From: whale@leland.Stanford.EDU (Stephen Schmidt)
Subject: FAQ, Part 1 (Frequently Asked Questions)
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 92 20:08:49 GMT


                               ALT.GUITAR.BASS
                        Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
				 Version 1.2
			  Revision Date - 10/1/1992

This FAQ is posted monthly to alt.guitar.bass. Mail comments and suggestions
to Steve Schmidt (whale@leland.stanford.edu).

Revisions since 1.1: Three new questions, strings, music notation, and
	pickup heights. Added a new line of books (Carol Kaye) and a new
	FTP site (ftp.uu.net).
	Split into two files. Questions slightly re-ordered.

                                * Topics *

Procedural

1. What is the purpose of alt.guitar.bass?
2. What styles of bass playing are appropriate for discussion on
alt.guitar.bass?
3. What other sources of information on bass playing exist?

Getting Started

4. What is tabulature?
5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of tabulature?
6. Where can I get TAB to learn?
7. Who are some major makers of bass equipment? How much does their
equipment cost? How can I get in touch with a particular manufacturer?
8. What are some good books on bass instruction?
9. How is standard music notation written for bass?

Intermediate Questions

10. How are 5 and 6 string basses tuned? What are the advantages and
disadvantages of them? How are 8 and 12 string basses tuned and what
are their advantages and disadvantages?
11. What is the difference between a preamplifier and a power amplifier?
12. What is biamping, and how is it done?
13. How do I adjust the setup on my bass (action, intonation, etc?)
14. What is the difference between the various types of strings?
15. How does a bass pickup work?

Advanced Questions

16. How do I record my bass to tape?
17. What are some popular effects for bass and what do they do? Is there
a difference between guitar effects and bass effects?
18. What do the ratings of amplifiers and speakers mean? What is a watt, or
an ohm? What factors must I consider in connecting amplifiers to speakers?


                                * Answers * 

1. What is the purpose of alt.guitar.bass?

alt.guitar.bass is a forum for the discussion of:
   1) styles and techniques of playing bass guitars and acoustic bass viols;
   2) the role of the bass in musical groups;
   3) the merits of particular models of basses, amplifiers, and other
      equipment used in playing the bass;
   4) music written for the bass.

2. What styles of bass playing are appropriate for discussion on
alt.bass.guitar?

alt.guitar.bass exists to serve both electric bass players and acoustic bass
players. Rock, funk, and jazz music are the most common styles discussed but
all styles of music are welcome, as long as they include music written for
bass.

3. What other sources of information on bass playing exist?

On-line:
There is an electronic mail magazine devoted to bass playing called The
Bottom Line, distributed on a basis depending on the amount of material
received (currently averaging about 1 issue per week.) To subscribe to
The Bottom Line, or for other administrative correspondence, send email
to bass-request@uwplatt.edu. To submit an article for publications, send
email to bass@uwplatt.edu. Please do not send personal correspodance to
these addresses.
Other Usenet boards which sometime contain material related to bass playing
include alt.guitar and rec.music.makers. Alt.bass is a previous version of
this group and should not be used. Post here instead.

Off-line:
There is a magazine called (appropriately) Bass Player which features
interviews with famous bassists, product reviews, lesson columns, and
TAB transcriptions of famous bass lines. Bass Player can be bought at
most music stores. In addition, most guitar magazines such as Guitar
World have a bass column and occasionally print articles related to
bass playing.

4. What is tabulature?

Bass tabulature, or TAB for short, is a simple method for writing bass
music. There are several different versions of tabulature, but the
following features are common to most of them.

Bass tab is written on four-line staves. In text interfaces these are usually
written using dashed characters. Each space corresponds to one string on the
bass: the lowest space corresponds to the E string, the next lowest to the A
string, the next to the D string, and the highest to the G string. A number on
a given space represents a note played at the given fret on the corresponding
string; thus, to indicate playing a G at the third fret on the E string,
one would write:

G------------------------------------
D------------------------------------
A------------------------------------
E----3-------------------------------

Notes are played from the left of the staff to the right; thus, an
ascending G major scale might be written:

G------------------------------------
D-------------------2--4--5----------
A----------2--3--5-------------------
E----3--5----------------------------

Or, using open strings, it might be written like this:

G-------------------------0----------
D----------------0--2--4-------------
A-------0--2--3----------------------
E----3-------------------------------

Chords can be written by writing two numbers in the same vertical bar. Thus
one might write a simple A major chord as:

G-----9------------------------------
D-----11-----------------------------
A-----0------------------------------
E------------------------------------

which means to play an open note on the A string, to play a C# at the 11th
fret on the D string, and an E at the 9th fret on the G string.

