We all are familiar with rock bands and the pop music that was at its peak a few decades ago and continues to woo many of us even today.
The Queen, Beatles, and Pink Floyd are some of the most loved bands in the history of music and perhaps would continue to remain so forever.
With bass guitar and a talented bassist being a core member of these bands, it is crucial to understand whether a bass guitar is really important in a band.
In this article, we would try to explore the functions and features of the bass guitar, learn how it works, and then discuss the role of the bass guitar in a band.
We would also address the question of whether a bass guitar is more important than a guitar in a band.
How Does a Bass Guitar Work?
A bass guitar is an essential part of any musical performance. It is well known that bass guitars gained their exclusive fame around the 1950s in America.
With the introduction and formation of several rock bands, the bass guitar has gained enough popularity today.
A bass guitar usually has a bridge, an input jack for the strings, several tabs and knobs to control the volume and tone, frets, and nuts. There are four tuning keys on top usually for adjusting the sound of the strings.
You play the bass guitar using the plucking method mostly although slaps, pops, strums, and thumping are extremely common methods as well. Most of it depends on the nature and type of music performance you are engaged in.
The bass guitar like any other guitar functions on the principle of vibrations. Whenever you touch or play a string, there is a vibration created that produces a low and heavy sound.
Bass guitars if handled well and maintained properly can stay intact for years. People usually prefer buying Fender and Ibanez among the other popular bass guitar brands.
Do You Need a Bass Guitar in a Band?
The simple answer to this question is not really. Bass is something that you add to the music or song to create an effect that reverberates or creates an outburst in the performance.
This is why you might find that many bands perform without a bassist or a bass guitar player because it is not ‘needed’ for a band to function.
Although, when you use a bass guitar, you add depth and more personality to your musical performance, by making it sound serious and well-composed.
Usually, when you rely heavily on treble or the high key notes, chances are your music will not sound as refined as it needs to be.
This is why it is crucial to understand the need for a bass guitar in a band. It is although not mandatory to use it helps in making the music more effective.
Let us understand more deeply what is the role of a bass guitar in a band and how you can maximize its use in your performance.
What Does Bass Guitar Do in a Band?
As discussed often, the bass guitar adds the foundation to your musical performance and is often needed to bind the music together so that it goes well.
It is often believed that the importance of bass can be equated to the importance of treble in a musical performance, although it is not observed often bass helps in making the music firm and sound good.
For a rhythm to be in sync, all notes must be spaced and performed well, thus there must be consistency and power in the performance.
Among all the instruments, the beats played using drums or the bass notes played using bass guitars add this power well and provide a balance to the music, by protecting it from sounding too light and high.
If you have a rock band or are planning to start one, you cannot do so without the help of a bass guitar player because they are the ones who help create a link between the drums and the melody that is being performed.
Chances are the drummer cannot hit extremely low notes or make them sound during the performance, thus the bass guitarist must reinforce them additionally.
Is Bass More Important That Guitar in a Band?
According to a study held at a University in Ontario, it was claimed that bass is more crucial than a guitar in any band.
The purpose of this study was to analyze the importance of low notes on the listeners of music and what is the impact of this part of notations on them.
It is obvious that when it comes to the melody and vocal part of any musical performance, the singer and lead guitarist including treble is most crucial.
But, when it comes to the rhythmic part of any performance, it cannot be denied that the bassist is the most important component.
Thus, it depends on which side you look at, but indeed bass guitar players often do not get the credit they deserve.
They are extremely crucial for any musical performance, often at times more than the lead guitarist or the singers.
The study mentioned above, entailed the performance of both kinds of pitches and tones, shifting alternatively among both to notice the impact and observe it.
The study also concluded that in any performance if it is in the category of rock or jazz, there are extremely high chances that the listeners would be more interested in the bass part rather than that of the lead guitarist.
Conclusion
Thus, in this article, we learned about the various aspects of the bass guitar and how it works.
We also learned about the crucial role of both a bass guitar and a normal acoustic guitar.
Both of these guitars have an important role to play in a band or musical performance and cannot be neglected at any cost.
However, the role of a bass guitar is often overlooked due to its faded presence and lack of knowledge about music among people.
It is really important and without it any musical performance is incomplete.
