What are the essential differences between guitar and bass

EricTheWeary

I presume the original bass line on JBG is played on double bass, Willie Dixon was a double bassist and I don’t think ever played bass guitar. That would possibly account for the uneven recording (although it’s basically inaudible just on my iPad). I’m not really sure how it’s disconnected from the song. 

Jailhouse Rock by Elvis is usually credited as the first hit single to feature electric bass (it had been used in jazz and sound track recordings before then and hadn’t really been taken up by more popular artists) so still having double bass on JBG seems right ( 57 for Elvis, 58 for Chuck). 

fretmeister

WD never played bass guitar so it has to be a DB.



What a player though.

I didn't know that Jailhouse Rock was thought to be the first electric bass single. That's going in the useless memory bank for the next pub quiz!

EricTheWeary

The soundtrack to The Day the Earth Stood Still in 1951 has supposedly the first recorded electric bass and Monk Montgomery played it on several jazz recordings in the early fifties. But Bill Black switching from upright to a Precision behind Elvis is effectively the start of its use in pop/ rock music. 

First use of fuzz on record? On bass of course…(skip to 1:25 if this isn’t to your taste!)…

https://youtu.be/h-ZD-Zzlfro

fretmeister

That's great! Not heard it before.

Musicman20

Sorry I probably should have been clearer! 

I mean as in, actually playing a guitar with lots of high gain can be much more simple than playing a very clean and fairly busy bass line......less to cover up.

Most the guys I know who play in heavier bands really struggle with a cleaner tone. 

ToneControl

ICBM said:

fretmeister said:

Youtube is full of isolated bass tracks that sound horrible on their own, but amazing in the mix. They sound much cleaner in the mix too.

It constantly amazes me that when I hear my bass through my fuzz pedal - which doesn't even have a clean blend - on its own, the bass sounds incredibly gnarly and distorted... but as soon as everyone else is playing, it's only slightly "not clean". I really don't know why!

maybe the bass's distorted components are at the same frequencies as the other instruments (and get less noticeable), whereas the fundamental sine waves are still in their own space

roberty

Musicman20 said:

Sorry I probably should have been clearer! 

I mean as in, actually playing a guitar with lots of high gain can be much more simple than playing a very clean and fairly busy bass line......less to cover up.

Most the guys I know who play in heavier bands really struggle with a cleaner tone. 

A lot of YouTube demos are like that. Shonky clean playing followed by decent high gain chops

roberty

ToneControl said:

ICBM said:

fretmeister said:

Youtube is full of isolated bass tracks that sound horrible on their own, but amazing in the mix. They sound much cleaner in the mix too.

It constantly amazes me that when I hear my bass through my fuzz pedal - which doesn't even have a clean blend - on its own, the bass sounds incredibly gnarly and distorted... but as soon as everyone else is playing, it's only slightly "not clean". I really don't know why!

maybe the bass's distorted components are at the same frequencies as the other instruments (and get less noticeable), whereas the fundamental sine waves are still in their own space

I think that too. The treble freqs where the clipping is obvious are kind of masked by cymbals and other treble