Various fingering techniques can be noted in TAB as well. This is done by
writing a single character after the note being fingered. The most common of
these are:
   h - hammer-on from previous note
   p - pull off from previous note
   \ - slide up to note
   b - bend note
   S - slap the note with the right-hand thumb (left hand if left-handed)
   P - pop the note with the right hand (ditto)
   t - tap the note with the right hand (ditto)
   H - harmonic

Thus a funky bass line might be written like this:

G---------5P-7h-5p-------------------
D------------------------3b----------
A---0S\5-----------3S-5S----5S-5H---
E------------------------------------

A muted note (one that is not fingered cleanly and makes a percussive
sound rather than a clear tone) is written by placing an x on a line
instead of a number:

G------------5--7--------------------
D------------------------------------
A---5--x--x--------5--x--5-----------
E------------------------------------

When it is not obvious which left-hand (right-hand to lefties) finger should
be used to to fret a particular note, this may be indicated by writing a
number under the note, with 1=index finger, 2=middle finger, 3=ring
finger, 4=pinkie finger, and rarely, 5-thumb:
 
G---------5--7--5--------------------
D------------------------------------
A---0--5-----------------------------
E------------------------------------
    1  1     3  

It is becoming popular to indicate time in TAB by writing over each note
a letter indicating the time value of the note: s=sixteenth note, e=eighth
note, q=quarter note, h=half note, w=whole note. It is possible to add
dots to this system as is done with normal notes though it is not common.
In addition, vertical bars are usually used to indicate measure breaks.
TAB noted this way might look like this:

    w   q  s  s  e  q  h   q. e  e  e  s  s  e   h
G-----|----5--7--5-------|-------------5--7--7-|----
D-----|------------------|-3--3--5--7----------|----
A---0-|-5-----------8--5-|---------------------|-5--
E-----|------------------|---------------------|----

5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of tabulature?

The major advantage of TAB as a notation system is that it clearly 
indicates how the music is to be played technically, ie which note are
fingered by which fingers using which techniques. Other advantages include:
no need to use sharps or flats.
The major disadvantage is that time marking in TAB is still rather primitive
and will probably never be as flexible as regular music notation due to the
limitations of the ASCII character set. In printed sheet music, this problem
is commonly addressed by writing TAB and conventional music notation
simultaneouly. This is inconvenient for ASCII representations, but some
people are attempting to develop useful systems for it. None have become
widely followed at this time, however. Other disadvantages include: not
widely known among classicly trained musicians (though this is changing)
believed by some to discourage improvisation and ear training.

6. Where can I get TAB to learn?

There are several sites where you can get TAB for bass by anonymous FTP.

a) kappa.rice.edu (128.42.4.7) has the archives for The Bottom Line mailing
list. Look in ~ftp/pub/bass/tabulature.

b) ftp.nevada.edu (131.216.1.11) has a lot of TAB for both guitar and bass.
Feel free to write to jamesb@redrock.nevada.edu if you have questions or
comments.

c) ftp.uu.net is accessible from UUNET and has copies of everything that is
available from the first two sets for people without Internet access. Try
this if you can't figure out how to reach the others.

7. Who are some major makers of bass equipment? How much does their
equipment cost? How can I get in touch with a particular manufacturer?

The best source for answers to questions like this is the Bass Player
Buyer's Guide, put out annually by Bass Player magazine. It lists nearly
all available equipment, divided into instruments, amps and cabinets, 
signal processors, parts and accessories, and strings. It includes some
basic information about the gear, list price, and references to product
reviews that appeared in BP where relevant.
List price is the manufacturer's suggested retail price. In actual practice,
retail prices tend to be about 20% below list price, so that equipment is
not as expensive as it appears to be. Competitive shopping can often turn
up a lot of bargains as well. In addition, used equipment tends to be
cheaper than new, although when buying used things you will want to make
sure that they're in serviceable condition.
The Buyer's Guide lists the addresses and phone numbers of all manufacturers
who are listed in it at the back of the guide. Most manufacturers put their
addresses and numbers in their advertisements which appear in Bass Player
and in many guitar magazines as well. Check your local music store.

8. What are some good books on bass instruction?

   There are lots of books on introductry bass playing, and there aren't all
that many differences between them. There is a six-book series written
by Dan Dean called "Electric Bass" (the last three books are also known
as "The Studio Bassist") which presents a comprehensive approach to 
learning the bass. There is a series of books by Chuck Rainey which also
present a comprehensive bass playing method: the first book is an excellent
introduction to the bass while the other books cover advanced topics in
bass playing. Carole Kaye has also written a six-book series on bass playing
which many people recommend highly.
   There is also a book called "Electric Bass Guitar" which is a compilation
of old bass columns from Guitar Player magazine (before BP existed [gasp])
which is definitive if a little eclectic.
   Somewhat more advanced books which a lot of people find useful include
"Modern Electric Bass" by Jaco Pastorius and "Electric Bass" by John
Patitucci. A good book on bass harmonics is "Harmonics for Electric Bass"
by Adam Novick.
   Most music stores carry a selection of instruction books and you
should be able to find something that will work well for you without too
much effort.

9. How is standard music notation written for bass?

   Standard music notation is written for bass in exactly the same way
that it is for piano, except that it is written one octave higher than
played; that is, the note to be played on the bass is one octave lower
than the one written on the page. This is done to avoid using a very large
number of ledger lines, since most bass parts go well below the lowest
line of the bass clef.
  For example, the lowest note on a 4-string bass, open E, would be written
as:
-------|------------------- (lowest line of staff)
       |
   ---O---

The written note is E above low C, but the actual note on the bass is E
below low C. Writing this note as played would take 4 ledger lines.
  As a second example, when the written music calls for middle C, you
should play the C one octave below that, which is the 5th fret on the G
string.

<answers continue in part 2>
-- 
Steve Schmidt			<><		   whale@leland.stanford.edu
I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist
indoctrination, Communist subversion, and the international Communist
conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids!