The electric bass guitar (or "electric bass") is a bass string instrument played with the fingers by plucking, slapping, or using a pick. The bass is typically similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and scale length, and four strings tuned one octave lower in pitch than the bass strings of a guitar. Since the 1950s, the electric bass has largely replaced the double bass in popular music. The bass is typically used to provide the low-pitched bassline(s) and bass runs in many different styles of music ranging from rock and metal to blues and jazz. The electric bass is also used as a soloing instrument in jazz, fusion, Latin, funk, and some rock styles.
1930s:

In the 1930s, inventor Paul Tutmarc from Seattle, Washington, developed a guitar-style electric bass instrument that was fretted and designed to be held and played horizontally. Audiovox's sales catalogue of 1935-6 (also featuring a solid body six-string electric guitar) listed the world’s first fretted, solid body electric bass that was designed to be played horizontally — the Model #736 Electronic Bass Fiddle (German text). The change to a "guitar" form made the instrument easier to hold and transport, and the addition of guitar-style frets enabled bassists to play in tune more easily and made the new electric bass easier to learn. Tutmarc's inventions never caught the public imagination and almost no further development of the instrument took place until the 1950s.

[edit] 1950s-1960s:

In the 1950s, Leo Fender developed the first mass-produced electric bass. His Fender Precision Bass, introduced in 1951, became a widely copied industry standard. The Precision Bass (or "P-bass") evolved from a simple, uncontoured 'slab' body design similar to that of a Telecaster with a single piece, four-pole pickup to a contoured body design with beveled edges for comfort and a single "split coil pickup."

First introduced in 1960, The Jazz Bass was known as the Deluxe Bass and was meant to accompany the Jazzmaster guitar. The Jazz Bass (often referred to as a "J-bass") featured two single-coil pickups, one close to the bridge and one in the Precision bass' position. The earliest production basses had a 'stacked' volume and tone control for each pickup. This was soon changed to the familiar configuration of a volume control for each pickup, and a single, passive tone control. The Jazz Bass' neck was narrower at the nut than the Precision bass (1 1/2" vs 1 3/4").
A sunburst-colored Precision Bass
A sunburst-colored Precision Bass

Another visual difference that set the Jazz Bass apart from the Precision is its "offset-waist" body. Pickup positions on other manufacturers' basses are often referred to as "P" or "J" position pickups, in reference to Precision and Jazz basses. Fender also began production of the Mustang Bass; a 30" scale length instrument used by bassists such as Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads ("P" and "J" basses have a scale length of 34").

In the 1950s and 1960s, the term "Fender bass" was widely used to describe the bass guitar, due to Fender's early dominance in the market for mass-produced bass guitars. The term "electric bass" began replacing "Fender bass" in the late 1960s, however, as evidenced by the title of Carol Kaye's popular bass instructional book in 1969 (How to Play the Electric Bass) and the use of the term "electric bass" by U.S. musicians' unions. The instrument is also referred to as an "electric bass guitar," "electronic bass," or simply "bass."(IPA: [beɪs]) pronounced same as "base").

[edit] 1960s and 1970s
Gibson EB-3.
Gibson EB-3.

Following Fender's lead, Gibson released the violin-shaped EB-1 Bass in 1953[4], followed by the more conventional-looking EB-0 Bass in 1959. As with Fender's designs, Gibson relied heavily upon an existing guitar design for this bass; the EB-0 was very similar to a Gibson SG in appearance (although the earliest examples have a slab-

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?
So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend your cool...just type it in man!

*****
****
***
**
*
Opening Credits: AAF- the movies

Waking Up: mark hogan - ooh la

First Day At School: ok go - here it goes again

Falling In Love: jose gonzalles- heartbeats

Loosing Virginity: the ceasers- jerk it out

Fight Song: the prodigy- breathe

Breaking Up: wheatus- little respect

Debs: paulo nutini-lovnig you

Life: the offspring- cant repeat

Mental Breakdown: muse- hesteria

Flashback: summer of 69

Getting Back Together:u2 - with or without you

Wedding: blink 182- all the small things

Birth of Child: muse - new born

Final Battle: scooter - the logical song

Death Scene: 2 pac- untill the end of time

Funeral Song: red hot chili peppers- especially in michigan

End Credits:thin lizzy- dancin in the moonlight

911 13 days ago

This sh1t is real freaky, the last thing is even freakier


1) New York City has 11 letters

2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.

3) Ramsin Yuseb (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin
Towers in 1993) has 11 letters.

4) George W Bush has 11 letters.

This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets more interesting:

1) New York is the 11th state.

2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number
11.

3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 11

4) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers, was carrying 65 passengers.
6+5 = 11

5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 = 11

6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number
911. 9 + 1 + 1 = 11.

Sheer coincidence..?! Read on and make up your own mind:

1) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was
254. 2 + 5 + 4 = 11.

2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year. Again 2 + 5 + 4
= 11.

3) The Madrid bombing took place on 3/11/2004. 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11.

4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers
incident.

Now this is where things get totally eerie:

The most recognized symbol for the US, after the Stars & Stripes, is
the Eagle. The following verse is taken from the Quran, the Islamic
holy book:

"For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle.
The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo,
while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced: for
the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah and there was
peace."

That verse is number 9.11 of the Quran.

Still uncovinced about all of this..?! Try this and see how you feel
afterwards, it made my hair stand on end:

Open Microsoft Word and do the following:

1. Type in capitals Q33 NY. This is the flight number of the first
plane to hit one of the Twin Towers.

2. Highlight the Q33 NY.

3. Change the font size to 48.

4. Change the actual font to the WINGDINGS

What do you think now?!!