Six string bass and Guitar Technique

Question

I know some stuff on guitar. By stuff, I mean scales/chords etc...

I would like to have some knowledge for the bass. Maybe for home recording, enriching my sounds.

The bass is a four stringed instrument. This means that instantly, my technique knowledge is not directly transferable to this instrument.

However, a bass can come out in a six string variation. If I were to get a six string bass, would my technique from guitar be directly transferrable to the base? Once again, I am talking about scales and chords.

Even more basics.. Is the tuning of a six string bass the same as that of a guitar? Or at least, can it be made the same?

Are the intervals of the notes the same as the guitar on the fretboard? As you can tell, I have absolutely no knowledge about the bass.

Answer 1

Guitars and basses are related. A standard 4 string bass is tuned the same way as the lowest 4 strings on a guitar, EADG but one octave lower. If you ignore the two highest strings on the guitar then the theory and playing mechanics are basically the same. Anything you would play on the guitar can be played on the bass but will sound one octave lower.

The bass does come in 6 string variations. The one that has the most direct relationship to a guitar is the Fender Bass VI and its variants. It has been around since the 1960s and is tuned exactly like a guitar one octave lower. It really is more of a guitar like instrument with close string spacing and a short scale. It is not the most common type of six string bass, as a matter of fact they are fairly rare.

The more typical variety of six string bass is tuned differently than a guitar. It takes the standard bass tuning and adds one high and one low string. They are all tuned in fourths, BEADGC. This is different from the guitar because it does not have the major 3rd interval between the second and third strings so the theory and playability do not directly transfer from the guitar. If you were to tune the two high strings on a standard 6 string bass to F# and B instead of G and C it would have the same theory and interval structure as the guitar but would sound an octave and a perfect 4th lower then the guitar.

It is possible to take a typical six string bass and modify it by getting the correct string gauges so that you can tune it like a guitar, EADGBE one octave lower. You might also have to cut a new nut to accommodate the different string thicknesses.

You can also just choose to start with a 4 string bass. It’s not a big leap from guitar, there is nothing new to learn. Most take to it very quickly and I would say 90% or more of all bass playing is done within the range of the 4 strings of a standard bass.

Answer 2

While guitar and bass may look similar, they certainly don't do similar jobs. Guitars are built for chords, amongst other things, whereas it's unusual to play chords on bass - the notes are too low, hence sound muddy.

That's where 6 string basses start to appeal. With the top strings well into guitar territory, chords can sound good - especially triads with a low bass note and two other notes on the top two strings.

Tuning wise, most folk prefer to keep the same 5 fret differences between all strings, which on guitar is deemed non too practical. So, on 5 string basses, BEADG, or more rarely EADGC are the ones that are 'standard'. The 6 string encompasses both those, thus stretching the range - BEADGC - all 5 frets (P4) from each other. That makes playing patterns so much easier, as everything is instantly transferrable, unlike on guitar.

You could, of course, tune any bass to anything you want - one of my 4 strings is BEAD - but with perhaps a change of string gauge, anything goes.

So, please don't think of any bass as a guitar extension - its job is different, and it gets played differently accordingly. Some of the string/fret theory is the same, but we don't generally transfer that theory from guitar to bass.

You may, or may not find the high C much use, depending on what you play, and your style. But the low B is deemed a useful asset by a lot of players, including myself.

You could go the whole hog, as a friend of mine did, and obtain a rare 8 string - F♯BEADGCF - but I think that's taking things a little too far, especially considering the plank that's needed for the neck/fingerboard. And the decent amp/speaker that's required to cope with the wide range of pitch!

Answer 3

The six string bass is not tuned like a guitar (E-A-D-G-B-E) but rather extends the bass scordatura (E-A-D-G) by a fourth above and below (B-E-A-D-G-C) (although I like to have the lowest string on C).

This means that while knowledge on the guitar will definitely help you you will have slightly different fingerings for chords due to a) missing a high E string and b) the highest string not being B but C.

It is possible to change the "default" stringing and rather extend by two strings upwards. This would usually then give you a high F, but it would allow you to tune in a guitar tuning (as long as the tension works out). (In fact there is a thing like a classical contrabass guitar that has 6 strings and is like a classical concert guitar, just one octave lower).

Finally I want to point out that usually guitar and bass are played with quite different purpose and thus also with different technique and different musical shapes. A bassline is not the same as a melody or chords on the guitar.

So if you want to dabble into bass: Your guitar knowledge will help you, but you’ll also learn new things. You can safely go for a standard 4 string bass. This one will behave like a guitar with only the four lowest strings and is quite a lot easier to play compared to a 6 string bass. Also much easier to find affordable instruments.

Answer 4

This means that instantly, the music theory knowledge is not directly transferable to this instrument.

Your real problem here is that you don't understand music theory, so you're asking this question based on a complete misunderstanding. All music theory is directly transferrable to all instruments, with no exceptions at all. All techniques for guitar are directly transferable to bass too.

There may be differences in tuning for the bass; but if you're moderately skilled on guitar then you should have an appreciation of working with different tunings. There will also be differences in how you pick the strings, but again if you know what a "rest stroke" is then you should be good. But these issues simply relate to technique, and not at all to "music theory".

There may be differences between what role the instrument plays in an arrangement too, but as a guitarist you should be familiar with the different places you can position your sound. The guitar is regularly used to provide a bassline (think Johnny Cash and Carter Family picking), strumming, midrange melody/harmony lines, high leads and counter-melodies, and all those good things. All of this is covered again by music theory.

When it comes to actually playing bass, you will need to build some different abilities depending on what you're doing. If there are drums, you need to be listening to the drums to take your timing and also listening to the other instruments to work against the melodies. If there aren't drums, the other instruments will be taking their timing from you, so you need to work on keeping a solid tempo. These techniques are applicable on guitar too, but it's less necessary.

These are all technique things though. The music theory is the music theory, and it doesn't change.

Answer 5

As a bass player you start to take over other functions. I.e. you literally play the root notes of chords.

Using neighbor notes you aren‘t bound to that. Because you root-note, by a nice bass-line you can guide the audience to the next chord of the progression.

And of course, together with drums or percussion you form (major) parts of the rhythm section. Frequencies may collide with bass drums, so be distinguishable.

One of many ways to do it is using a walking bass, like 1 . 3 . | 1 2 3 4

And think of all the reggay or funky basses, too.

You can read many of these basics in „How to play from a Real Book“.