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In most music, the low-pitched instrument of choice is the bass guitar. The main reasons behind the bass guitar’s popularity are its versatility in terms of playing methods and applications in modern music.

Not surprisingly, the bass guitar remains true to the design originally intended for normal guitar. However, differences do exist. Four-stringed basses are the most common, which differ from the six-stringed guitars most people are used to seeing. The strings of a bass guitar are longer, as is the entire instrument. Most bass guitars are played through an amplifier, although acoustic basses are preferred by some. One deviation from the normal guitar design did occur when a few bass players began to remove the frets from the necks of their instruments, which has since been applied to normal guitars by an even smaller percentage of players.

One thing that makes the bass guitar so appealing to so many people is that there are many ways to play it. One method, called fingerstyle, involves the player using only their fingers to fret the notes on the neck and pluck the strings. Fingerstyle is a popular method mainly because of the many tones one can create using it.

Like a normal guitar, a bass guitar can also be played with a guitar pick. Any normal guitar pick can work on a bass guitar as well, and it is known to create a more percussive tone which many say is more pronounced and distinct than a bass guitar played fingerstyle.

Bass Guitars in Modern Music

Nearly all rock and roll bands use electric bass guitars. Bass guitars are popular in rock music because they not only provide a steady pulse for the guitars to latch onto, but the harmony of a song can be established at the same time as the rhythmic elements. Simply by playing notes at an even pace and moving from chord to chord, a rock bassist is contributing a lot to the song. Heavier, fast-paced hard rock and metal is often at the forefront of bass guitar innovations, and many bass players are turning up the gain and increasing the tempo every time they play.

Another genre in which the bass guitar has gained much acclaim is jazz. Using swing rhythms, jazz bass guitarists can create exceptionally creative bass lines that push the music forward. The walking bass line, used by nearly all jazz bass players since the days of the upright bass, is a trademark example of jazz bass playing. By playing chord tones on every beat of every measure and swinging the notes ever so slightly, walking bass lines can really propel jazz pieces in a creative way.

Although the bass guitar may seem like an instrument that lacks versatility, looks can be deceiving. The bass guitar can be played in a variety of ways and is used to fill roles in many different musical genres.