Name	Bass guitar
Names	Electric bass guitar, electric bass, bass
Image capt	A Music Man Stingray bass
Background	string
Classification	String instrument (plucked or picked; rarely strummed)
Hornbostel sachs	321.322
Hornbostel sachs desc	Composite chordophone
Inventors	Paul Tutmarc, Leo Fender
Developed	1930s
Range

The bass guitar (also called electric bass, or simply bass; , as in "base") is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb (either by plucking, slapping, popping, tapping, or thumping), or by using a plectrum.

The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a longer neck and scale length, and four, five, or six strings. The four string bass—by far the most common—is usually tuned the same as the double bass, which correspond to pitches one octave lower than the four lower strings of a guitar (E, A, D, and G). The bass guitar is a transposing instrument, as it is notated in bass clef an octave higher than it sounds (as is the double bass) to avoid excessive ledger lines. Like the electric guitar, the electric bass guitar is plugged into an amplifier and speaker for live performances.

Since the 1950s, the electric bass guitar has largely replaced the double bass in popular music as the bass instrument in the rhythm section. While the types of basslines performed by the bass guitarist vary widely from one style of music to another, the bass guitarist fulfills a similar role in most types of music: anchoring the harmonic framework and laying down the beat. The bass guitar is used in many styles of music including rock, metal, pop, ska, reggae, dub, punk rock, country, blues, and jazz. It is used as a soloing instrument in jazz, fusion, Latin, funk, and in some rock and heavy metal styles.

History

1930s–1940s

In the 1930s, musician and inventor Paul Tutmarc from Seattle, Washington, developed the first electric string bass in its modern form, a fretted instrument designed to be held and played horizontally. The 1935 sales catalog for Tutmarc's electronic musical instrument company, Audiovox, featured his "Model 736 Bass Fiddle," a four-stringed, solid-bodied, fretted electric bass instrument with a 30½-inch scale length. The change to a "guitar" form made the instrument easier to hold and transport, and the addition of frets enabled bassists to play in tune more easily. Around 100 of these instruments were made during this period.

Around 1947, Tutmarc's son, Bud, began marketing a similar bass under the Serenader brand name, prominently advertised in the nationally distributed L.D. Heater Co. wholesale jobber catalogue of '48. However, the Tutmarc family inventions did not achieve market success.

1950s

In the 1950s, Leo Fender, with the help of his employee George Fullerton, 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 coil pickup, to a contoured body design with beveled edges for comfort and a single four-pole "single coil pickup." This "split pickup", introduced in 1957, appears to have been two mandolin pickups (Fender was marketing a four string solid body electric mandolin at the time). Because the pole pieces of the coils were reversed with respect to each other, and the leads were also reversed with respect to each other, the two coils, wired in series, produced a humbucking effect (the same effect is achieved if the coils are wired in parallel). (front and back views)]]

The "Fender Bass was a revolutionary new instrument, one that could easily be played by an electric guitarist, could be easily transported to a gig, and could be amplified to just about any volume without feeding back" Monk Montgomery was the first bass player to tour with the Fender bass guitar, with Lionel Hampton's postwar big band. Roy Johnson, who replaced Montgomery in Hampton's band, and Shifty Henry with Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five, were other early Fender Bass pioneers.(The EB-1 was reissued around 1970, but this time without the end pin.) Also in 1958 Gibson released the maple arched top EB-2 described in the Gibson catalogue as A hollow-body electric bass that features a Bass/Baritone pushbutton for two different tonal characteristics. In 1959 these were followed by the more conventional-looking EB-0 Bass. The EB-0 was very similar to a Gibson SG in appearance (although the earliest examples have a slab-sided body shape closer to that of the double-cutaway Les Paul Special). Whereas Fender basses had pickups mounted in positions in between the base of the neck and the top of the bridge, many of Gibson's early basses featured one humbucking pickup mounted directly against the neck pocket. The EB-3, introduced in 1961, also had a "mini-humbucker" at the bridge position. Gibson basses also tended to be smaller, sleeker instruments; Gibson did not produce a 34" scale bass until 1963 with the release of the Thunderbird, which was also the first Gibson bass to use dual-humbucking pickups in a more traditional position, about halfway between the neck and bridge. A small number of other companies also began manufacturing bass guitars during the 1950s: Kay in 1952, and Danelectro in 1956;

1956 saw the appearance at the German trade fair "Musikmesse Frankfurt" of the distinctive Hofner 500/1 violin bass made using violin construction techniques by Walter Hofner, a second generation violin luthier. The instrument is often known as the "Beatle Bass", due to its endorsement by Paul McCartney.

In 1957 Rickenbacker introduced the model 4000 bass, the first bass to feature a neck-through-body design; the Fender and Gibson versions used bolt-on and glued-on necks.

1960s

With the explosion of the popularity of rock music in the 1960s many more manufacturers began making electric basses.

First introduced in 1960, the Fender 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' split coil pickup 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 (1½" versus 1¾"). Another visual difference that set the Jazz Bass apart from the Precision is its "offset-waist" body. Pickup shapes on electric basses are often referred to as "P" or "J" pickups in reference to the visual and electrical differences between the Precision Bass and Jazz Bass pickups. Significantly, Fender chose to label the headstock of this model with a decal noting Jazz Bass Electric Bass .

Fender also began production of the Mustang Bass; a 30" scale length instrument used by bassists such as Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads and Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones ("P" and "J" basses have a scale length of 34", a design echoed on most current production electric basses of all makes).

In the 1950s and 1960s, the instrument was often called the "Fender bass", due to Fender's early dominance in the market.

1970s

The 1970s saw the founding of Music Man Instruments by Tom Walker, Forrest White and Leo Fender, which produced the StingRay, the first widely produced bass with active (powered) electronics. This amounts to an impedance buffering pre-amplifier on-board the instrument to lower the output impedance of the bass's pickup circuit, increasing low-end output, and overall frequency response (more lows and highs). Specific models became identified with particular styles of music, such as the Rickenbacker 4001 series, which became identified with progressive rock bassists like Chris Squire of Yes, while the StingRay was used by Louis Johnson of the funk band The Brothers Johnson.

In 1971, Alembic established the template for what became known as "boutique" or "high end" electric bass guitars. These expensive, custom-tailored instruments, as used by Stanley Clarke, featured unique designs, premium hand-finished wood bodies, onboard electronics for preamplification and equalization, and innovative construction techniques such as multi-laminate neck-through-body construction and graphite necks. In the mid-1970s, Alembic and other boutique bass manufacturers, such as Tobias, produced four-string and five-string basses with a low "B" string. In 1975, bassist Anthony Jackson commissioned luthier Carl Thompson to a six-string bass tuned (low to high) B0, E1, A1, D2, G2, C3.

1980s–2000s

In the 1980s, bass designers continued to explore new approaches. Ned Steinberger introduced a headless bass in 1979 and continued his innovations in the 1980s, using graphite and other new materials and (in 1984) introducing the Trans-Trem tremolo bar. In 1987, the Guild Guitar Corporation launched the fretless Ashbory bass, which used silicone rubber strings and a piezoelectric pickup to achieve a "double bass" sound with a short 18" scale length. In the late 1980s, MTV's "Unplugged" show, which featured bands performing with acoustic instruments, helped to popularize hollow-bodied acoustic bass guitars amplified with pickups.

During the 1990s, as five-string basses became more widely available and more affordable, an increasing number of bassists in genres ranging from metal to gospel began using five-string instruments for added lower range—a low "B" below the standard "E" string. Some bass players who performed a lot in a solo setting used five-string basses to get a higher range by adding a high "C" string as the fifth string. As well, the onboard battery-powered electronics such as preamplifiers and equalizer circuits, which were previously only available on expensive "boutique" instruments, became increasingly available on modestly priced basses.

In the first decade of the 21st century, some bass manufacturers included digital modelling circuits inside the instrument to recreate tones and sounds from many models of basses (e.g., Line 6's Variax bass). Traditional bass designs such as the Fender Precision Bass and Fender Jazz Bass remained popular in the first decade of the 21st century; in 2006, a 60th Anniversary P-bass was introduced by Fender, along with the introduction of the Fender Jaguar Bass.

Design considerations

Bass bodies are typically made of wood, although other materials such as graphite (for example, some of the Steinberger designs) have also been used. While a wide variety of woods are suitable for use in the body, neck, and fretboard of the bass guitar, the most common type of wood used for the body is alder, for the neck is maple, and for the fretboard is rosewood. Other commonly used woods include mahogany, maple, ash, and poplar for bodies, mahogany for necks, and maple and ebony for fretboards.

Other design options include finishes, such as lacquer, wax and oil; flat and carved designs; Luthier-produced custom-designed instruments; headless basses, which have tuning machines in the bridge of the instrument (e.g., Steinberger and Hohner designs) and several artificial materials such as luthite. The use of artificial materials (e.g., BassLab) allows for unique production techniques such as die-casting, to produce complex body shapes. While most basses have solid bodies, they can also include hollow chambers to increase the resonance or reduce the weight of the instrument. Some basses are built with entirely hollow bodies, which change the tone and resonance of the instrument. Acoustic bass guitars are typically equipped with piezoelectric or magnetic pickups and amplified.

Instruments handmade by highly skilled luthiers are becoming increasingly available. Exotic materials include woods such as bubinga, wenge, ovangkol, ebony and goncalo alves. Graphite composite is used to make lightweight necks Exotic woods are used on more expensive instruments: for example, Alembic uses cocobolo as a body or top layer material because of its attractive grain. Warwick bass guitars are also well-known for exotic hardwoods: most of the necks are made of ovangkol, and the fingerboards wenge or ebony. Solid bubinga bodies are also used for tonal and aesthetic qualities.

The "long scale" necks used on Leo Fender's basses, giving a scale length (distance between nut and bridge) of 34", remain the standard for electric basses. However, 30" or "short scale" instruments, such as the Höfner 500/1 "violin bass" played by Paul McCartney, and the Fender Mustang Bass are popular, especially for players with smaller hands. While 35", 35.5" and 36" scale lengths were once only available in "boutique" instruments, in the first decade of the 21st century, many manufacturers have begun offering these lengths, also called an "extra long scale." This extra long scale provides a higher string tension, which yields a more defined tone on the low "B" string of five- and six-stringed instruments (or detuned four-string basses).

Fretted and fretless basses

Another design consideration for the bass is whether to use frets on the fingerboard. On a fretted bass, the frets divide the fingerboard into semitone divisions (as on a guitar). The original Fender basses had 20 frets, but modern basses may have 24 or more. Fretless basses have a distinct sound, because the absence of frets means that the string must be pressed down directly onto the wood of the fingerboard as with the double bass. The string buzzes against the wood and is somewhat muted because the sounding portion of the string is in direct contact with the flesh of the player's finger. The fretless bass allows players to use the expressive devices of glissando, vibrato and microtonal intonations such as quarter tones and just intonation.

Some bassists use both fretted and fretless basses in performances, according to the type of material they are performing, as with Pino Palladino, whose performance on the fretless bass during the 1980s made him a highly desirable session player backing high profile musicians that included Eric Clapton and David Gilmour. However, the late 1990s showed a shift toward fretted basses as well, as he branched out into a wide variety of genres. While fretless basses are often associated with jazz and jazz fusion, bassists from other genres use fretless basses, such as metal bassist Steve DiGiorgio and Colin Edwin of modern/progressive rock band Porcupine Tree.

The first fretless bass guitar was made by Bill Wyman in 1961 when he converted an inexpensive Japanese fretted bass by removing the frets. The first production fretless bass was the Ampeg AUB-1 introduced in 1966, and Fender introduced a fretless Precision Bass in 1970. In the early 1970s, fusion-jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius created his own fretless bass by removing the frets from a Fender Jazz Bass, filling the holes with wood putty, and coating the fretboard with epoxy resin. Some fretless basses have "fret line" markers inlaid in the fingerboard as a guide, while others only use guide marks on the side of the neck.

Tapewound (double bass type) and flatwound strings are sometimes used with the fretless bass so the metal string windings don't wear down the fingerboard. Some fretless basses have epoxy coated fingerboards to increase the fingerboard' durability, enhance sustain, and give a brighter tone. Although most fretless basses have four strings, five-string and six-string fretless basses are also available. Fretless basses with more than six strings are also available as "boutique" or custom-made instruments.

Strings and tuning

s.]] The standard design for the electric bass guitar has four strings, tuned E, A, D and G, in fourths such that the open highest string, G, is an eleventh (an octave and a fourth) below middle C, making the tuning of all four strings the same as that of the double bass. This tuning is also the same as the standard tuning on the lower four strings on a six-string guitar, only an octave lower. String types include all-metal strings (roundwound, flatwound, halfwound, ground wound, and pressure wound); as well as metal strings with different coverings, such as tapewound and plastic-coatings. The variety of materials used in the strings gives bass players a range of tonal options. In the 1950s and early 1960s, bassists mostly used flatwound strings with a smooth surface, which had a smooth, damped sound reminiscent of a double bass. In the late 1960s and 1970s, roundwound bass strings similar to guitar strings became popular, though flatwounds also continue to be popular. Roundwounds have a brighter timbre with greater sustain than flatwounds.

A number of other tuning options and bass types have been used to extend the range of the instrument. The most common are four, five, or six strings: XB600, a six string bass]] Four strings with alternative tunings to obtain an extended lower range. Tuning in fifths e.g., CGDA gives an extended upper and lower range.

Five strings usually tuned B0-E1-A1-D2-G2, which provides extended lower range. Five string basses tuned to B-E-A-D-G (and sometimes A-D-G-C-F) are often used in contemporary rock and metal alongside seven string guitars, baritone guitars, and otherwise downtuned instruments. Another common tuning used on early five-string basses is E-A-D-G-C, known as "tenor tuning". This is still a popular tuning for jazz and solo bass. Other tunings such as C-E-A-D-G are used though rare. The fifth string provides a greater lower range (if a low B or A is used) or a greater upper range (if a high C string is added) than the four-string bass, and gives access to more notes for any given hand position. The earliest five string was created by Fender in 1965. The Fender Bass V had the E-A-D-G-C tuning, but was unpopular. The common low B five string was created by Alembic for Jimmy Johnson as a custom instrument, and later Yamaha offered the first production model as the BB5000 in 1984.

