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9 - The Bass Guitar in Popular Music

from Part III - Musical Style and Technique

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2024

By
Brian F. Wright
Edited by
Jan-Peter Herbst  and
Steve Waksman
Jan-Peter Herbst
Affiliation:
University of Huddersfield
Steve Waksman
Affiliation:
Smith College, Massachusetts
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Summary

This chapter provide an overview of the ways that the bass guitar is most often used in popular music. Rather than discuss the instrument in terms of genre, I focus instead on its wider musical functions. As I argue, bass lines can largely be categorized by five common performative strategies: basic accompaniments, rhythmic- and groove-oriented approaches, melodic-oriented approaches, slap and pop styles, and the use of alternative instruments and techniques. While these strategies frequently overlap, this simplified taxonomy is intended to help listeners better appreciate how the bass shapes the overall sound and feel of a recording. By using a diverse cross-section of examples drawn from classic rock, metal, pop, R&B, soul, funk, reggae, disco, jazz, hip hop, and more, this chapter also highlights bass guitarists’ profound, wide-ranging impact on music history.

Keywords

bass guitarelectric bassgroovemelodyslap and popalternative techniquesFender Precision Bass
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar , pp. 150 - 164
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Selected Bibliography

Bacon, Tony and Moorhouse, Barry, The Bass Book: A Complete Illustrated History of Bass Guitars, second edition (Backbeat Books, 2008).Google Scholar
Brewer, Roy C., “The Appearance of the Electric Bass Guitar: A Rockabilly Perspective,” Popular Music and Society 26/3 (2003): 351–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Dowdall, Peter, Technology and the Stylistic Evolution of the Jazz Bass (Routledge, 2018).Google Scholar
Drabløs, Per Elias, The Quest for the Melodic Electric Bass: From Jamerson to Spenner (Ashgate, 2016).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Everett, Walter, The Foundations of Rock: From “Blue Suede Shoes” to “Suite Judy Blue Eyes” (Oxford University Press, 2009), pp. 29–42.Google Scholar
Gay, Leslie C. Jr., “Acting Up, Talking Tech: New York Rock Musicians and Their Metaphors of Technology,” Ethnomusicology 42/1 (1998): 81–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Geddy, Geddy Lee’s Big Beautiful Book of Bass (HarperCollins, 2018).Google Scholar
Roberts, Jim, How the Fender Bass Changed the World (Backbeat Books, 2001).Google Scholar
Wright, Brian F., “Jaco Pastorius, the Electric Bass, and the Struggle for Jazz Credibility,” Journal of Popular Music Studies 32/3 (2020): 121–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The Bastard Instrument: A Cultural History of the Electric Bass (University of Michigan Press, 2024).Google Scholar

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