Jazz bass

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.

to be the finest exponent of jazz on the electric bass, via his work with Weather Report, Joni Mitchell, Pat Metheny and others.

A small number of players, such as Stanley Clarke and John Patitucci, have achieved virtuoso skill on both instruments.

Beginning around 1890, the African-American communities in early New Orleans used a jazz ensemble which played a mixture of marches, ragtime, and dixieland music.

As the music moved from playing for funerals on the street and into bars and brothels, the double bass gradually replaced these wind instruments.

The "cool" style of jazz was influenced by players such as Scott LaFaro and Percy Heath, whose solos were very melodic.

Free jazz was influenced by the composer/bassist Charles Mingus (who also contributed to hard bop) and Charlie Haden, best known for his work with Ornette Coleman.

In the 1970s, as jazz and rock music were blended by performers to create the "fusion" genre, players such as Jaco Pastorius began to develop a unique sound using the electric bass.

As well, bass guitars usually have a solid wood body, which means that the sound is produced by electronic amplification of the vibration of the strings.

Some players perform with the sides of one, two, or three fingers, especially for walking basslines and slow tempo ballads, because this is purported to create a stronger and more solid tone.

Some players use the more nimble tips of the fingers to play fast-moving solo passages or to pluck lightly for quiet tunes.

This is a vigorous version of pizzicato where the strings are "slapped" against the fingerboard between the main notes of the bass line, producing a snare drum-like percussive sound.

The stick bass is also widely used in salsa, because its volume and tone are especially suited to that style of music, even in studio recording.

It is an electronically amplified version of the double bass that has a minimal or 'skeleton' body, which greatly reduces the size and weight of the instrument.

While the EUB retains some of the tonal characteristics of the double bass, its electrically amplified nature also gives it its own unique sound.

However, since hollow-bodied EUBs do not have a large resonant cavity like a double bass, they cannot reproduce the lowest notes of the instrument without an amplifier.

The electric bass was introduced to jazz in the early 1950s when Roy Johnson, and later Monk Montgomery, first used the instrument in Lionel Hampton's big band.

For example, an electric bassist in a fusion or Latin band can play a bassline composed entirely of rapid, syncopated sixteenth notes.

Pastorius used epoxy rather than varnish to obtain a glass-like finish suitable for the use of roundwound strings, which are otherwise much harder on the wood of the fingerboard.

In traditional Dixieland or New Orleans-style jazz groups, the basslines may be played by a tuba or other low brass instrument.