Six strings are usually tuned B0-E1-A1-D2-G2-C3—like a four-string bass with an additional low "B" string and a high "C" string. Some players prefer B0-E1-A1-D2-F2-B3, which preserves the intervals of standard guitar tuning and makes the highest and lowest string the same note two octaves apart. While less common than four or five-string basses, they appear in Latin, jazz, and other genres, as well as in studio work where a single instrument must be highly versatile. Alternative tunings for six-string bass include B-E-A-D-G-B, matching the first five strings of an acoustic or electric guitar, and EADGBE, completely matching the tuning of a six-string guitar but one octave lower allowing the use of guitar chord fingerings. Rarer tunings such as EADGCF and F#BEADG provide a lower or higher range in a given position while maintaining consistent string intervals. The original six-string bass was created by Danelectro in 1958, as a guitar tuned down an octave (EADGBE). In the 70s, Anthony Jackson worked with Carl Thompson and (later) Fodera in cooperation with Ken Smith to create the Contrabass guitar, which evolved to the modern six-string bass (BEADGC). Detuners, such as the Hipshot, are mechanical devices operated by the thumb on the fretting hand that allow one or more strings to be quickly detuned to a pre-set lower pitch. Hipshots are typically used to drop the "E"-string down to "D" on a four string bass.

Alternative range approaches

Some bassists have used other types of tuning methods to obtain an extended range or other benefits such as providing multiple octaves of notes at any given position, as well as a significantly larger tonal range. Instrument types or tunings used for this purpose include basses with fewer than four strings (one-string bass guitars, two-string bass guitars, three-string bass guitars (E-A-D);) alternative tunings (e.g., tenor bass, piccolo bass, and guitar-tuned basses) and 8, 10, 12 and 15-string basses, which are built on the same principle as the 12-string guitar, where the strings are grouped into "courses" tuned in unison or octaves, to be played simultaneously.

Extended Range Basses (ERBs) are basses with between six and twelve strings—with the additional strings used for range rather than unison or octave pairs. A seven-string bass (B0-E1-A1-D2-G2-C3-F3) was built by luthier Michael Tobias in 1987. This instrument, commissioned by bassist Garry Goodman, was an early example of a bass with more than six single course strings. Conklin builds eight- and nine-string basses. The Guitarbass is a ten-string instrument with four bass strings (tuned E-A-D-G) and six guitar strings (tuned E-A-D-G-B-E).

Luthier Michael Adler built the first 11-string bass in 2004 and completed the first single-course 12-string bass in 2005. Adler's 11- and 12-string instruments have the same range as a grand piano. Sub-contra basses, such as C#-F#-B-E ("C#" being at 17.32 Hz (C♯0)) have been created. Ibanez had released SR7VIISC in 2009, featuring a 30" scale and narrower width, and tuned as B-E-A-D-G-C-E; the company dubbed it a cross between bass and guitar. Yves Carbonne developed 10 and 12 string fretless sub-bass guitars.

Pickups and amplification

:For more information on pickups, see Pick up (music technology).

Magnetic pickups

Most electric bass guitars use magnetic pickups. The vibrations of the instrument's metal strings within the magnetic field of the permanent magnets in magnetic pickups produce small variations in the magnetic flux threading the coils of the pickups. This in turn produces small electrical voltages in the coils. These low-level signals are then amplified and played through a speaker. Since the 1980s, basses are often available with battery-powered "active" electronics that boost the signal, provide equalization controls to boost or cut bass and treble frequencies, or both.

Less commonly, non-magnetic pickups are used, such as piezoelectric pickups. Piezoelectric pickups don't interact directly with the string like a magnetic pickup, but convert any mechanical vibration to a signal. They are typically mounted under the bridge saddle, or near the bridge, and require a preamplifier for optimum sound.

"Jazz" pickups (referring to the original Fender Jazz Bass), also referred to as "J pickups", are wider eight-pole pickups that lie underneath all four strings. J pickups are typically single-coil designs, although there are a large number of humbucking designs. As with the halves of the P-pickups, the J-pickups are reverse-wound with reverse magnetic polarity. As a result they have hum canceling properties when used at the same volume, with hum cancellation decreasing when the pickups are used at unequal volume and altogether absent when each pickup is used individually. 'J' Style pickups tend to have a lower output and a thinner sound than 'P' Style pickups making it perfect for most rock music. Many bassists choose to combine a 'J' pickup at the bridge and a 'P' pickup at the neck, to be 'blended' together for a unique sound.

"Precision" pickups (which refers to the original Fender Precision Bass), which are also referred to as "P pickups", are actually two distinct single-coil pickups. Each is offset a small amount along the length of the body so that each half is underneath two strings. The pickups are reverse-wound with reversed magnetic polarity to reduce hum. This makes the 'P' pickup a [humbucking] single coil pickup, something almost unique to the 'P' style pickup. Less common is the single-coil "P" pickup, used on the original 1951 Fender Precision bass.

"Dual Coil" (Humbucker) pickups, also known as "DC pickups", have two signal producing coils that are reverse wound around opposed polarity magnets (similar in principle to the two individual J-pickups). This significantly reduces noise from interference compared to single coil pickups. Humbuckers also often produce a higher output level than single coil pickups. Dual coil pickups come in two main varieties; ceramic or ceramic and steel. Ceramic only magnets have a relatively harsher sound than their ceramic and steel counterparts, and are thus used more commonly in heavier rock styles.

* A well-known bass humbucker is the pickup used on the Music Man series of basses; it has two coils, each with four large polepieces. This style is known as the "MM" pickup for this reason, and many aftermarket pickup manufacturers and custom builders incorporate these pickups. The most common configurations are a single pickup at the bridge, two pickups similar in placement to a Jazz Bass, or an MM pickup at the bridge with a single-coil pickup (often a "J") at the neck. These pickups can often be "tapped", meaning one of the two coils can be essentially turned off, giving a sound similar to a single-coil pickup.

"Soapbar" Pickups are so-named due to their resemblance to a bar of soap and originally referred to the Gibson P-90 guitar pickup. The term is also used to describe any pickup with a rectangular shape and no visible pole pieces; most of the pickups falling into this category are humbucking. They are commonly found in basses designed for the rock and metal genres, such as Gibson, ESP Guitars, and Schecter. 'Soapbar pickups' are also called 'extended housing'.

Many basses have just one pickup, typically a "P" or soapbar pickup. Multiple pickups are also quite common, two of the most common configurations being a "P" near the neck and a "J" near the bridge (e.g., Fender Precision Bass Special, Fender Precision Bass Plus), or two "J" pickups (e.g., Fender Jazz). A two-"soapbar" configuration is also very common, especially on basses by makes such as Ibanez and Yamaha. A combination of a J or other single-coil pickup at the neck and a Music Man-style humbucker in the bridge has become popular among boutique builders, giving a very bright, focused tone that is good for jazz and thumbstyle.

Some basses use more unusual pickup configurations, such as a soapbar and a "P" pickup (found on some Fenders), Stu Hamm's "Urge" basses, which have a "P" pickup sandwiched between two "J" pickups, and some of Bootsy Collins' custom basses, which had as many as 5 J pickups. Another unusual pickup configuration is found on some of the custom basses that Billy Sheehan uses, in which there is one humbucker at the neck and a split-coil pickup at the middle position.

The placement of the pickup greatly affects the sound. A pickup near the neck joint emphasizes the fundamental and low-order harmonics and thus produces a deeper, bassier sound, while a pickup near the bridge emphasizes higher-order harmonics and makes a "tighter" or "sharper" sound. Usually basses with multiple pickups allow blending of the output from the pickups, with electrical and acoustical interactions between the two pickups (such as partial phase cancellations) allowing a range of tonal effects.

Non-magnetic pickups

The use of non-magnetic pickups allows bassists to use non-ferrous strings such as nylon, brass or even silicone rubber, which create different tones.

Piezoelectric pickups (also called "piezo" pickups) are non-magnetic pickups that use a transducer crystal to convert the vibrations produced by the string into an electrical signal. They produce a different tone from magnetic pickups, often similar to that of an acoustic bass. Piezo pickups are often used in acoustic bass guitars.

Optical pickups are another type of non-magnetic pickup. They use an infrared LED to optically track the movement of the string, which allows them to reproduce low-frequency tones at high volumes without the "hum" or excessive resonance associated with conventional magnetic pickups. Since optical pickups do not pick up high frequencies or percussive sounds well, they are commonly paired with piezoelectric pickups to fill in the missing frequencies. LightWave Systems builds basses with optical pickups.

Amplification and effects

Like the electric guitar, the electric bass guitar is often connected to an amplifier and a speaker with a patch cord for live performances. Electric bassists use either a "combo" amplifier, which combines an amplifier and a speaker in a single cabinet, or an amplifier and a separate speaker cabinet (or cabinets). In some cases when the bass is being used with large-scale PA amplification, it is plugged into a "DI" or "direct box", which routes their signal directly into a mixing console, and thence to the main and monitor speakers. Recording may use a microphone setup for the amplified signal or a direct box feeding the recording console. The performer or producer may also use a blend of the miked and direct signals.

Various electronic bass effects such as preamplifiers, "stomp box"-style pedals and processors and the configuration of the amplifier and speaker can be used to alter the basic sound of the instrument. In the 1990s and early first decade of the 21st century, signal processors such as equalizers, overdrive devices, and compressors or limiters became increasingly popular. Modulation effects like chorus, flanging, phase shifting, and time effects such as delay and looping are less commonly used with bass than with electric guitar, but they are used in some styles of music.

Playing techniques

Sitting or standing

Most bass players stand while playing, although sitting is also accepted, particularly in large ensemble settings, such as jazz big bands or in acoustic genres such as folk music. Some bassists, such as Jah Wobble, will alternate between standing or seated playing. It is a matter of the player's preference as to which position gives the greatest ease of playing and what a bandleader expects. When sitting, right-handed players can balance the instrument on the right thigh or like classical guitar players, the left. Balancing the bass on the left thigh usually positions it in such a way that it mimics the standing position, allowing for less difference between the standing and sitting positions. Balancing the bass on the right thigh provides better access to the neck and fretboard in its entirety, especially lower frets.

Performing techniques

performs in a bass trio called SMV with Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller. ]] frequently plays while seated]] In contrast to the upright bass (or double bass), the electric bass guitar is played horizontally across the body, like an electric guitar. When the strings are plucked with the fingers (pizzicato), the index and middle fingers (and sometimes with the thumb, ring, and pinky fingers as well) are used. James Jamerson, an influential bassist from the Motown era, played intricate bass lines using only his index finger, which he called "The Hook." There are also variations in how a bassist chooses to rest the right-hand thumb (or left thumb in the case of left-handed players). A player may rest his or her thumb on the top edge of one of the pickups or on the side of the fretboard, which is especially common among bassists who have an upright bass influence. Some bassists anchor their thumbs on the lowest string and move it off to play on the low string. Alternatively, the thumb can be rested loosely on the strings to mute the unused strings.

The string can be plucked at any point between the bridge and the point where the fretting hand is holding down the string; different timbres are produced depending on where along the string it is plucked. Some players are known for plucking near the bridge where the string is most taut, such as jazz fusion bassist Jaco Pastorius, whereas other bassists prefer the "looser" part of the string nearer to the fingerboard.

Bassists trying to emulate the sound of a double bass sometimes pluck the strings with their thumb and use palm-muting to create a short, "thumpy" tone. The late Monk Montgomery (who played in Lionel Hampton's band) and Bruce Palmer (who performed with Buffalo Springfield) use thumb downstrokes. The use of the thumb was acknowledged by early Fender models, which came with a "thumbrest" or "Tug Bar" attached to the pickguard below the strings. Contrary to its name, this was not used to rest the thumb, but to provide leverage while using the thumb to pluck the strings. The thumbrest was moved above the strings in 1970s models and eliminated in the 1980s.

"Slap and pop"

The slap and pop method, or "thumbstyle", most associated with funk, uses tones and percussive sounds achieved by striking, thumping, or "slapping" a string with the thumb and snapping (or "popping") a string or strings with the index or middle fingers. Bassists often interpolate left hand-muted "dead notes" between the slaps and pops to achieve a rapid percussive effect, and after a note is slapped or popped, the fretting hand may cause other notes to sound by using "hammer ons", "pull offs", or a left-hand glissando (slide). Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone and Graham Central Station was an early innovator of the slap style, and Louis Johnson of The Brothers Johnson is also credited as an early slap bass player.

Slap and pop style is also used by many bassists in other genres, such as rock (e.g., J J Burnel and Les Claypool), metal (e.g., Eric Langlois, Martin Mendez, Fieldy and Ryan Martinie), and fusion (e.g., Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten and Alain Caron). Slap style playing was popularized throughout the 1980s and early 1990s by pop bass players such as Mark King (from Level 42) and rock bassists such as with Pino Palladino (currently a member of the John Mayer Trio and bassist for The Who), Flea (from the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Alex Katunich (from Incubus). Wooten popularized the "double thump," in which the string is slapped twice, on the upstroke and a downstroke (for more information, see Classical Thump). A rarely used playing technique related to slapping is the use of wooden dowel "funk fingers", an approach popularized by Tony Levin.

from the funk-rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers is known for his use of percussive slapping techniques. ]]

Picking techniques

The pick (or plectrum) is used to obtain a more articulate attack, for speed, or just personal preference. Although the use of a pick is primarily associated with rock, picks are also used in other styles. Jazz bassist Steve Swallow uses a pick for upbeat or funky songs while Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters uses one for a heavier tone. Picks can be used with alternating downstrokes and upstrokes, or with all downstrokes for a more consistent attack. The pick is usually held with the index and thumb, with the up-and-down plucking motion supplied by the wrist.

