Bass, pronounced identically to the word "base", are a range of musical instruments that can be collectively regarded as bass instruments since they produce tones that are in the bass range. They belong to different families of instruments and can cover a wide range of musical roles, often going well beyond simply providing a rhythmic and harmonic foundation for other instruments to build on. What they have in common is that they are the lowest tuned and largest instruments of their respective families. As seen in the musical instrument classification article, categorizing instruments is far from simple, but examples grouped by general form and playing technique include:
- Electric bass (also known as the bass guitar or the four string guitar) and acoustic bass guitar, instruments shaped, constructed and held (or worn) like guitars, that play in the bass range.
- Double bass from the viol family (usually the instrument referred to as a "bass" in European classical music and jazz. Sometimes called a "string bass" to differentiate it from a "bass horn".)
- A bass horn, such as a tuba, serpent, and sousaphone from the wind family and low-tuned versions of specific types of brass and woodwind instruments, such as bassoon, bass clarinet, bass trombone and bass saxophone, etc (less common usage)
- Keyboard bass, a keyboard alternative to the bass guitar or double bass.
- Washtub bass, a simple folk instrument
A musician playing one of these instruments is often known as a bassist, certainly in the first two cases, although other terms such as 'bass guitarist', 'double bassist', 'bass player', etc. may be used instead.
