Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T01:07:47.782Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

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
Get access

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

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
Clawson, Mary Ann, “When Women Play the Bass: Instrument Specialization and Gender Interpretation in Alternative Rock Music,” Gender & Society 13/2 (1999): 193–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×