There are many varieties of picks available, but due to the thicker, heavier strings of the electric bass, bassists tend to use heavier picks than those used for electric guitar, typically ranging from 1.14 mm–3.00 mm (3.00 is unusual). Different materials are used for picks, including plastic, nylon, and felt, all of which produce different tones. Felt picks are used to emulate a fingerstyle tone.

Palm-muting techniques

Palm-muting is a widely used bass technique. The outer edge of the palm of the picking hand is rested on the bridge while picking, and “mutes” the strings, shortening the sustain time. The harder the palm presses, or the more string area that is contacted by the palm, the shorter the string’s sustain. The sustain of the picked note can be varied for each note or phrase. The shorter sustain of a muted note on an electric bass can be used to imitate the shorter sustain and character of an upright bass. Palm-muting is commonly done while using a pick, but can also be done without a pick, as when doing down-strokes with the thumb.

One prominent example of the pick/palm-muting combination is Paul McCartney, who has consistently used this technique for decades. Sting also uses palm-muting; but often does so without a pick, using the thumb and first finger to pluck.

The pick/palm-muting combination is also commonly used on guitar.

Fretting techniques

The fretting hand—the left hand for right-handed bass players and the right hand for left-handed bass players—is used to press down the strings to play different notes and shape the tone or timbre of a plucked or picked note. The fretting hand can be used to change a sounded note, either by fully muting it after it is plucked or picked to shorten its duration or by partially muting it near the bridge to reduce the volume of the note, or make the note die away faster. The fretting hand is often used to mute strings that are not being played and stop the sympathetic vibrations, particularly when the player wants a "dry" or "focused" sound. On the other hand, the sympathetic resonance of harmonically related strings may be desired for some songs, such as ballads. In these cases, a bassist can fret harmonically related notes. For example, while fretting a sustained "F" (on the third fret of the "D" string), underneath an F major chord being played by a piano player, a bassist might hold down the "C" and low "F" below this note so their harmonics sound sympathetically.

The fretting hand can add vibrato to a plucked or picked note, either a gentle, narrow vibrato or a more exaggerated, wide vibrato with bigger pitch variations. For fretted basses, vibrato is always an alternation between the pitch of the note and a slightly higher pitch. For fretless basses, the player can use this style of vibrato, or they can alternate between the note and a slightly lower pitch. While vibrato is mostly done on "stopped" notes—that is, notes that are pressed down on the fingerboard—open strings can also be vibratoed by pressing down on the string behind the nut. As well, the fretting hand can be used to "bend" a plucked or picked note up in pitch. To create the opposite effect, a "bend down", the string is pushed to a higher pitch before being plucked or picked and then allowed to fall to the lower, regular pitch after it is sounded. More rarely, a bassist may use a tremolo bar-equipped bass to produce the same effect.

of Iron Maiden is known for his fast bass "gallops"]]

In addition to pressing down one note at a time, bassists can also press down several notes at one time with their fretting hand to perform a chord. While chords are used less often by bassists than by electric guitarists, a variety of chords can be performed on the electric bass, especially with instruments with higher ranges such as six-string basses. Another variation to fully pressing down a string is to gently graze the string with the finger at the harmonic node points on the string, which creates chime-like upper partials. Glissando is an effect in which the fretting hand slides up or down the neck. A subtle glissando can be performed by moving the fretting hand without plucking or picking the string; for a more pronounced effect, the string is plucked or picked first, or, in a metal or hardcore punk context, a pick may be scraped along the sides of the strings.

The fretting hand can also be used to sound notes, either by plucking an open string with the fretting hand, or, in the case of a string that has already been plucked or picked, by "hammering on" a higher pitch or "pulling off" a finger to pluck a lower fretted or open stringed note. Jazz bassists use a subtle form of fretting hand pizzicato by plucking a very brief open string grace note with the fretting hand right before playing the string with the plucking hand. When a string is rapidly hammered on, the note can be prolonged into a trill.

Two-handed tapping

In the two-handed tapping styles, bassists use both hands to play notes on the fretboard by rapidly pressing and holding the string to the fret. Instead of plucking or picking the string to create a sound, in this technique, the action of striking the string against the fret or the fretboard creates the sound. Since two hands can be used to play on the fretboard, this makes it possible to play interweaving contrapuntal lines, to simultaneously play a bassline and a simple chord, or play chords and arpeggios. Bassist John Entwistle of The Who tapped percussively on the strings, causing them to strike the fretboard with a twangy sound to create drum-style fills. Players noted for this technique include Billy Sheehan, Stuart Hamm, John Myung, Victor Wooten, Les Claypool, Mark King and Michael Manring. The Chapman Stick and Warr Guitars are string instruments specifically designed to be played using two-handed tapping.

Uses

Popular music

Popular music bands and rock groups use the bass guitar as a member of the rhythm section, which provides the chord sequence or "progression" and sets out the "beat" for the song. The rhythm section typically consists of a rhythm guitarist or electric keyboard player, or both, a bass guitarist and a drummer; larger groups may add additional guitarists, keyboardists, or percussionists. performing with metal band Metallica]] The types of basslines performed by the bass guitarist vary widely from one style of music to another. Despite all of the differences in the styles of bassline, in most styles of popular music, the bass guitarist fulfills a similar role: anchoring the harmonic framework (often by emphasizing the roots of the chord progression) and laying down the beat (in collaboration with the drummer). The importance of the bass guitarist and the bass line varies in different styles of music. In some pop styles, such as 1980s-era pop and musical theater, the bass sometimes plays a relatively simple part, and the music forefronts the vocals and melody instruments. In contrast, in reggae, funk, or hip-hop, entire songs may be centered on the bass groove, and the bassline is usually very prominent in the mix.

In traditional country music, folk rock, and related styles, the bass often plays the roots and fifth of each chord in alternation. In Chicago blues, the electric bass often performs a walking bassline made up of scales and arpeggios. In blues rock bands, the bassist often plays blues scale-based riffs and chugging boogie-style lines. In metal, the bass guitar may perform complex riffs along with the rhythm guitarist or play a low, rumbling pedal point to anchor the group's sound.

The bass guitarist sometimes breaks out of the strict rhythm section role to perform bass breaks or bass solos. The types of basslines used for bass breaks or bass solos vary by style. In a rock band, a bass break may consist of the bassist playing a riff or lick during a pause in the song. In some styles of metal, a bass break may consist of "shred guitar"-style tapping on the bass. In a funk or funk rock band, a bass solo may showcase the bassist's percussive slap and pop playing. In genres such as progressive rock, art rock, or progressive metal, the bass guitar player may play melody lines along with the lead guitar (or vocalist) and perform extended guitar solos. Other contemporary musicians such as Edo Castro have taken the electric bass, including 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9 strings, into a new and evolving genre centered entirely around the bass itself.

Jazz and jazz fusion

performing in the jazz group "Five Peace Band" in 2008]] The electric bass is a relative newcomer to the world of jazz. The big bands of the 1930s and 1940s Swing era and the small combos of the 1950s Bebop and Hard Bop movements all used the double bass. The electric bass was introduced during the late 1960s and early 1970s, when rock influences were blended with jazz to create jazz-rock fusion. The introduction of the electric bass in jazz fusion, as in the rock world, enabled the bass to be used in high-volume stadium concerts with powerful amplifiers, because it is much easier to amplify the electric bass than the double bass (the latter is prone to feedback in high-volume settings). The electric bass has both an accompaniment and a soloing role in jazz. In accompaniment, the bassist may perform walking basslines for traditional tunes and "jazz standards", playing smooth quarter note lines that imitate the double bass. For latin or salsa tunes and rock-infused jazz fusion tunes, the electric bass may play rapid, syncopated rhythmic figures in coordination with the drummer, or lay down a low, heavy groove.

In a jazz setting, the electric bass tends to have a much more expansive solo role than in most popular styles. In most rock settings, the bass guitarist may only have a few short bass breaks or brief solos during a concert. During a jazz concert, a jazz bassist may have a number of lengthy improvised solos, which are called "blowing" in jazz parlance. Whether a jazz bassist is comping (accompanying) or soloing, they usually aim to create a rhythmic drive and "timefeel" that creates a sense of "swing" and "groove". For information on notable jazz bassists, see the List of jazz bassists article.

Contemporary classical music

Contemporary classical music uses both the standard instruments of Western Art music (piano, violin, double bass, etc.) and newer instruments or sound producing devices, ranging from electrically amplified instruments to tape players and radios. The electric bass guitar has occasionally been used in contemporary classical music (art music) since the late 1960s. Contemporary composers often obtained unusual sounds or instrumental timbres through the use of non-traditional (or unconventional) instruments or playing techniques. As such, bass guitarists playing contemporary classical music may be instructed to pluck or strum the instrument in unusual ways. , pictured here in 1989, used electric bass for his Symphony no. 1 (1972).]] American composers using electric bass in the 1960s included experimental classical music composer Christian Wolff (born 1934) (Electric Spring 1, 1966; Electric Spring 2, 1966/70; Electric Spring 3, 1967; and Untitled, 1996); Francis Thorne, a student of Paul Hindemith at Yale University (born 1922), who wrote (Liebesrock 1968–69); and Krzysztof Penderecki (Cello Concerto no. 1, 1966/67, rev. 1971/72), The Devils of Loudun, 1969; Kosmogonia, 1970; and Partita, 1971), Louis Andriessen (Spektakel, 1970; De Staat, 1972–76; Hoketus, 1976; De Tijd, 1980–81 and De Materie, 1984–1988). European composers who began scoring for the bass guitar in the 1960s included Danish composer Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen (born 1932) (Symfoni på Rygmarven, 1966; Rerepriser, 1967; and Piece by Piece, 1968); Irwin Bazelon (Churchill Downs, 1970).

In the 1970s, electric bass was used by the American conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990) for his MASS, 1971). American jazz pianist Dave Brubeck used bass guitar for his 1971 piece Truth Has Fallen. Russian and Soviet composer Alfred Schnittke used the instrument for his Symphony no. 1, 1972. In 1977, David Amram (born 1930) scored for electric bass in En memoria de Chano Pozo. Amram is an American composer known for his eclectic use of jazz, ethnic and folk music.

In the 1980s and 1990s, electric bass was used in works by Hans Werner Henze (El Rey de Harlem, 1980; and Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, 1981), Harold Shapero, On Green Mountain (Chaconne after Monteverdi), 1957, orchestrated 1981; Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint (1987), Wolfgang Rihm (Die Eroberung von Mexico, 1987–91), Arvo Pärt (Miserere, 1989/92), Steve Martland (Danceworks, 1993; and Horses of Instruction, 1994), Sofia Gubaidulina (Aus dem Stundenbuch, 1991), Giya Kancheli (Wingless, 1993), John Adams (I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky, 1995; and Scratchband, 1996/97), and Michael Nyman (various works for the Michael Nyman Band).

Pedagogy and training

The pedagogy and training for the electric bass varies widely by genre and country. Rock and pop bass has a history of pedagogy dating back to the 1950s and 1960s, when method books were developed to help students learn the instrument. One notable method book was Carol Kaye's How to Play the Electric Bass.

In the jazz scene, since the bass guitar takes on much of the same role as the double bass—laying down the rhythm, and outlining the harmonic foundation—electric bass players have long used both bass guitar methods and jazz double bass method books. The use of jazz double bass method books by electric bass players in jazz is facilitated in that jazz methods tend to emphasize improvisation techniques (e.g., how to improvise walking basslines) and rhythmic exercises rather than specific ways of holding or plucking the instrument.

Formal training

Of all of the genres, jazz and the mainstream commercial genres (rock, R&B;, etc.) have the most established and comprehensive systems of instruction and training for electric bass. In the jazz scene, teens can begin taking private lessons on the instrument and performing in amateur big bands at high schools or run by the community. Young adults who aspire to becoming professional jazz bassists or studio rock bassists can continue their studies in a variety of formal training settings, including colleges and some universities.

Several colleges offer electric bass training in the US. The Bass Institute of Technology (BIT) in Los Angeles was founded in 1978, as part of the Musician's Institute. Chuck Rainey (electric bassist for Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye) was BIT's first director. BIT was one of the earliest professional training program for electric bassists. The program teaches a range of modern styles, including funk, rock, jazz, Latin, and R&B.; is a well-known alumnus of the bass department of the Berklee College of Music.]] The Berklee College of Music in Boston offers training for electric bass players. Electric bass students get private lessons and there is a choice of over 270 ensembles to play in. Specific electric bass courses include funk/fusion styles for bass; slap techniques for electric bass; fingerstyle R&B; five- and six-string electric bass playing (including performing chords); and how to read bass sheet music. Berklee College alumni include Jeff Andrews, Victor Bailey, Jeff Berlin, Michael Manring, and Neil Stubenhaus.

Although there are far fewer university programs that offer electric bass instruction in jazz and popular music, some universities offer Bachelor's degrees (B.Mus.) and Master of Music (M.Mus.) degrees in jazz performance or "commercial music", where electric bass can be the main instrument. In the US, the Manhattan School of Music has a jazz program leading to B.Mus. and M.Mus degrees that accepts students who play bass (double bass and electric bass), guitar, piano, drums, and melody instruments (e.g., sax, trumpet, etc.).

In the Australian state of Victoria, the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority has set out minimum standards for its electric bass students doing their end-of-year Solo performance recital. To graduate, students must perform pieces and songs from a set list that includes Baroque suite movements that were originally written for cello, 1950s Motown tunes, 1970s fusion jazz solos, and 1980s slap bass tunes. A typical program may include a Prelude by J.S. Bach; "Portrait of Tracy" by Jaco Pastorius; "Twisted" by Wardell Gray and Annie Ross; "What’s Going On" by James Jamerson; and the funky Disco hit "Le Freak" by Chic.

