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Strumming Along: Strings
Chapter 4: Tools of the Trade: The Instruments of Jazz
In early jazz, tubas usually took the low parts, but by the swing era, most
bands had bassists on different instruments, and by the late 1930s, when
small groups began outnumbering big bands, bass players were pretty
standard.
The bassist’s role evolved as jazz matured. It began as the steady thumping
power source of a band but eventually provide harmonies and melodies.
Building the foundation: The standup bass
The bass is one of the oldest instruments used in jazz, dating back through
centuries of classical music. It’s the only classical string instrument to
become a fixture in jazz (although there have been a few violins). The bass
allows for a more percussive attack with a broader range of sounds better
suited to versatile jazz ensembles. Originally named contrabass, because its
range is lower than the bass range of other instruments including the piano,
it’s more commonly referred to as “standup” or “upright” bass. Standup?
Upright? Sounds like a truly honest instrument.
Unlike a guitar (which I cover later in this chapter), a bass is fretless, which
means a bassist can slide to positions that deliver all sorts of notes in
between the notes of familiar scales. It also means that bassists can easily
produce glissandos like trombones (covered earlier in this chapter) by sliding
a finger along a string through a seamless series of notes.
Basses haven’t changed much since the time of Bach and Beethoven. They
have four strings (although big band bassist Chubby Jackson used a custom
five-stringer with Woody Herman’s Thundering Herd during the 1940s). They
are still made of wood, with slots called f-holes cut into the top (or sounding
board) to disperse sound. Historically, jazz bassists usually plucked the
strings (pizzicato) to deliver a thumping groove, but they employ bows
(arco style) for all sorts of sliding sounds and sustained notes.
The bass is commonly perceived as a partner of drums in a jazz band’s
rhythm section, but bassists and drummers really play independent and
complementary parts. Together, they ensure that the music’s steady pulse is
felt, sometimes by implication (that is, carefully placed silences or off-beat
accents) as much as emphasis. One instrument keeps the basic beat while
the other embroiders it. Other times, both musicians move all around the
beat. In the rhythm section, a bassist and a drummer form the nucleus of the
music, the solid rhythmic core around which other players build layers of
improvisation. (I discuss drums in more detail later in this chapter.)
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