The bass is also known as the double bass or the doghouse, and it is both the largest as well as the lowest pitch instrument in the violin family. Just like the violin, the double bass instrument evolved from the viol in Europe.

Fine bass models are made out of solid spruce wood for the front of the instrument, solid maple wood for the back, the sides and the neck of the instrument and either boxwood, rosewood or ebony wood for the tailpiece, the fingerboard and the tuning pegs. Both the front of the instrument and the back of the instrument are carved into a shape that is similar to a shallow bowl. The front and the back plates of this instrument have to confirm to an exact specification for thickness in order for the instrument to perform the way that it was created to.

Carved solid wood types of instruments typically are capable of creating a richer tone, but they also tend to be significantly more expensive in comparison to instruments with carved spruce tops and sides and backs that are made using a high quality plywood that has been molded into the appropriate shape. There are also bass instruments that are even less expensive in cost, and these are instruments that entirely consist of a high grade plywood material that has been molded into the appropriate shape.

Bass strings are typically made out of fine metal wire that has been wrapped around either silk or a polymer thread. The string type for each bass is going to depend on whatever music the bassist is interested in playing. The strings are responsible for fastening to a tailpiece, and then they pass over the bridge, which is a carved piece of good that is typically made from a very dense type of maple. Then the strings pass over the nut, a raised part of the fingerboard located at the instrument's scroll, or head. From there, the strings next pass into the instrument's peg box and this is where the strings are tuned by way of either wooden pegs or metal screws.

The full size bass is approximately 5 feet tall, and it has four strings, which are numbered from one to four. The first string is the string that is the furthest from the person playing the instrument. There are also 5 string and 5 string varieties of the stand up bass which were develop to expand the number of different notes that a bassist can reasonably play using their instrument. Bassists use their right hand in order to pluck at and to bow the strings. In jazz and bluegrass music, the bass is used almost exclusively by way of plucking rather than bowing. It is up to the player whether they pluck or bow the strings, but both choices do have an impact on the music that results.

Photo Credits: Benoît Derrier

Originally posted 2009-10-05 03:02:29. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Related Posts

• Brief History of Cellos or Celli The cello (short for "violoncello") is a bowed string instrument, similar to a larger violin that is held upright instead of on the chin. It originated from the three-stringed bass violin created by Jambe de Fer in 1556. The first composer to use the bass violin is thought to be......
• Fiddling Instruments: A Primer Generically, fiddles are bowed lutes. The fiddle term denotes the existence of a stringed instrument that has a neck that bears strings sounded through the use of friction rather than the use of striking or plucking as with other musical instruments. Playing the Fiddle In nearly all fiddle instruments around......
• Harps Throughout History Harps are a musical instrument that is played all throughout a great deal of the world. Consider the fact that in Africa alone there are more than one hundred and fifty different distinct traditions involving the harp. The harp's ancestor is suggested to be a hunting bow, but the history......
• Hammered and Lap Dulcimer Instruments The Hammered Dulcimer What the dulcimer is, is a stringed instrument that has perceived to be an ancestor to the modern piano. It possesses a number of courses of between two and five strings for each note, and they are stretched across a shallow trapezoid shaped box that is made......
• Brief History of the Mandolin A mandolin is a musical instrument that belongs to the lute family meaning that it can either be plucked or strummed. It is a direct descendant of a instrument called the Mandore, which is a soprano member of the same family. The mandolin instrument has a body that possesses a......

Related Websites

• Learn to Play Bass Guitar For someone starting out with a first instrument, a bass guitar is an excellent choice. The bass guitar is probably the easiest stringed instrument to learn to play, far easier than either an acoustic or electric guitar, a banjo, a mandolin, or a violin, for instance. And a stringed instrument......
• Review of Bass Guitars In regards to instruments, the bass guitar is the new kid on the block as it hasn't even celebrated its 100 year mark yet. An interesting fact is that although it is called a bass guitar it is not even derived from the guitar. Acoustic guitars brought forth the electric......
• Woodwind Instruments Collectibles -> Cultures, Ethnicities -> Musical Instruments Collecting woodwind instruments is a great way to collect not only some of the finest art ever created but to infuse music into your collection as well. Instruments are fascinating and beautiful bits of artwork in themselves, but they represent our history of......
• The Decline and Potential Rise of the Bass Saxophone Bass instruments are typically the largest of instruments, and the bass saxophone is not exception. This sometimes forgotten instrument can be awkward to move about, and it suffers from little love in the music department in terms of songs and pieces written for the instrument. It is frequently replaced by......
• The Double Bass - Then and Now In the modern orchestra, there are a number of stringed instruments that cover a variety of sounds. Highs and lows, the entire spectrum of sound audible to the human can be accessed with stringed instruments. At the lowest end of the spectrum, the double bass, or upright bass, can access......

Online Stores

• Lap Harp Autoharp & Zither String Acoustic Musical Instruments
• Sheet Music Bouzouki/ Mandola String Acoustic Musical Instruments
• Tablature Bass Guitar Musical Instruments
• Banjo String Musical Instruments
• Fender Electric Nylon Acoustic Guitar Strings Acoustic Musical Instruments

If you liked this article, vote for it on del.icio.us and stumbleupon.



Categories:

Acoustic Musical Instruments, Bass, Double Bass/Stand Up Bass, Instrument History

Tags:

bass instrument, bass instruments, bass strings, double bass, ebony wood, exact specification, fingerboard, grade plywood, maple wood, metal screws, playing the strings, polymer thread, quality plywood, shallow bowl, size bass, spruce tops, spruce wood, string type, violin family, wooden pegs