In addition to college and university diplomas and degrees, there are a variety of other training programs such as jazz or funk summer camps and festivals, which give students the opportunity to play a wide range of contemporary music, from 1970s-style jazz-rock fusion to first decade of the 21st century-style R&B.;

Informal training

In other less mainstream genres, such as hardcore punk or metal, the pedagogical systems and training sequences are typically not formalized and institutionalized. As such, many players learn "by ear", by copying the basslines from records and CDs, and by playing in a number of bands. Even in non-mainstream styles, though, students may be able to take lessons from experts in these or other styles, adapting learned techniques to their own style. As well, there are a range of books, playing methods, and, since the 1990s, instructional DVDs (e.g., on how to play metal bass).

See also

Bass amplifier

Octobass, an extremely large and rare bass instrument from the violin family used in orchestras.

Electric upright bass, a smaller, lighter, electrically amplified variant of the double bass

Washtub bass

Bass Frontiers Magazine

Bass Musician Magazine

Bassist

List of bass guitarists

List of bass guitar manufacturers

Bass guitar tuning

Footnotes and references

Further reading

External links

Weird Bass Guitars (Images)

Bass fingering chart http://www.alfred.com/img/pdf/BOP/FingeringCharts/Electric_Bass.pdf

Category:Amplified instruments Category:String instruments Category:American musical instruments Category:Contrabass instruments Category:Bass guitars Category:Guitars Category:Bass (sound)

Name	Victor Wooten
Landscape	Yes
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Victor Lemonte Wooten
Born	September 11, 1964Mountain Home, Idaho, U.S.
Instrument	Electric Bass, Upright bass, fiddle, cello, banjo
Genre	Jazz, jazz fusion
Occupation	Musician, songwriter, producer, author
Years active	1980–present
Associated acts	Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Steve Bailey, Vital Tech Tones, SMV, Greg Howe, Dave Matthews Band, Chick Corea Elektric Band
Url	www.victorwooten.com
Notable instruments	Fodera MonarchFodera Monarch Yin-Yang (4 string)Steinberger bass guitars

Victor Lemonte Wooten (born September 11, 1964) is an American bass player, composer, author, and producer, and has been the recipient of five Grammy Awards.

Wooten has won the "Bass Player of the Year" award from Bass Player magazine three times in a row, and was the first person to win the award more than once.

Wooten was also a judge for the 4th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.

Early life

Born to Dorothy and Pete Wooten, Victor is the youngest of the five Wooten Brothers, the other four being Regi, Roy, Rudy and Joseph Wooten, all of whom are musicians. At age two, brother Regi began to teach Victor to play bass, and by the age of six, Victor was playing in front of crowds with his brothers in their family band, The Wooten Brothers Band, and toured supporting Curtis Mayfield, among others. His most famous Fodera, a 1983 Monarch Deluxe which he refers to as "number 1", sports a Kahler Tremolo System model 2400 bridge. Fodera's "Yin Yang" basses (designed/created for Wooten) incorporate the Yin Yang symbol - which Wooten often uses in various media - as a main focal point of the top's design and construction. It is often mistakenly thought that the Yin Yang symbol is painted onto the bass, but in reality, the symbol is created from two pieces of naturally finished wood (Ebony and Holly, for example), fitted together to create the Yin-Yang pattern.

Though Wooten's basses receive much attention, his most frequent and consistent response when asked by his fans about his equipment (or equipment in general) is that "the instrument doesn't make the music ... you do". He'll often go on to state that the most important features to look for in a bass are comfort and playability. During a question and answer session at a 1998 concert, Wooten stated that "If you take a newborn baby and put them on the instrument, they're going to get sounds out of it that I can't get out of it, so we're all the best." This philosophy seems closely related to Wooten's approach to music in general, which is that music is a language. According to Wooten, while speaking or listening, one doesn't focus on the mouth as it is forming words; similarly, when a musician is playing or performing the focus shouldn't be on the instrument.

As well as playing electric bass (both fretted and fretless) and the double bass, Victor also played the cello in high school. He still plays cello occasionally with the Flecktones. This is the instrument to which he attributes his musical training.

Discography

;Solo

A Show of Hands (1996)

What Did He Say? (1997)

Yin-Yang (1999)

Live in America (2001)

Soul Circus (2005)

Palmystery (2008)

;With Bass Extremes

Cookbook (1998)

Just Add Water (2000)

;With Vital Tech Tones

Vital Tech Tones (1998)

Vital Tech Tones 2 (2000)

;With Greg Howe

Extraction (2003)

;With SMV

Thunder (2008) (with Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller, as SMV)

;With Béla Fleck and the Flecktones

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones (1990)

Flight of the Cosmic Hippo (1991)

UFO Tofu (1992)

Three Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1993)

Live Art (1996)

Left of Cool (1998)

Greatest Hits of the 20th Century (1999)

Outbound (2000)

''Live at the Quick (2002)

Little Worlds (2003)

Ten From Little Worlds (2003)

The Hidden Land (2006)

Jingle All the Way (2008)

TBA (2011)

Bibliography

The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music, ISBN 978-0-425-22093-1, Penguin Group, 2008

References

External links

Victor Lemonte Wooten - official website

Victor Lemonte Wooten Intervew with Anil Prasad of Innerviews

Live performance photographs

Interview from honesttune.com

The Music Lesson website

The Bass Vault

Bass/Nature Camp

Category:1964 births Category:American bass guitarists Category:American jazz bass guitarists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Jazz fusion bass guitarists

Name	Randy Jackson
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Randall Darius Jackson
Born	June 23, 1956Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.
Occupation	Music producer, musician, television personality
Instrument	Vocals, bass, keyboards
Genre	Rock, pop, R&B;, jazz, jazz fusion
Years active	1983–present
Label	Columbia
Associated acts	Journey, Boston, Brooke White, Mariah Carey, Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, Richie Sambora, Breakfast Club, Bruce Springsteen, Taxxi, Jermaine Stewart, Jean-Luc Ponty, Billy Cobham, Madonna, Blue Öyster Cult, Kimberley Locke

Randall Darius "Randy" Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American bassist, singer, record producer, music manager, A&R; executive and television personality. He is best known as a judge on American Idol and Executive Producer for MTV's America's Best Dance Crew. Jackson has won a Grammy Award as a producer.

Personal life

Jackson was born on June 23, 1956 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, His first marriage, to Elizabeth Jackson, was dissolved in 1990; they had one daughter named Taylor. In 1995, Jackson married Erika Riker, with whom he has two children; a 14-year-old daughter named Zoe and a 12-year-old son named Jordan. In 2003, Jackson lost following gastric bypass surgery. He stated in a February 2008 television commercial that he has type 2 diabetes.

As a result of the resignation of Simon Cowell, Jackson is left as the sole original judge on American Idol.

Music career

Jackson played in bands with Carlos Santana and Jerry Garcia. In the early 1980s he played on three albums for Jean-Luc Ponty and with the rock band Taxxi. From 1986 to 1987 he was a session musician for the rock group Journey. Jackson played on Journey's 1986 album Raised on Radio. He moved to Italy in the late 1980s and played on a record by Italian pop star Zucchero. The record, Zucchero and the Randy Jackson Band, was produced by Corrado Rustici who played guitar with Jackson on many albums in the early 1980s. He also played with Billy Cobham

In 1985, Keith Richards was asked to provide music for the Whoopi Goldberg comedy vehicle Jumpin' Jack Flash. Richards assembled an all-star band which included Aretha Franklin on piano and lead vocals and Jackson on bass guitar. This song was the fourth track on Aretha's 1986 album titled Aretha. Jackson can be seen in the song's video.

In the late 1980s, Jackson was still doing sessions. He was notably on the first solo album by famed session guitarist Steve Lukather. Jackson was a featured bass guitarist on five songs on Maze's 1989 "Silky Soul" album.

Jackson was the bass guitarist on the 1991 self-titled Divinyls album (which features the song "I Touch Myself") as well as featured bassist on several tracks of Tracy Chapman's 1992 release, Matters of the Heart. He performed on the singles "Bang Bang Bang", "Open Arms", and "Dreaming on a World". That same year, Jackson also played bass on Bruce Springsteen's hit "Human Touch."

Jackson has recorded, produced, or toured with many well-known artists and bands, ranging from Mariah Carey (he has worked with her throughout her career, been her musical director for a number of her tours; he has formed part of her band during numerous performances including Live 8 in London in 2005) to *NSYNC, Whitney Houston, (produced) Dionne Farris' (critically acclaimed debut CD, Wild-Seed Wild-Flower), Céline Dion, Fergie (dating back to her days in Wild Orchid), Stryper, Whitesnake (he took over when former bassist broke his arm for a couple of shows in the late 80s), and Madonna (he played some bass on her album "Like a Prayer" although not on the single of the same name).

Jackson played numerous times in Jean-Luc Ponty's backing band. His credits as a session musician range from playing with Aldo Nova, Blue Öyster Cult, Jon Bon Jovi, Michael Bolton, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Billy Cobham, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Herbie Hancock, Ernie Isley, Billy Joel, Brent Bourgeois, Journey, Richard Marx, George Michael, Stevie Nicks, Imogen Heap, Bruce Springsteen and Roger Waters to playing at the Grand Ole Opry with The Charlie Daniels Band. His production/songwriting work in the San Francisco Bay Area with Narada Michael Walden and Walter Afanasieff led Jackson to be in demand as a producer as well.

On March 11, 2008, Jackson released an album produced entirely by himself, titled Randy Jackson's Music Club, Vol. 1. The album's release was preceded by the single "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow" sung by Paula Abdul. In 2009, Randy began working with former Idol finalist Kimberley Locke, producing her 4th album. The lead single, "Strobe Light", was released March 16, 2010.

Jackson is the manager for the Charlotte, North Carolina based band Paper Tongues. The band, with the help of Jackson, signed with a major label, A&M;/Octone Records. Has also worked extensively with American DJ T.J. Roche, better known as TJ the DJ. He has also worked as an executive, spending eight years as vice president of artists and repertoire (A&R;) at Columbia Records and four years heading A&R; at MCA Records.

Since 2002, Jackson has been one of the panel judges on the Fox Network reality television series American Idol, along with Paula Abdul (from 2002–2009), Simon Cowell (from 2002–2010), Kara DioGuardi (from season 8), and, during season 9, Ellen DeGeneres. Jackson is under contract through the end of the ninth season of the show. In February 2010 Randy Jackson participated in "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" as part of the chorus.

Radio program

Jackson also hosts a radio top 40 countdown known as Randy Jackson's Hit List, which is syndicated by Westwood One. Every week Jackson counts down his top 30 Urban AC and Mainstream AC hits. He also gives behind-the-scenes information on American Idol on the internet radio station Artist Underground.

America's Best Dance Crew

America's Best Dance Crew is a group dance contest and an American television show produced by Jackson, premiered on February 7, 2008 on MTV and will return for its sixth season in 2010. Each week, 1 dance crew is eliminated where each dance crew demonstrate their innovative choreography and dance skills to win the title as ABDC and the cash prize.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Randy Jackson's Music Club Vol. 1

Randy Jackson's Hit List from Westwood One

Category:1956 births Category:Living people Category:African American rock musicians Category:American Idol participants Category:American male singers Category:American music critics Category:American radio personalities Category:American record producers Category:American rock bass guitarists Category:American session musicians Category:American television personalities Category:A&R; people Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Idol series judges Category:Journey (band) members Category:Musicians from Louisiana Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:People from Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (, English see fn.), baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers.

Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and travelled in search of a better position, always composing abundantly. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of Mozart's death. The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons.

Mozart learned voraciously from others, and developed a brilliance and maturity of style that encompassed the light and graceful along with the dark and passionate. His influence on subsequent Western art music is profound. Beethoven wrote his own early compositions in the shadow of Mozart, of whom Joseph Haydn wrote that "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years."

Biography

Family and early years

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born to Leopold and Anna Maria Pertl Mozart at 9 Getreidegasse in Salzburg, capital of the sovereign Archbishopric of Salzburg, in what is now Austria but, at the time, was part of the Bavarian Circle in the Holy Roman Empire. His only sibling to survive past birth was Maria Anna (1751–1829), called "Nannerl". Wolfgang was baptized the day after his birth at St. Rupert's Cathedral. The baptismal record gives his name in Latinized form as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. He generally called himself "Wolfgang Amadè Mozart" as an adult, but there were many variants.

His father Leopold (1719–1787) was from Augsburg. He was deputy Kapellmeister to the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg, a minor composer, and an experienced teacher. In the year of Mozart's birth, his father published a violin textbook, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, which achieved success.

; painted in 1763 on commission from Leopold]]When Nannerl was seven, she began keyboard lessons with her father; and her three-year-old brother would look on, evidently fascinated. Years later, after his death, she reminisced:

He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was always striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good. [...] In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and pieces at the clavier. [...] He could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time. [...] At the age of five, he was already composing little pieces, which he played to his father who wrote them down.

These early pieces, K. 1–5, were recorded in the Nannerl Notenbuch.

Biographer Maynard Solomon notes that, while Leopold was a devoted teacher to his children, there is evidence that Wolfgang was keen to make progress beyond what he was being taught. His first ink-spattered composition and his precocious efforts with the violin were on his own initiative and came as a great surprise to Leopold. Leopold eventually gave up composing when his son's outstanding musical talents became evident. He was Wolfgang's only teacher in his earliest years and taught his children languages and academic subjects as well as music.]]

1762–1773: Years of travel

During Mozart's youth, his family made several European journeys in which he and Nannerl performed as child prodigies. These began with an exhibition, in 1762, at the court of the Prince-elector Maximilian III of Bavaria in Munich, and at the Imperial Court in Vienna and Prague. A long concert tour spanning three and a half years followed, taking the family to the courts of Munich, Mannheim, Paris, London, The Hague, again to Paris, and back home via Zurich, Donaueschingen, and Munich. During this trip, Mozart met a great number of musicians and acquainted himself with the works of other composers. A particularly important influence was Johann Christian Bach, whom Mozart visited in London in 1764 and 1765. The family again went to Vienna in late 1767 and remained there until December 1768.

