The double bass, also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched chordophone, in the modern symphony orchestra. Similar in structure to the cello, it has four or five strings.
In musical instrument classification, string instruments or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner.
Pizzicato is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of instrument:
Zithers are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, it could be any instrument of the psaltery family. In modern terminology, it is more specifically an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat body, the topic of this article.
The fingerboard is an important component of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument. The strings run over the fingerboard, between the nut and bridge. To play the instrument, a musician presses strings down to the fingerboard to change the vibrating length, changing the pitch. This is called stopping the strings. Depending on the instrument and the style of music, the musician may pluck, strum or bow one or more strings with the hand that is not fretting the notes. On some instruments, notes can be sounded by the fretting hand alone, such as with hammer ons, an electric guitar technique.
Franz Simandl was a double-bassist and pedagogue from Austria-Hungary most remembered for his book New Method for String Bass, known as the "Simandl book", which is to this day used as a standard study of double bass technique and hand positions.
A guitar solo is a melodic passage, instrumental section, or entire piece of music, pre-written to be played on a classical, electric, or acoustic guitar. In 20th and 21st century traditional music and popular music such as blues, swing, jazz, jazz fusion, rock and heavy metal, guitar solos often contain virtuoso techniques and varying degrees of improvisation. Guitar solos on classical guitar, which are typically written in musical notation, are also used in classical music forms such as chamber music and concertos.
Brand X were a British jazz fusion band formed in London in 1974. They were active until 1980, followed by a reformation between 1992 and 1999, and were active following a 2016 reunion until 2021. Members have included John Goodsall (guitar), Percy Jones (bass), Robin Lumley (keyboards), and Phil Collins (drums). Jones was the sole constant member throughout the band's existence until October 2020 when he left the band. Founding member Goodsall died on 10 November 2021 and Lumley died on 9 March 2023.
Jazz bass is the use of the double bass or electric bass guitar to improvise accompaniment ("comping") basslines and solos in a jazz or jazz fusion style. Players began using the double bass in jazz in the 1890s to supply the low-pitched walking basslines that outlined the chord progressions of the songs. From the 1920s and 1930s Swing and big band era, through 1940s Bebop and 1950s Hard Bop, to the 1960s-era "free jazz" movement, the resonant, woody sound of the double bass anchored everything from small jazz combos to large jazz big bands.
The electric upright bass (EUB) is an instrument that can perform the musical function of a double bass. It requires only a minimal or 'skeleton' body to produce sound because it uses a pickup and electronic amplifier and loudspeaker. Therefore, a large resonating structure is not required to project the sound into the air. This minimal body greatly reduces the bulk and weight of the instrument. EUBs must always be connected to an amplifier and speaker cabinet to produce an adequate audible sound. The EUB retains enough of the features of the double bass so that double bass players are able to perform on it.
Juan Alderete de la Peña is an American musician, best known as the longtime bassist of Racer X, the Mars Volta and Marilyn Manson.
A fretless bass is an electric bass guitar whose neck is smooth like traditional string instruments, and like the acoustic upright double bass. As a guitar-like amplified alternative to this instrument, the Fender Precision Bass was introduced in 1951, with frets to help guitarists who are used to them, to provide precision, and to offer a different sound. This concept has since become the standard, as other companies followed with similar electric fretted basses, like the Höfner 500/1 of Beatle Paul McCartney, which looked like a viol but with frets.
Do They Hurt? (1980) is the fifth album by British jazz fusion group Brand X. The tracks on this album are outtakes from the Product sessions.
John Goodsall was a British-American progressive rock and jazz fusion guitarist most noted for his work with Brand X, Atomic Rooster, and The Fire Merchants.
Wal is a brand of electric bass guitar manufactured by Electric Wood Ltd, first in High Wycombe, Buckinghanshire, and later in Fetcham, Surrey, England. The company was started in 1974 by guitar builder and electronics expert Ian Waller and luthier Pete Stevens. Since 2009, the company has been run by Paul Herman.
Product is the fourth studio album by British jazz fusion group Brand X, originally released in 1979. It features primary member Phil Collins back once again on drums following his absence on Masques. Drummer Mike Clark and bassist John Giblin also appear on this album. Two of the album's tracks - "Soho" and "Wal To Wal" - were largely recorded at Phil Collins' Old Croft home in Shalford, Surrey.
Masques is the third album by the British jazz fusion group Brand X. This was the band's first studio recording without drummer Phil Collins. The rear of the album cover has a photo of the crowd from the Knebworth Festival, 1978 — a bill that included both Brand X and Genesis, Collins' other band.
Robbie Merrill is an American bassist, best known as a founding member of the rock bands Godsmack and Another Animal. He was featured in the Behind the Player interactive music video.
In music performance and education, thumb position, not a traditional position, is a string instrument playing technique used to facilitate playing in the upper register of the double bass, cello, and related instruments, such as the electric upright bass. To play passages in this register, the player shifts his or her hand out from behind the neck and curves the hand, using the side of the thumb to press down the string; in effect, the side of the thumb becomes a movable nut (capo).
Manifest Destiny is the eighth and final studio album by jazz fusion group Brand X.
