One of the Most Important Instruments
The guitar is by far, one of the most important instruments. It is widely used for a lot of contemporary genres. It helps bring together the sound of a song and binds it into a mix filled with cohesion. But then comes the bass guitar – the backbone of any song. Beginners opting to learn the bass guitar need to first start with the basics and the first question to answer is how many strings does a bass guitar have?
The bass guitar is one of the most important instruments that literally acts like a primary foundation of any melodious composition. It supplies depth, range and low-range frequencies to the mix of a sound. This mix becomes soothing and pleasant to hear.
Most contemporary music-listeners will love that pumping sounds shaking the crevices of their cars. Do you know what is making your car bounce? That’s right! It’s the bass being played in the song – and the bass guitar supplies it.
How Many Strings Does a Bass Guitar Have?
If you have opted to learn the bass guitar, then you are signing up to be one of the coolest person in a room of musicians – like for real, the coolest guy ever.
A person who plays the bass guitar is called a bassist.
You might think why a “bassist” though? The simplest answer from a non-philosophical and easy to understand perspective is because the bass is the “base” of a song.
Learning the bass-ics of the bass guitar are fairly simple and easy to remember. However, if you’re looking for a simple answer for how many strings does a bass guitar have, the answer will not be straightforward.
Number of Strings on a Traditional Bass Guitar
The number of strings you find on a conventional or most popular and easily available bass guitar is only four. That’s right! Only four.
These are named from top to down as:
- E
- A
- D
- G
For beginners, it might be astonishing that the number of strings on a bass guitar are the same name as the first four strings of a normal six-string acoustic guitar. Surprising, right? But it doesn’t end there!
Bass guitars come in variations and so do the number of strings on such bass guitars.
More Strings – More Sound Range
You guessed it right!
Some bass guitars will have even a set of five strings. The reason for this is that some players opt to have more tonal range on the same guitar neck. That is why they choose five stringer bass guitars.
Furthermore, there are bass guitars that are even six-stringer bass guitars and both of these settings have a different arrangement of tuning.
Tuning for a Four String Bass Guitar
The tuning for a four string bass guitar is very simple. It follows this pattern:
- E
- A
- D
- G
Tuning for a Five String Bass Guitar
The tuning for a five string bass guitar is a combination of an additional string. This arrangement can vary from player to player but is usually composed by adding a lower string to the first string position.
The name arrangement for a bass guitar with five strings is commonly followed as:
- B
- E
- A
- D
- G
From first glimpse, it can be seen that only the first string is changed. It is a B instead of an E string. This additional B string adds a greater depth of octaves in the lower range.
Tuning for a Six String Bass Guitar
The tuning for a six string bass guitar is different from a five and a four string bass guitar. In order from top to bottom, the name arrangement is as follows:
- E
- A
- D
- G
- B
- E
This arrangement is similar to the one on a common acoustic guitar.
Learn Your Bass-ics
The bass guitar is a beautiful instrument that is the foundation upon which sounds build. Knowing the number of strings on a bass guitar is also a part of that foundation. Now that you know the variations of the number of strings on a bass guitar, you will have a better idea of which one to learn. Regardless, you are the coolest guy for playing a bass!