These trips were often arduous. Travel conditions were primitive; the family had to wait for invitations and reimbursement from the nobility. They endured long, near-fatal illnesses far from home: first Leopold (London, summer 1764) then both children (The Hague, autumn 1765).

After one year in Salzburg, father and son set off for Italy, leaving Wolfgang's mother and his sister at home. This travel lasted from December 1769 to March 1771. As with earlier journeys, Leopold wanted to display his son's abilities as a performer and a rapidly maturing composer. Wolfgang met G. B. Martini, in Bologna, and was accepted as a member of the famous Accademia Filarmonica. In Rome, he heard Gregorio Allegri's Miserere once in performance in the Sistine Chapel. He wrote it out in its entirety from memory, only returning to correct minor errors—thus producing the first illegal copy of this closely guarded property of the Vatican.

In Milan, Mozart wrote the opera Mitridate, re di Ponto (1770), which was performed with success. This led to further opera commissions. He returned with his father later twice to Milan (August–December 1771; October 1772 – March 1773) for the composition and premieres of Ascanio in Alba (1771) and Lucio Silla (1772). Leopold hoped these visits would result in a professional appointment for his son in Italy, but these hopes were never fulfilled.

Toward the end of the final Italian journey, Mozart wrote the first of his works to be still widely performed today, the solo cantata Exsultate, jubilate, K. 165.

1773–1777: The Salzburg court

After finally returning with his father from Italy on 13 March 1773, Mozart was employed as a court musician by the ruler of Salzburg, Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo. The composer had a great number of friends and admirers in Salzburg and had the opportunity to work in many genres, composing symphonies, sonatas, string quartets, serenades, and a few minor operas. Several of these early works are still performed today. Between April and December 1775, Mozart developed an enthusiasm for violin concertos, producing a series of five (the only ones he ever wrote), which steadily increased in their musical sophistication. The last three—K. 216, K. 218, K. 219—are now staples of the repertoire. In 1776 he turned his efforts to piano concertos, culminating in the E-flat concerto K. 271 of early 1777, considered by critics to be a breakthrough work.

Despite these artistic successes, Mozart grew increasingly discontent with Salzburg and redoubled his efforts to find a position elsewhere. One reason was his low salary, 150 florins a year; Mozart also longed to compose operas, and Salzburg provided only rare occasions for these. The situation worsened in 1775 when the court theater was closed, especially since the other theater in Salzburg was largely reserved for visiting troupes.

Two long expeditions in search of work (both Leopold and Wolfgang were looking) interrupted this long Salzburg stay: they visited Vienna, from 14 July to 26 September 1773, and Munich, from 6 December 1774 to March 1775. Neither visit was successful, though the Munich journey resulted in a popular success with the premiere of Mozart's opera La finta giardiniera.

1777–1778: The Paris journey

In August 1777, Mozart resigned his Salzburg position and, on 23 September, ventured out once more in search of employment, with visits to Augsburg, Mannheim, Paris, and Munich. Since Archbishop Colloredo would not give Leopold leave to travel, Mozart's mother Anna Maria accompanied him.

Mozart became acquainted with members of the famous orchestra in Mannheim, the best in Europe at the time. He also fell in love with Aloysia Weber, one of four daughters in a musical family. There were prospects of employment in Mannheim, but they came to nothing, and Mozart left for Paris on 14 March 1778 to continue his search. One of his letters from Paris hints at a possible post as an organist at Versailles, but Mozart was not interested in such an appointment. He fell into debt and took to pawning valuables. The nadir of the visit occurred when Mozart's mother took ill and died on 3 July 1778. There had been delays in calling a doctor—probably, according to Halliwell, because of a lack of funds.

While Wolfgang was in Paris, Leopold was pursuing opportunities for him back in Salzburg, and, with the support of local nobility, secured him a post as court organist and concertmaster. The yearly salary was 450 florins, but Wolfgang was reluctant to accept. After leaving Paris on 26 September 1778, he tarried in Mannheim and Munich, still hoping to obtain an appointment outside Salzburg. In Munich, he again encountered Aloysia, now a very successful singer, but she made it plain that she was no longer interested in him. Mozart finally reached home on 15 January 1779 and took up the new position, but his discontent with Salzburg was undiminished.

Among the better known works that Mozart wrote on the Paris journey are the A minor piano sonata K. 310/300d and the "Paris" Symphony (no. 31); these were performed in Paris on 12 June and 18 June 1778. for his gallery; Mozart with the Order of the Golden Spur which he received in 1770 as a 14-year old from Pope Clement XIV in Rome.]]

1781: Departure to Vienna

In January 1781, Mozart's opera Idomeneo premiered with "considerable success" in Munich. The following March the composer was summoned to Vienna, where his employer, Archbishop Colloredo, was attending the celebrations for the accession of Joseph II to the Austrian throne. Mozart, fresh from the adulation he had earned in Munich, was offended when Colloredo treated him as a mere servant and particularly when the archbishop forbade him to perform before the Emperor at Countess Thun's for a fee equal to half of his yearly Salzburg salary. The resulting quarrel came to a head in May: Mozart attempted to resign and was refused. The following month, permission was granted but in a grossly insulting way: the composer was dismissed literally "with a kick in the ass", administered by the archbishop's steward, Count Arco. Mozart decided to settle in Vienna as a freelance performer and composer.

Early Vienna years

Mozart's new career in Vienna began well. He performed often as a pianist, notably in a competition before the Emperor with Muzio Clementi on 24 December 1781, and he soon "had established himself as the finest keyboard player in Vienna". Aloysia, who had earlier rejected Mozart's suit, was now married to the actor Joseph Lange, and Mozart's interest shifted to the third daughter, Constanze. The courtship did not go entirely smoothly; surviving correspondence indicates that Mozart and Constanze briefly broke up in April 1782. Mozart also faced a very difficult task in getting his father's permission for the marriage. The couple were finally married on 4 August 1782, in St. Stephen's Cathedral, the day before Leopold's consent arrived in the mail.

In 1783, Wolfgang and Constanze visited his family in Salzburg. Leopold and Nannerl were, at best, only polite to Constanze, but the visit prompted the composition of one of Mozart's great liturgical pieces, the Mass in C minor. Though not completed, it was premiered in Salzburg, with Constanze singing a solo part.

Mozart met Joseph Haydn in Vienna, and the two composers became friends (see Haydn and Mozart). When Haydn visited Vienna, they sometimes played together in an impromptu string quartet. Mozart's six quartets dedicated to Haydn (K. 387, K. 421, K. 428, K. 458, K. 464, and K. 465) date from the period 1782 to 1785, and are judged to be a response to Haydn's Opus 33 set from 1781. Haydn in 1785 told the visiting Leopold: "I tell you before God, and as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer known to me by person and repute, he has taste and what is more the greatest skill in composition."

From 1782 to 1785 Mozart mounted concerts with himself as soloist, presenting three or four new piano concertos in each season. Since space in the theaters was scarce, he booked unconventional venues: a large room in the Trattnerhof (an apartment building), and the ballroom of the Mehlgrube (a restaurant). The concerts were very popular, and the concertos he premiered at them are still firm fixtures in the repertoire. Solomon writes that during this period Mozart created "a harmonious connection between an eager composer-performer and a delighted audience, which was given the opportunity of witnessing the transformation and perfection of a major musical genre". Mozart also bought a fine fortepiano from Anton Walter for about 900 florins, and a billiard table for about 300. and kept servants. Saving was therefore impossible, and the short period of financial success did nothing to soften the hardship the Mozarts were later to experience.

On 14 December 1784, Mozart became a Freemason, admitted to the lodge Zur Wohltätigkeit ("Beneficence"). Freemasonry played an important role in the remainder of Mozart's life: he attended meetings, a number of his friends were Masons, and on various occasions he composed Masonic music. (See Mozart and Freemasonry.)

1786–1787: Return to opera

Despite the great success of Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Mozart did little operatic writing for the next four years, producing only two unfinished works and the one-act Der Schauspieldirektor. He focused instead on his career as a piano soloist and writer of concertos. However, around the end of 1785, Mozart moved away from keyboard writing and began his famous operatic collaboration with the librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. 1786 saw the successful premiere of The Marriage of Figaro in Vienna. Its reception in Prague later in the year was even warmer, and this led to a second collaboration with Da Ponte: the opera Don Giovanni, which premiered in October 1787 to acclaim in Prague, and also met with success in Vienna in 1788. The two are among Mozart's most important works and are mainstays of the operatic repertoire today, though at their premieres their musical complexity caused difficulty for both listeners and performers. These developments were not witnessed by the composer's father, as Leopold had died on 28 May 1787.

In December 1787 Mozart finally obtained a steady post under aristocratic patronage. Emperor Joseph II appointed him as his "chamber composer", a post that had fallen vacant the previous month on the death of Gluck. It was a part-time appointment, paying just 800 florins per year, and only required Mozart to compose dances for the annual balls in the Redoutensaal. However, even this modest income became important to Mozart when hard times arrived. Court records show that Joseph's aim was to keep the esteemed composer from leaving Vienna in pursuit of better prospects.

In 1787 the young Ludwig van Beethoven spent several weeks in Vienna, hoping to study with Mozart. No reliable records survive to indicate whether the two composers ever met. (See Mozart and Beethoven.)

1788–1790

, made by Dora Stock during Mozart's visit to Dresden, April 1789]] Toward the end of the decade, Mozart's circumstances worsened. Around 1786 he had ceased to appear frequently in public concerts, and his income shrank. This was a difficult time for musicians in Vienna because Austria was at war, and both the general level of prosperity and the ability of the aristocracy to support music had declined.

By mid-1788, Mozart and his family had moved from central Vienna to the suburb of Alsergrund. Mozart began to borrow money, most often from his friend and fellow Mason Michael Puchberg; "a pitiful sequence of letters pleading for loans" survives. Maynard Solomon and others have suggested that Mozart was suffering from depression, and it seems that his output slowed. Major works of the period include the last three symphonies (Nos. 39, 40, and 41, all from 1788), and the last of the three Da Ponte operas, Così fan tutte, premiered in 1790.

Around this time Mozart made long journeys hoping to improve his fortunes: to Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin in the spring of 1789 (see Mozart's Berlin journey), and to Frankfurt, Mannheim, and other German cities in 1790. The trips produced only isolated success and did not relieve the family's financial distress.

1791

Mozart's last year was, until his final illness struck, a time of great productivity—and by some accounts a time of personal recovery. He composed a great deal, including some of his most admired works: the opera The Magic Flute, the final piano concerto (K. 595 in B-flat), the Clarinet Concerto K. 622, the last in his great series of string quintets (K. 614 in E-flat), the motet Ave verum corpus K. 618, and the unfinished Requiem K. 626.

Mozart's financial situation, a source of extreme anxiety in 1790, finally began to improve. Although the evidence is inconclusive, it appears that wealthy patrons in Hungary and Amsterdam pledged annuities to Mozart in return for the occasional composition. He probably also benefited from the sale of dance music written in his role as Imperial chamber composer. and the Little Masonic Cantata K. 623, premiered on 15 November 1791.

Final illness and death

in 1819]] Mozart fell ill while in Prague for the premiere on 6 September of his opera La clemenza di Tito, written in 1791 on commission for the Emperor's coronation festivities. He was able to continue his professional functions for some time, and conducted the premiere of The Magic Flute on 30 September. The illness intensified on 20 November, at which point Mozart became bedridden, suffering from swelling, pain, and vomiting.

Mozart was nursed in his final illness by Constanze and her youngest sister Sophie, and attended by the family doctor, Thomas Franz Closset. It is clear that he was mentally occupied with the task of finishing his Requiem. However, the evidence that he actually dictated passages to his student Süssmayr is very slim.

Mozart died at 1 a.m. on 5 December 1791 at the age of 35. The New Grove gives a matter-of-fact description of his funeral:

The cause of Mozart's death cannot be known with certainty. The official record has it as "hitziges Frieselfieber" ("severe miliary fever", referring to a rash that looks like millet seeds), a description that does not suffice to identify the cause as it would be diagnosed in modern medicine. Researchers have posited at least 118 causes of death, including trichinosis, influenza, mercury poisoning, and a rare kidney ailment. The most widely accepted hypothesis is that Mozart died of acute rheumatic fever.

Mozart's sparse funeral did not reflect his standing with the public as a composer: memorial services and concerts in Vienna and Prague were well attended. Indeed, in the period immediately after his death, Mozart's reputation rose substantially: Solomon describes an "unprecedented wave of enthusiasm" for his work; biographies were written (first by Schlichtegroll, Niemetschek, and Nissen; see Biographies of Mozart); and publishers vied to produce complete editions of his works.

Mozart usually worked long and hard, finishing compositions at a tremendous pace as deadlines approached. He often made sketches and drafts; unlike Beethoven's these are mostly not preserved, as Constanze sought to destroy them after his death. (See: Mozart's compositional method.) He was raised a Roman Catholic and remained a member of the Church throughout his life. (See Mozart and Roman Catholicism.)

Mozart lived at the center of the Viennese musical world, and knew a great number and variety of people: fellow musicians, theatrical performers, fellow Salzburgers, and aristocrats, including some acquaintance with the Emperor Joseph II. Solomon considers his three closest friends to have been Gottfried von Jacquin, Count August Hatzfeld, and Sigmund Barisani; others included his older colleague Joseph Haydn, singers Franz Xaver Gerl and Benedikt Schack, and the horn player Joseph Leutgeb. Leutgeb and Mozart carried on a curious kind of friendly mockery, often with Leutgeb as the butt of Mozart's practical jokes.

He enjoyed billiards and dancing (see Mozart and dance), and kept pets: a canary, a starling, a dog, and also a horse for recreational riding. He had a fondness for scatological humor, which is preserved in his surviving letters, notably those written to his cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart around 1777–1778, but also in his correspondence with his sister and parents. Mozart even wrote scatological music, a series of canons that he sang with his friends. See: Mozart and scatology.

