant instruments, etc. Tenor guitar's range is a subset of standard guitar range so there's no point in breaking it out separately.

There's no strict bracketing of what "bass", "baritone", "tenor", "alto", etc. are across all instruments, other than the fundamental rule that bass is below baritone below tenor etc. Within each family of instruments though there's usually consistency: a four-string bass guitar's overall range is an octave below a six-string guitar's four lowest strings in standard tuning, a five-string bass is usually an octave-plus-a-fourth (Anthony Jackson staked this as contrabass guitar territory). A baritone guitar's range is between them, usually a fourth or fifth lower than guitar.

In wind instruments it's not particularly rare to have different sub-ranges within a range, for example soprano saxophones are made in either Bb or C, both are considered between alto and sopranino. Trumpets are also usually built for Bb or C but there are at least half a dozen other tunings available, not including piccolo and bass versions.

After all, singers are considered to be bass, baritone, tenor, etc... yet each individual has their own range, even less consistency than musical instruments. If you look at the full chart I linked you can see how maybe a hundred different instruments compare, including the human voice. It illustrates the point you were trying to make.

 

[lunarpollen]

Whether something is considered a bass guitar or a baritone guitar isn't as much a matter of note range or scale length as it is a matter of the musical role it is primarily set up to fulfill. A bunch of early short-scale bass guitars had baritone switches or strangle switches to enable the instrument to switch between a bass role and a baritone role. The Danelectros' didn't have such a switch, but their pickups are relatively low powered and bright sounding, and they were originally fitted with thin roundwound strings from the factory, so depending on the tone/volume settings for the pickups, and the EQ settings of whatever amplifier they are plugged into, they could easily function in either a bass role or a baritone role. In a song, if a baritone is playing notes lower than the bass is playing, the bass is still going to sound like a bass and the baritone is still going to sound like a baritone.

 

[jd56hawk]

Before they made any four strings, Danelectro’s very first bass guitar in 1956 was a six string. They continued to make it well into the 1960s.

When the company that bought the rights to the name started making instruments in Korea, they started selling baritones tuned B to B, but not as 6 string basses. They share the 29.75” scale length, so just popping different strings on it makes it a bass.

You've Definitely Heard This Obscure Guitar Model on the Radio (and It's Actually a Baritone)

The story of the first electric solid-body baritone guitar.

www.ultimate-guitar.com

 

[aprod]

Ask yourself, if I show up to an audition with a baritone guitar when they are looking for a bassist you will have your answer.

 

[Iristone]

Baritone is slightly higher than bass. In Chinese we call it something like "male mezzo" or "above bass". It confuses me because baritone guitars are called like "mezzo guitars" here.
For a 30" scale guitar, you could tune it to EADGBE with bass strings and call it a bass (Bass VI). You could tune it to ADGCEA or BEADF#B with baritone strings and call it a baritone. Personally I'm thinking of buying a 30" locally-made guitar and string it as a bass, since real Bass VI's (even Squier) may get few and far between (and have increased in price).

 

[crazycloud]

For a 30" scale guitar, you could tune it to EADGBE with bass strings and call it a bass (Bass VI). You could tune it to ADGCEA or BEADF#B with baritone strings and call it a baritone.

Both of mine are 30" and one is tuned E1 like a Bass VI and the other A1 baritone.

 

[MusicBear]

Ask yourself, if I show up to an audition with a baritone guitar when they are looking for a bassist you will have your answer.

If I am hired as a bassist, I will show up as a bassist. If whoever is hiring me knows that I have other instruments I can play and hires me to play them, there will be no issues or surprises.

 

[aprod]

If I am hired as a bassist, I will show up as a bassist. If whoever is hiring me knows that I have other instruments I can play and hires me to play them, there will be no issues or surprises.

You asked if a baritone guitar can be considered a bass. Answer is no by your own admission.

 

[B-Mac]

When does an instrument become a bass? Would TB'ers consider a Baritone Guitar as a type of bass? Or would it still be considered a guitar? Some 6-string basses - Fender Bass VI, and various Danelectros, to mention just a few - are tuned a 4th lower than a standard guitar (B), others are tuned a 5th down (A), while still others are tuned a full octave down (E). When does the change from guitar to bass occur?

