The modern bass
Let’s conclude with the surname: ELECTRIC.
When in 1951 Leo Fender silently presented the first Precision, accompanied by his good amplifier, the legendary Bassman combo, he freed the bassist from three forms of inconvenience: low volume, large size and lack of precise intonation. In short, all the downsides related to the double bass.
At the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll and television era, the bass becomes electric, comfortable and versatile, with a sound manageable through the amplification process and modifiable in terms of equalization and effect.
By listening to the musical examples it is clear which what are the musical areas in which the electric bass plays a minor role or is completely absent: classical, dixieland and classical jazz, ethnic music in general.
All the genres in which the electric bass is the protagonist are those born after the Second World War, a period characterized by a remarkable technological development in all fields, including those of the diffusion and recording of music and instruments making.
Could we imagine reggae without the deep throb of the bass? Soul, funk, disco are practically based on its sound.
Even in modern jazz, which has taken the ambiguous name of Fusion, the electric bass claims a fundamental role, just mentioning the name of Jaco Pastorius, Marcus Miller or Alain Caron. Finally, there is no rock or blues rock band without a solid electric bassist (aside from some magnificent Doors songs that had bass effectively played by Ray Manzarek’s Fender Rhodes) committed, as usual, to providing the necessary rhythmic-harmonic base.
Electronic music and the computer have in turn partially ousted the electric bass from the throne of low frequencies, the synthetic sounds of the last three decades are there to prove it. However, considering the possibilities offered by effects inherent in its electric nature, in the context of the harmonic-rhythmic foundation, the electric bass remains, in our opinion, the best synthesis between tradition and research.