Works, musical style, and innovations

Style

" (K. 626) in Mozart's own handwriting. It is located at the Mozarthaus in Vienna.]] Mozart's music, like Haydn's, stands as an archetype of the Classical style. At the time he began composing, European music was dominated by the style galant, a reaction against the highly evolved intricacy of the Baroque. Progressively, and in large part at the hands of Mozart himself, the contrapuntal complexities of the late Baroque emerged once more, moderated and disciplined by new forms, and adapted to a new aesthetic and social milieu. Mozart was a versatile composer, and wrote in every major genre, including symphony, opera, the solo concerto, chamber music including string quartet and string quintet, and the piano sonata. These forms were not new, but Mozart advanced their technical sophistication and emotional reach. He almost single-handedly developed and popularized the Classical piano concerto. He wrote a great deal of religious music, including large-scale masses, but also dances, divertimenti, serenades, and other forms of light entertainment.

The central traits of the Classical style are all present in Mozart's music. Clarity, balance, and transparency are the hallmarks of his work, but simplistic notions of its delicacy mask the exceptional power of his finest masterpieces, such as the Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491, the Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550, and the opera Don Giovanni. Charles Rosen makes the point forcefully:

It is only through recognizing the violence and sensuality at the center of Mozart's work that we can make a start towards a comprehension of his structures and an insight into his magnificence. In a paradoxical way, Schumann's superficial characterization of the G minor Symphony can help us to see Mozart's daemon more steadily. In all of Mozart's supreme expressions of suffering and terror, there is something shockingly voluptuous.

Especially during his last decade, Mozart exploited chromatic harmony to a degree rare at the time, with remarkable assurance and to great artistic effect.

Mozart always had a gift for absorbing and adapting valuable features of others' music. His travels helped in the forging of a unique compositional language. In London as a child, he met J.C. Bach and heard his music. In Paris, Mannheim, and Vienna he met with other compositional influences, as well as the avant-garde capabilities of the Mannheim orchestra. In Italy he encountered the Italian overture and opera buffa, both of which deeply affected the evolution of his own practice. In London and Italy, the galant style was in the ascendent: simple, light music with a mania for cadencing; an emphasis on tonic, dominant, and subdominant to the exclusion of other harmonies; symmetrical phrases; and clearly articulated partitions in the overall form of movements. Some of Mozart's early symphonies are Italian overtures, with three movements running into each other; many are homotonal (all three movements having the same key signature, with the slow middle movement being in the relative minor). Others mimic the works of J.C. Bach, and others show the simple rounded binary forms turned out by Viennese composers.

As Mozart matured, he progressively incorporated more features adapted from the Baroque. For example, the Symphony No. 29 in A Major K. 201 has a contrapuntal main theme in its first movement, and experimentation with irregular phrase lengths. Some of his quartets from 1773 have fugal finales, probably influenced by Haydn, who had included three such finales in his recently published Opus 20 set. The influence of the Sturm und Drang ("Storm and Stress") period in music, with its brief foreshadowing of the Romantic era, is evident in the music of both composers at that time. Mozart's Symphony No. 25 in G minor K. 183 is another excellent example.

Mozart would sometimes switch his focus between operas and instrumental music. He produced operas in each of the prevailing styles: opera buffa, such as The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte; opera seria, such as Idomeneo; and Singspiel, of which Die Zauberflöte is the most famous example by any composer. In his later operas he employed subtle changes in instrumentation, orchestral texture, and tone color, for emotional depth and to mark dramatic shifts. Here his advances in opera and instrumental composing interacted: his increasingly sophisticated use of the orchestra in the symphonies and concertos influenced his operatic orchestration, and his developing subtlety in using the orchestra to psychological effect in his operas was in turn reflected in his later non-operatic compositions.

Influence

Mozart's most famous pupil, whom the Mozarts took into their Vienna home for two years as a child, was probably Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a transitional figure between Classical and Romantic eras. More important is the influence Mozart had on composers of later generations. Ever since the surge in his reputation after his death, studying his scores has been a standard part of the training of classical musicians.

Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart's junior by fifteen years, was deeply influenced by his work, with which he was acquainted as a teenager. He is thought to have performed Mozart's operas while playing in the court orchestra at Bonn, and he traveled to Vienna in 1787 hoping to study the older composer. Some of Beethoven's works have direct models in comparable works by Mozart, and he wrote (WoO 58) to Mozart's D minor piano concerto K. 466.

A number of composers have paid homage to Mozart by writing sets of variations on his themes. Beethoven wrote four such sets (Op. 66, WoO 28, WoO 40, WoO 46). Others include Frédéric Chopin's Variations on "Là ci darem la mano" from Don Giovanni (1827) and Max Reger's Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart (1914), based on the variation theme in the piano sonata K. 331. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote his Orchestral Suite No. 4 in G, "Mozartiana" (1887), as a tribute to Mozart.

Köchel catalogue

For unambiguous identification of works by Mozart, a Köchel catalogue number is used. This is a unique number assigned, in regular chronological order, to every one of his known works. A work is referenced by the abbreviation "K." followed by this number. The first edition of the catalogue was completed in 1862 by Ludwig von Köchel. It has since been repeatedly updated, as scholarly research improves our knowledge of the dates and authenticity of individual works.

See also

The Complete Mozart Edition, 180 compact discs arranged into 45 themed volumes released by Philips Classics Records in 2000.

Mozart effect

Mozart family

Mozart in fiction

Mozartkugel

Mozarteum

Mozarthaus Vienna

Notes

References

Fradkin, Robert A. (1996) The well-tempered announcer: a pronunciation guide to classical music. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 025321064X.

Further reading

External links

Mozarthaus Salzburg

Salzburg Tourist Office – Salzburg City Tourist Board website.

Digitized, scanned Material (Books, Sheet music)

"Mozart" Titles; Mozart as author from archive.org

"Mozart" Titles; Mozart as author from books.google.com

Digital Mozart Edition (Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum)

"Mozart" titles from Gallica

From the British Library

*Mozart's Thematic Catalogue (view with "Turning the Pages")

*Mozart's Musical Diary

*Background information on Mozart and the Thematic Catalogue

Letters of Leopold Mozart und Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Badische Landesbibliothek)

Sheet music (Scores)

Complete sheetmusic (scores) from the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe (Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum)

"Mozart" Titles from the Munich Digitisation Centre (MDZ)

"Mozart" Titles from the University of Rochester

Free typeset sheet music of Mozart's works from Cantorion.org

Mozart as author from archive.org

Mozart as author from books.google.com

* Category:Classical era composers Category:German composers Category:Opera composers Category:Organ improvisers Category:Viennese composers Category:Austrian classical pianists Category:Child classical musicians Category:People from Salzburg Category:Austrian Roman Catholics Category:Knights of the Golden Spur Category:1756 births Category:1791 deaths

Name	Les Claypool
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Leslie Edward Claypool
Alias	Colonel Claypool, Les, Snap, Snappy, Snapdad
Born	September 29, 1963Richmond, California, U.S.
Instrument	Bass, vocals, upright bass, drums, guitar, whamola, bassjo, mandolin, banjo
Genre	Alternative metal, funk metal, funk rock, alternative rock, experimental rock, thrash metal
Occupation	Musician, songwriter, producer, author, director
Years active	1979–present
Label	Prawn Song, Interscope
Associated acts	Primus, Blind Illusion, Sausage, Oysterhead, Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade Various others, see discography
Url	lesclaypool.com

Leslie Edward "Les" Claypool (born September 29, 1963 in Richmond, California, U.S.) is a musician, best known as the lead vocalist and bassist in the band Primus. Claypool's funky, creative playing style on the electric bass mixes finger-tapping, flamenco-like strumming, whammy bar bends (unusual on a bass guitar), a Larry Graham-like slap technique, and Geddy Lee influences.

Claypool has also self produced and engineered his solo releases from his own studio "Rancho Relaxo". 2006 saw the release of a full-length feature film written and directed by Claypool as well as a debut novel South of the Pumphouse.

Biography

Early years

Claypool was born September 29, 1963 in Richmond, California, but was raised in El Sobrante, California in a working class family with a history of working as auto mechanics. His early education included Collins Elementary School and De Anza High School, where he was a personal friend of Kirk Hammett. Les' parents divorced when he was a young child, but he says that he had a decent childhood, citing that he was never abused or severely bullied.

Claypool developed a bass guitar slap technique listening to other bassists such as Stanley Clarke and Larry Graham. He also bought his first Carl Thompson bass, his trademark four string bass. (Claypool stated in August 2009, that he now owns 13 bass guitars, including a multi-wood fretless 6-string called the Rainbow Bass.)

Before the formation of Primus, Les worked as a carpenter from around 1982 up until 1988. Also, Les played in thrash metal band Blind Illusion for the recording of their 1988 album "The Sane Asylum."

In 1986, after the death of Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, school friend Kirk Hammett encouraged Claypool to audition for Metallica as Burton's successor. In Metallica's Behind the Music, Claypool said that he jokingly asked the others if they wanted to "jam on some Isley Brothers tunes" during the audition, a reference to his little experience of the thrash metal scene. James Hetfield remarked that Claypool was not awarded the job because "he was too good" and "should do his own thing". Claypool commented that he wouldn't have fit in with the band and "would've looked like a freak".

Primus

Primus began as Primate with Les Claypool, guitarist Todd Huth and various drummers, most notably Jay Lane, in the mid-1980s, though Huth and Lane left shortly thereafter to pursue other projects. Claypool replaced them with guitarist Larry LaLonde and electric drummer Tim Alexander in 1989 (Tim "Herb" Alexander left the band in 1996 and was replaced by Brian "Brain" Mantia). Primus began selling out local clubs with their out-of-control live act and irreverent approach to music (their catchphrase was "Primus sucks!"). This was later to be changed.

From 1989 to 2000, Primus steadily became one of the most bizarre bands to gain significant mainstream airplay, headlining Lollapalooza in 1993, appearing on Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O'Brien in 1995, and even making an appearance at Woodstock '94 where they performed their Pork Soda hit "My Name Is Mud" and were pelted with mud (Claypool claims to still have mud in his speakers). In 1991, the band was featured in the cult classic movie Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, performing ,"Tommy the Cat" live. Also, in 1997, they were asked to play, and record, the theme song for the animated television show South Park. Claypool and Tom Waits have recorded on each other's records since 1991 and have continued to do so. In 1999 he let Activision use the song "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver" on the hit video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.

In 2000 Primus went on indefinite hiatus.

In mid 2003 Claypool reunited with former Primus drummer Tim Alexander and guitarist Larry LaLonde to record a DVD/EP called Animals Should Not Try to Act Like People, which Claypool described as the first DVD with supplementary music, as opposed to the contrary. In October of that year, the band staged a two month tour in which they performed two sets per show, the second consisting of their 1991 release Sailing the Seas of Cheese in its entirety. They continued touring into 2004, even performing their 1990 release Frizzle Fry in its entirety.

In Mid-August 2006, a DVD release entitled Blame It on the Fish was added to the listings of Amazon and other online shops. Shortly thereafter, the website The PRP reported that a rumor had surfaced implying that the band was quietly planning a North American tour for November/December 2006.

On October 17, 2006, Primus released both their first greatest hits CD They Can't All Be Zingers and their third DVD Blame It on The Fish, subtitled An Abstract Look at the 2003 Primus Tour De Fromage.

They Can't All Be Zingers includes sixteen digitally remastered songs that span their entire career, including a previously unreleased and extended version of "Shake Hands with Beef", the Tom Waits collaboration "Coattails of a Deadman," and "Mary the Ice Cube" from the 2003 DVD and EP Animals Should Not Try to Act Like People.

Claypool has let the video game Guitar Hero 2 use the Primus song, "John the Fisherman," one of two songs in the game using the actual recording instead of a cover.

Blame It on the Fish: An Abstract Look at the 2003 Primus Tour De Fromage contains live footage from the band's 2003 reunion tour, interview segments and behind the scenes footage. The DVD includes a 70 minute feature film and 90 minutes of bonus material, including a 30 minute mockumentary about the band in 2065. Blame It on the Fish is directed by Matthew J. Powers, who directed Never Been Done, a documentary about Jon Comer.

began in November 2006 and was completed the following December.

In 2008 Primus played at a few festivals including; Rothbury (in Michigan), The Ottawa Blues Fest, Quebec City Summer Fest, and Outside Lands Festival (in San Francisco). Les Claypool let the DC snowboard team use the Primus song "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver" in their 2007 movie "DC Mt. Lab 1.5" In 2009, Primus began an Oddity Faire Tour which included bizarre acts by others and unclassifiable bands that fit the genre in which Primus is categorized. There was a second annual Oddity Faire Tour that took place in 2010.

Solo work

1994 - 2001

Sausage

In 1994, Claypool teamed up with guitarist Todd Huth and drummer Jay Lane to create an early Primus sound. Songs such as "Riddles are Abound Tonight" and "Toyz 1988" (now known as "Toys Go Winding Down") gave way to a whole new breed of music.

Holy Mackerel

In 1996 Claypool produced, engineered and released a solo album, "Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel presents" Highball with the Devil. Claypool is credited with bass, drums and vocals on several tracks as well as guitar. Also on the album are Mark "Mirv" Haggard, Adam Gates, Jay Lane, Joe Gore, Charlie Hunter and Henry Rollins. The accompanying tour included Haggard and Gates on guitars with Bryan "Brain" Mantia on drums. It was announced during the Holy Mackerel tour that Mantia had been chosen to become the next Primus drummer.