Would a Baritone Guitar be considered a type of bass?​

Not according to Fender’s own website.

 

[brianrost]

Bass VI is neither a regular guitar, bass guitar or tenor guitar, but again an instrument in its own regard.

I have to disagree. The only thing that makes it different to me is the narrower string spacing like a guitar. But the Bass VI was used live and on records by plenty of bassists as a bass, not just a baritone. It was pretty popular in the UK during the 1960s, especially with jazz-inclined players.

Jack Bruce…this is the bass he used on Fresh Cream. He stopped using it because the paint job had a sticky feel.

Roy Babbington with Soft Machine, late 70s

He still has that bass!

JPJ used one in the studio when he was doing sessions

He still has it, too.

Jet Harris of the Shadows

 

[MusicBear]

You asked if a baritone guitar can be considered a bass. Answer is no by your own admission.

Aprod: Alright. To split hairs - If someone hires me to show up with a "traditional" bass (4-string, 5-string, ... [don't jump on me for this generalization]), I will do so. Hopefully there will be some discussion before the session which will help me choose the correct bass for the session. If I learn that something special is required (e.g. acoustic bass guitar, washtub bass, bass dulcimer, 8-string bass, U-Bass), then I will bring what is required.

 

[MusicBear]

My thanks to everyone for your replies. I think the answer distills to "Yes." If a baritone guitar is used as a bass, then it is a bass.

 

[Doctor Morbius]

"Would a Baritone Guitar be considered a type of bass?"

Only to the uninformed. A baritone is a baritone provided it is tuned as such.

 

[GIBrat51]

Well...
IMO, the answer is... it depends. Baritone guitars, from what I've seen, are available in scale lengths ranging from 27" to 30". Most of the ones you'll see now, are 29 -30" scale. So, it might require opening up the nut slots a little, but yes; putting a set of short scale bass strings ( I'd use light gauge ones, myself); tune it E to E; and you'd have a Bass IV-style bass guitar. Personally, I have no use for either a baritone guitar, or a 6 string short scale bass; but, to each his own...
Actually, I do have a baritone guitar - sort of... When Eastwood Guitars first came out with their Sidejack guitars, the first ones were baritones; and, I bought one of, if not the, first left handed ones. I played it some, but soon realized that I didn't really have a use for it; and, I'm not much of a guitar player, anyway. About 3 years ago, I decided to sell it on consignment, so I got it out to spiff it up; new strings, new set up, etc. Turns out, although it had baritone guitar-gauge strings on it from the factory? It was definitely not a baritone guitar. The Sidejack Baritones are supposed to be 29" scale. Baritone guitars, are Fender scale. Mine is not even that; it's a Gibson scale guitar. Which is nowhere close to even the shortest baritone guitars. I put a heavy set of EB Slinky guitar strings on it, and tried to sell it. As nice a guitar as it is, it didn't sell; so, right now? It's lined up in the basement, with all the other stringed instruments I own. I don't know what strings it came from Eastwood with, but... it sure did sound like a baritone guitar...

 

[MusicBear]

Well...
... Personally, I have no use for either a baritone guitar, or a 6 string short scale bass; but, to each his own...

I've played Fender Bass VI's - I'm not a fan of the vibrato bridges. (I prefer a Kahler bass vibrato on a spare PJ-Bass.) I have a hardtail Strat body that I can fit a baritone-scale conversion neck to. I'll have to experiment with it to determine if I am going to tune it down to B, or down to A, or all the way down to E.

I've had customers bring me Ibanez 6-string basses to set up as "bass guitars" - tuned E to E, but down a octave from a standard guitar. They have been interesting to play and my customers have been happy with the results, but to me they feel like carrier flight decks with strings installed.

 

[crazycloud]

I've had customers bring me Ibanez 6-string basses to set up as "bass guitars" - tuned E to E, but down a octave from a standard guitar. They have been interesting to play and my customers have been happy with the results, but to me they feel like carrier flight decks with strings installed.

I have one now and it's doable for even my modest stature and hand size. But there's a GVB36 on order to make it even easier. I'm hoping the GVB fits physically between the SR 6s and the SRC6.

 

[MusicBear]

... But there's a GVB36 on order to make it even easier. I'm hoping the GVB fits physically between the SR 6s and the SRC6...

I hope it works out well for you.