Oysterhead

In April 2000, Claypool collaborated with Trey Anastasio (of Phish) and Stewart Copeland (of The Police) as Oysterhead. Claypool and Anastasio had been looking for an opportunity to collaborate. Each had a mutual interest in playing with Copeland who had been a rock idol of their teen years. Also, Claypool and Copeland had an established friendship. Oysterhead were originally intended as a one time performance during Jazz Fest in New Orleans. Though timid of the band's sudden and surprising popularity they eventually decided to record and tour. They released one studio album, The Grand Pecking Order, and toured before disbanding in 2001. They re-united for two performances in 2006, one at 10K Lakes Festival and one at Bonnaroo Music Festival

The Frog Brigade

In May 2000 Claypool formed Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, an experimental rock group. Claypool was asked to put together a band for the Mountain Aire Festival in Angels Camp, California. The band "of the most incredible guys (he) could possibly find" debuted that Memorial Day weekend and played a number of other festivals including moe.down. Live Frogs Set 1 won "Best Live Album" at the second annual Jammys. Jay Lane and Jeff Chimenti are both members of Bob Weir's band Ratdog. Claypool performed with "The Rat Brigade" when opening for Ratdog once in 2000 and again in 2007. The Rat Brigade includes Claypool, drummer Lane and keyboardist Chimenti, with guest appearances by saxophonist Kenny Brooks and Bob Weir. Both years Claypool also guested on the Ratdog set.

2002 - 2005

In 2002 Claypool released a studio album of the Frog Brigade, Purple Onion. Musicians on multiple tracks for Purple Onion include Eenor, Mike Dillon, Skerik, Jay Lane, Ben Barnes and Sam Bass (Dillon and Skerik were both from Critters Buggin while Barnes and Sam Bass were from Deadweight). This album includes "Whamola" which later appeared as a remix for the theme of South Park .

C2B3

Also in 2002 Claypool collaborated with virtuoso guitarist Buckethead, Parliament-Funkadelic/Talking Heads keyboardist Bernie Worrell, and former Primus drummer Bryan Mantia under the name Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains ("C2B3" which is to be said "C Squared, B Cubed"). Their concerts pushed the improvisational envelope by preparing no material and not rehearsing beforehand. At one of their shows they prepared sandwiches onstage for the audience to eat.

C2B3 re-united in 2004 to record The Big Eyeball in the Sky, an album with equal parts instrumental and vocal songs. The band began an 18-state tour of the US on September 24, 2004. The album features only one guest, the child-like multi-instrumentalist Gabby La La (noted as Gabby Lang on Les Claypool's Frog Brigade's Purple Onion) on vocals and sitar. She also opened on every show (sometimes to scathingly negative reviews) during the 2004 tour as a solo act with sometimes members of C2B3.

Claypool also produced and performed on Gabby La La's first album, Be Careful What You Wish For.... Gabby La La is the first artist Les has signed to his label since Charlie Hunter in 1993. He has performed select shows with her (including the 2005 Bonnaroo Music Festival) and added her to his then new touring band, Les Claypool & His Fancy Band. The 2005 Fancy Band line-up also included Skerik, Dillon and Lane.

At the end of 2005, Claypool released 5 Gallons Of Diesel, a video retrospective of all of his work away from Primus.

2006

Electric Apricot

Claypool's first attempt at a feature length film, , was shown on various film festivals in the late spring of 2006. The movie is a spoof of the jam band scene centered on the fake band, Electric Apricot, in the mockumentary tradition of This Is Spinal Tap. The group performed low-key shows in the California area (most recently High Sierra Music Festival) for the filming of the movie. The members of the band are characterized as Steve Hampton Trouzdale (Adam Gates) on bass and vocals, Steve "Gordo" Gordon (Brian Kehoe) on guitar and vocals, Herschal Tambor Brillstien (Jonathan Korty) on keyboards and vocals, and of course Lapland "Lapdog" Miclovik (Les Claypool) on drums and vocals. The film debuted on March 15. During a question and answer session at the Tiburon Film Festival where the film debuted Claypool said that the yet unreleased DVD would have an accompanying soundtrack CD. The film has won other awards as well including Best Feature (audience choice) at the Malibu Film Festival. Claypool also said that the band would possibly perform a few select shows, but a tour is unlikely as Adam Gates has a job at Pixar which makes touring difficult. Other cameos in the film include Arj Barker, Dian Bachar, Matt Stone and Sam Maccarone.

Of Whales and Woe and the Fancy Band

On May 30, 2006 Claypool released a solo album, Of Whales and Woe, with guest appearances by Skerik, Mike Dillon and Gabby La La. This album includes the song "Robot Chicken," which is the theme song of the popular Adult Swim show. His son Cage and his daughter Lena even make a special appearance on the song "Back Off Turkey." The release was followed by a tour of the U.S. with the following lineup: Les Claypool - bass, vocals; Skerik - sax; Mike Dillon - vibraphone, percussion; Gabby La La - sitar, theremin; Paulo Baldi - drums. This lineup is called Les Claypool's Fancy Band and did national tours in both 2006 and 2007. A live DVD, Fancy, recorded from the 2006 tour was released in 2007. The audio track includes a mix of both soundboard and taper recordings. A song from the album, "One Better", was used in in a fight scene between Preston Lacy and Lee Majors.

South of the Pumphouse

Claypool's first book, South of the Pumphouse, was released on July 1, 2006 by Akashic Books. Copies of the book were sold during Claypool's 2006 tour of U.S.A. following the release of Of Whales and Woe. The book is a dark, clever tale of brothers, murder, drugs, and fishing, and it has been likened to the work of Hunter S. Thompson. Claypool gave his first interview about the book to The Book Standard, on May 11, 2006. South of the Pumphouse is currently in its seventh printing.

2007 - present

Besides touring in the Summer of 2007 nationally with the Fancy Band, Claypool performed that October with a version of the band, dubbed the Fancy Trio. The trio consisted of Les, Skerik on saxophone, and Mike Dillon on drums, vibraphone and percussion. They played at The Echo Project, an inaugural ecologically minded 3-day festival in Fairburn, Georgia on The Boukeart family farm. The set was similar to that of The Fancy Band's tours, culling from Les' solo and Frog Brigade albums, as well containing a cover of "One Step Beyond" by Madness and teases of other songs, including several Primus tunes, throughout their improvisational jams.

For many years Claypool has done a New Year's Eve show at The Fillmore in San Francisco, California. More recently the New Year's Eve show has been an Annual New Year's Eve Hatter's Ball featuring a hat contest. December 31, 2007 was the 3rd such annual event.

In 2008 a United States tour spanned from February 29 to April 5. It kicked off at the Neighborhood Theatre in Charlotte, North Carolina and ended at The Warfield in San Francisco, California. The 2008 tour was a quartet featuring Claypool, Dillon, Skerik and Baldi.

During the year Claypool also performed several shows with Primus at festivals across America and Canada.

Pig Hunt is a film directed by James Isaac to be released in 2008. Claypool contributes previously unreleased material and plays the role of "The Preacher".

Les composed several songs for the Wii game Mushroom Men, released in December 2008.

On December 31, 2008, Les rang in the New Year with his annual New Year's Eve show. It was at the San Francisco Opera House with Zappa Plays Zappa sharing the bill and playing first.

Les was also a judge for the 7th annual Independent Music Awards. His contributions helped assist upcoming independent artists' careers.

, 2009]] Les' second solo album, Of Fungi and Foe, was released on March 17, 2009. The album consists of expanded material of the music from the Mushroom Men game, as well as the Pig Hunt motion picture, and features a guest appearance by Gogol Bordello's Eugene Hutz.

As of June 2009, Les is touring with Matisyahu, performing as a 'double-feature' set, as well as appearing together on stage.

In March 2010 Les went to tour in Europe with English trio HOT HEAD SHOW for the first time in his solo career and played a few concerts in Italy, the United Kingdom, Austria, Switzerland and Germany.

On March 28, 2010, Les performed a rendition of Rush's "The Spirit of Radio" for their induction into the Canadian Songwriter's Hall of Fame.

Claypool is currently touring with Primus, alongside Larry LaLonde, and the return of former Primus drummer, Jay Lane.

Personal life

He lives near the town of Occidental in Sonoma County, California with his wife, Chaney Claypool, his son, Cage Oliver Claypool, and his daughter Lena Tallulah Claypool. His home is called "Rancho Relaxo", after a Simpsons episode where Marge gets sent to a spa of the same name. He records most of his music at his home. He is famous for his wacky sense of humor and overall very eccentric personality. He has recently been very open about his liberal political views and his dissatisfaction with former president George W. Bush.

Claypool is an avid fly fisher, and even appeared as a special guest on a 2004 taping of Fly Fishing the World filmed in Idaho and a 2005 taping in Quebec, Canada. Both episodes are available on the extras section of 5 Gallons Of Diesel. He stated in an interview that he loves the sea but hates surfing as he has heard stories from friends of many dangerous incidents that have happened to surfers.

Claypool has also been close friends with Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett since childhood and he owns a copy of Ride The Lightning that was given to him by Kirk Hammett. This act prompted him to audition for the then vacant position of bassist in Metallica after the death of Cliff Burton. Metallica frontman and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield has said Claypool didn't get the position because "he was too good", which Claypool himself has said he doesn't believe, stating that he believed the reason he was not chosen for the band was because he simply did not "belong" with Metallica.

Discography

{| style=margin:0 auto cellspacing=2 |width=20| |width=35|1988 |width=25| |Blind Illusion - The Sane Asylum |- |width=20| |width=35|1988 |width=25| |Primus - Sausage (demo) |- |width=20| |width=35|1988 |width=25| |Primus - Sucking Songs (demo) |- |width=20| |width=35|1989 |width=25|Nov |Primus - Suck on This (live album) |- |width=20| |width=35|1990 |width=25|Feb |Primus - Frizzle Fry |- |width=20| |width=35|1991 |width=25|May |Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese |- |width=20| |width=35|1992 |width=25|Mar |Primus - Miscellaneous Debris (EP) |- |width=20| |width=35|1993 |width=25|Apr |Primus - Pork Soda |- |width=20| |width=35|1994 |width=25|Apr |Sausage - Riddles Are Abound Tonight (1988 Primus line-up reunion) |- |width=20| |width=35|1995 |width=25|May |Primus - Tales from the Punchbowl |- |width=20| |width=35|1996 |width=25|Aug |Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel - Highball with the Devil |- |width=20| |width=35|1997 |width=25|Jul |Primus - Brown Album |- |width=20| |width=35|1998 |width=25|Aug |Primus - Rhinoplasty (EP) |- |width=20| |width=35|1999 |width=25|Apr |Buckethead - Monsters and Robots (Claypool features on and co-wrote 6 of the 13 tracks) |- |width=20| |width=35|1999 |width=25|Oct |Primus - Antipop |- |width=20| |width=35|2001 |width=25|Apr |Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade - Live Frogs Set 1 (live album) |- |width=20| |width=35|2001 |width=25|Jul |Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade - Live Frogs Set 2 (live album) |- |width=20| |width=35|2001 |width=25|Oct |Oysterhead - The Grand Pecking Order |- |width=20| |width=35|2002 |width=25|Sep |The Les Claypool Frog Brigade - Purple Onion |- |width=20| |width=35|2003 |width=25|Oct |Primus - Animals Should Not Try to Act Like People (EP/DVD set) |- |width=20| |width=35|2004 |width=25|Sep |Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains - The Big Eyeball in the Sky |- |width=20| |width=35|2006 |width=25|Jun |Les Claypool - Of Whales and Woe |- |width=20| |width=35|2006 |width=25|Oct |Primus - They Can't All Be Zingers (greatest hits compilation album) |- |width=20| |width=35|2008 |width=25|Mar | - (Claypool features on and co-wrote 5 of the 12 tracks) |- |width=20| |width=35|2009 |width=25|Mar |Les Claypool - Of Fungi and Foe |- |width=20| |width=35|2010 |width=25|Aug |Primus - June 2010 Rehearsal (EP) |}

Guest appearances

(Claypool on bass unless otherwise noted) :1992 - Tom Waits - Bone Machine (on the track "Earth Died Screaming") :1994 - Firehose - Big Bottom Pow Wow (in discussion on the various "spiel" tracks) :1994 - Rob Wasserman - Trios (on the tracks "Home is Where You Get Across" and "3 Guys Named Schmo") :1996 - Alex Lifeson - Victor (on the track "The Big Dance") :1998 - Jerry Cantrell - Boggy Depot (on the tracks "Between" and "Cold Piece") :1998 - Metallica - Garage Inc. (banjo on the Lynyrd Skynyrd cover "Tuesday's Gone") :1998 - Bloem de Ligny - Zink (vocals on the track "Capsule") :1999 - Tom Waits - Mule Variations (on the track "Big in Japan") :1999 - Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band - Live On (on the track "Oh Well") :1999 - Limp Bizkit - Significant Other (bass on the track "Trust?", bass and vocals on the hidden track "The Mind of Les") :1999 - Phonopsycograph Disk - Live @ Slim's / Turbulence Chest (additional bass on 8 of the 12 tracks) :2002 - Gov't Mule - The Deep End, Volume 2 (bass and vocals on the tracks "Greasy Granny's Gopher Gravy" and "Drivin' Rain") :2003 - Gov't Mule - The Deepest End, Live In Concert (bass and vocals on the tracks "Greasy Granny's Gopher Gravy" and "Drivin' Rain") :2004 - Tom Waits - Real Gone (on the tracks "Hoist That Rag", "Shake It" and "Baby Gonna Leave Me") :2004 - Jack Irons - Attention Dimension (on the Pink Floyd cover "Shine On You Crazy Diamond") :2005 - Adrian Belew - Side One (on the tracks "Ampersand", "Writing on the Wall" and "Matchless Man") :2005 - Gabby La La - Be Careful What You Wish For... (bass and percussion throughout) :2005 - Mat Callahan - A Wild Bouquet (on the track "I See the Light") :2006 - Adrian Belew - Side Three (on the tracks "Whatever" and "Men in Helicopters v4.0") :2006 - Tom Waits - (tracks not specified) :2008 - Zach Hill - Astrological Straits (on the track "Astrological Straits") :2009 - Vinyl - Fogshack Music Volume Two (on the tracks "Jelly James Jam", "Le Colonel", "Benthos" and "Le Colonel Part Deux")

Soundtracks and compilations

:1991 - Guitars that Rule the World (promo for Guitar World magazine, featuring the original track "Filet of Soul" by Alex Skolnick with Claypool and Brain) :1993 - Radio 501 (promo for Levi's jeans, featuring the original track "Can't Live Without" by Claypool, Jay Lane & Rob Wasserman) :2002 - (promo for NASCAR on Fox, featuring a cover of the Commander Cody track "Hot Rod Lincoln" recorded by Claypool) :2002 - Bonnaroo Music Festival 2002 (live album, featuring the Les Claypool's Frog Brigade track "Locomotive Breath") :2002 - Bonnaroo Vol. 2 (live album, featuring the Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains track "Number Two") :2004 - Concrete Corner: October Sampler 2004 (featuring the Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains track "Junior") :2004 - Never Been Done (soundtrack, featuring the Les Claypool's Frog Brigade track "David Makalaster") :2004 - Not In Our Name (benefit compilation album, featuring the Les Claypool's Frog Brigade track "David Makalaster II") :2006 - Barnyard (soundtrack, featuring the original track "Hittin' the Hay" by North Mississippi Allstars with Claypool) :2008 - Pig Hunt (soundtrack, featuring the original tracks "Goblins in the Forest", "What You Lookin' At Boy?", "Boonville Stomp" and "Male Organ-Grinder")

;Television show theme songs :2005-present - Robot Chicken: seasons 1-4 ("Robot Chicken", released on Of Whales and Woe, 2006) :2006-present - South Park: seasons 10-14 (mashup of "Whamola" by Les Claypool's Frog Brigade and "South Park Theme" by Primus)

;Video game soundtracks :2008 - Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars (original tracks)

Videography

:2002 - Rising Low (Documentary by Mike Gordon) :2002 - Various Artists - Live from Bonnaroo Music Festival 2002 (featuring Les Claypool's Frog Brigade and Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains) :2003 - Gov't Mule - The Deepest End, Live In Concert :2005 - Les Claypool - 5 Gallons of Diesel :2007 - Les Claypool - Fancy :2008 - (Rock-mockumentary feature film)

Equipment used

at The Rave (Milwaukee, WI).]]

Basses

Seven Carl Thompson basses:

*Main Walnut fretted 4-string

*Multi-wood fretless 6-string Rainbow Bass

*Maple fretted 4-string (backup for the walnut 4-string)

*Ebony fretted 4-string

*Fretless 4-string

*Fretted 6-string

*Walnut fretted 4-string (replica of the original)

At least two Fender Jazz Basses (only used occasionally)

Kramer bass

Rickenbacker 4003 bass

Semi-acoustic Eko bass

Zeta electric upright bass

Kay upright bass

NS Design electric upright bass

Tune fretless six-string bass (used primarily before he got the Carl Thompson Rainbow Bass)

The Whamola bass

A Goldtone Bass Banjo, a 4 stringed combination between a bass and a banjo

Michael Kelly Bayou 4 resonator bass (aka dobro bass)

Amplification

Ampeg bass heads and cabinets

Mesa Boogie bass cabinets

Gallien Krueger practice amps

Effects

Claypool has used several different pre-amp distortion units during his career. His distorted tone is heard most notably on the Primus song "My Name is Mud". He also uses phaser, flanger and chorus effects and has also been seen to use an envelope filter during live bass solos.

See also

Buckethead

Charlie Hunter Trio (1993)

Primus

Tom Waits

Warren Haynes

Oysterhead

Avant-garde

Secret Chiefs 3

References

External links

Official website

Colonel Claypool's Bucket Of Bernie Brains

Primus official website

Oysterhead - The Grand Pecking Order

Gabby La La official website

Official live recordings from 2003+ of Primus

Official live recordings of the 2004 Col. Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains shows

Interview with Daniel Robert Epstein at suicidegirls.com

Les Claypool interview at Prefixmag.com (March 2008)

Podcast Interview with Jeff Barringer at club kingsnake

National Lampoon picks up Electric Apricot: The Quest For Festeroo, Movie to see national release

Mushroom Men - The Spore Wars featuring music by Les Claypool

Cooking with Claypool (Interview with Les Clayppol from HonestTune.com)

Beyond Typical (Interview with Les Claypool from SubMergeMag.com, June 2009)

Upcoming Tour Dates

Les Claypool Interview on TheWaster.com

Category:1963 births Category:American bass guitarists Category:American male singers Category:American rock double-bassists Category:American rock bass guitarists Category:Songwriters from California Category:Musicians from California Category:Living people Category:People from Richmond, California Category:People from Contra Costa County, California Category:People from the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Primus members Category:American musicians of English descent Category:Sebastopol, California

Name	Carol Kaye
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Born	March 24, 1935Everett, Washington
Instrument	electric bass guitar, guitar
Occupation	Session musician, teacher
Years active	1950s–present
Associated acts	The Beach Boys, Phil Spector, The Doors, Ritchie Valens, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, Glen Campbell, Leon Russell, Sonny & Cher, Joe Cocker, Barbra Streisand, Ray Charles, Frank Zappa, Ike & Tina Turner, Johnny Mathis, Simon & Garfunkel, The Righteous Brothers, The Marketts Herb Alpert, The Buckinghams, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Gary Lewis & The Playboys and the Monkees.
Url	Carol Kaye's website

Carol Kaye (born March 24, 1935) is an American musician, best known as one of the most prolific and widely heard bass guitarists in history, playing on an estimated 10,000 recording sessions in a 55 year career.

As a session musician, Kaye was the bassist on many Phil Spector and Brian Wilson productions in the 1960s and 1970s. She played guitar on Ritchie Valens' "La Bamba" and is credited with the bass tracks on several Simon & Garfunkel hits and many film scores by Quincy Jones and Lalo Schifrin. Among her most often cited work Kaye anchored the Beach Boys' album Pet Sounds.

Life and career

Kaye was born in Everett, Washington to professional musicians Clyde and Dot Smith. She grew up in poverty near the Port of Los Angeles and in 1949 at the age of fourteen began teaching guitar professionally. Throughout the 1950s, Kaye played bebop jazz guitar in dozens of nightclubs around Los Angeles with many noted bands including Bob Neal's jazz group, Jack Sheldon backing Lenny Bruce, Teddy Edwards and Billy Higgins. By her own account, Kaye got into lucrative studio work "accidentally" in late 1957 with Sam Cooke. A few years later, when a bass player failed to show for a session at Capitol Records in Hollywood, she was asked to fill in on what was then often called the "Fender bass".

Throughout the 1960s, she played bass on a significant percentage of records appearing on the Billboard Hot 100, although she was almost wholly unknown to the general public at the time. Kaye played bass on many of the Beach Boys hit recordings, including "Good Vibrations", "Help Me, Rhonda", "Sloop John B", and "California Girls". She worked on Brian Wilson's ill-fated but legendary Smile project (and was present at the "Fire" session in late November 1966 when Wilson reportedly asked the studio musicians to wear toy fire hats). Kaye's work also appears extensively on well-known television and film soundtracks from the 1960s and early 1970s.

She worked under most of the leading producers and musical directors in Los Angeles during that era, including Brian Wilson, Michel Legrand, Phil Spector, Elmer Bernstein, Lalo Schifrin, David Rose, Dave Grusin, Ernie Freeman, Hugo Montenegro, Leonard Rosenman, John Williams, Alfred Newman, David Axelrod and Lionel Newman. Kaye played the bass tracks on several of the Monkees hits, did soundtrack work (including sound effects on bass guitar) for a young Steven Spielberg and tracks for Quincy Jones whose 2001 autobiography Q noted, "... women like... Fender bass player Carol Kaye... could do anything and leave men in the dust."

Kaye performed on several American television themes including the Quinn Martin produced Cannon, The Streets of San Francisco, , M*A*S*H, Kojak, Get Smart, Hogan's Heroes, The Love Boat, McCloud, Mannix, It Takes a Thief, Peyton Place and the Cosby Show. She is credited with performing on the soundtracks of Hawaii Five-O, The Addams Family and The Brady Bunch along with Ironside, Room 222, Bonanza, Wonder Woman, Alias Smith & Jones, Run for Your Life and Barnaby Jones.

Beginning in 1969, she wrote How To Play The Electric Bass, the first of many bass tutoring books and DVD courses. She gave lessons to thousands of students, including John Clayton, Mike Porcaro, Alf Clausen, David Hughes, Tony Sales, Karl E. H. Seigfried, Roy Vogt and David Hungate. Kaye retired from studio work during the 1970s because of arthritis. She later became active again as a session musician, live jazz performer and teacher of both bass and guitar, giving seminars and interviews.

Zappa

Kaye played 12-string guitar on Frank Zappa's groundbreaking album Freak Out!. She also played on a few songs for his following album but declined to continue, saying she found some of the lyrics offensive. Kaye later said Zappa was good-natured and understanding about her qualms and they remained on friendly terms.

Tribute

In 2010, Kaye was the subject of a tribute song on the album July Flame by Portland, Oregon musician Laura Veirs entitled "Carol Kaye." Featuring Jim James of My Morning Jacket the lyrics include many of the more famous song titles that featured Kaye.

Basses

Fender Precision Bass

Fender Jazz Bass

Fender Mustang Bass

Rickenbacker 4000

Aria Pro II Basses

Amps

Mesa Boogie

Marshall Amplifiers

Selected discography

Kaye played on hundreds of commercially released recordings and soundtracks. These lists represent only a small fraction of her recorded performances.

Electric bass credits

Credits for Recorded Singles on Bass

"Good Vibrations" (The Beach Boys)

"Soul Reggae" (Charles Kynard)

"Andmoreagain" (Love)

"Homeward Bound" (Simon and Garfunkel)

"California Girls, Sloop John B, Help Me, Rhonda, Heroes and Villains" (The Beach Boys)

"Natural Man" (Lou Rawls)

"Come Together" (Count Basie)

"Feelin' Alright" (Joe Cocker)

"I Think He's Hiding" (Randy Newman)

"Games People Play" (Mel Tormé)

"Cantaro" (Gene Ammons)

"Wait 'Til My Bobby Gets Home" (Darlene Love)

"Goin' Out Of My Head/Can't Take My Eyes Off You" (The Lettermen)

"Go Little Honda" (The Hondels)

"Hikky Burr" (Quincy Jones & Bill Cosby & TV theme)

"I'm a Believer" (The Monkees)

"Indian Reservation" (Paul Revere & the Raiders)

"In the Heat of the Night", "I Don't Need No Doctor", "America The Beautiful", "Understanding" (Ray Charles)

"It Must Be Him" (Vikki Carr)

"Little Green Apples" (O.C. Smith)

"Midnight Confessions" (The Grass Roots)

" Theme" (Lalo Schifrin)

"Mannix Theme" (Lalo Schifrin)

"Out of This World" (Nancy Wilson)

"Wichita Lineman" and "Rhinestone Cowboy" (Glen Campbell)

"River Deep - Mountain High" (Ike & Tina Turner)

"Scarborough Fair/Canticle" (Simon and Garfunkel)

"Sixteen Tons" (Tennessee Ernie Ford)

"Something Stupid" (Frank and Nancy Sinatra)

"These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" (Nancy Sinatra)

"This Diamond Ring" (Gary Lewis & the Playboys)

"The Twelfth of Never" (Johnny Mathis)

"The Way We Were" (Barbra Streisand)

"Soul & Inspiration" bass, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" guitar (The Righteous Brothers)

"Suspicious Minds" (Elvis Presley) - some sources & Musicians Union contract

"Carry On" (JJ Cale) - JJ Cale Styles Book

Album Credits on Bass

Selected highlights include:

Pet Sounds (The Beach Boys)

Song of Innocence (David Axelrod, 1968)

Songs of Experience (David Axelrod, 1969)

Release of an Oath (The Electric Prunes, 1968)

There's A Whole Lalo Schifrin Goin' On (Lalo Schifrin, 1968)

Dirty Harry (score by Lalo Schifrin, 1971)

Northern Windows (Hampton Hawes)

Big Man (Cannonball Adderley)

Reelin' With The Feelin' (Charles Kynard)

Cameo (Dusty Springfield, 1972)

Hugo In Wonder-land (Hugo Montenegro)

Your Good Thing (Lou Rawls)

You've Made Me So Very Happy (Lou Rawls)

The Funky Organ-ization of Henry Cain (Henry Cain)

Pride (Pride) (1970)

Thumbs up (Ray Pizzi, Carol Kaye, Mitch Holder)(1999)

Picking Up On The E-String (Carol Kaye) (1995)

Freak Out! (Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention)1965

Absolutely Free (Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention) 1966

Cosmic Brotherhood (Bill Plummer, 1968)

Recorded Credits on Guitar

"Then He Kissed Me" (The Crystals)

"Danke Schoen" (Wayne Newton)

"Johnny Angel" (Shelley Fabares)

"La Bamba" (Ritchie Valens)

"Let's Dance" (Chris Montez)

"Needles and Pins" (Jackie DeShannon)

"The Beat Goes On" (Sonny & Cher)

"You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" (The Righteous Brothers)

"The Birds and the Bees" (Jewel Akens), with a Leslie speaker effect

"Mannix Theme" (Lalo Schifrin)

"The Daily Planet" (Love)

References

Sources

===Teaching materials by Kaye===

How To Play The Electric Bass

Personally yours (1970)

Electric Bass lines series Nos 1-6''

Jazz Improv For Bass

Pro's Jazz Phrases Bass

Bass DVD Course

Music Reading DVD w/Manual

Teaching Playing Hangin' DVD

Jazz Bass CD & Guide

Rock-Funk Bass CD & Guide, produced Joe Pass

Carol Kaye: Bass CD

Bass Performances CD

Hit Bass Lines CD

Jazz Improv Soloing DVD Course

How to play Electric Bass chords

Archival recordings

California Creamin - Carol Kaye Guitars 1965 CD

Better Days (1971) CD

Documentary

Rockin Suuri Tuntematon aka First Lady of Bass: Carol Kaye documentary, Pekka Rautiomaa, YLE Dokumenttiohjelmat 2004

External links

Official Carol Kaye Website, including pictures and online forums

Image of Kaye at work in 1974, from her website

Kaye talks about her Motown experiences with Tony Keys on Central FM Radio in Spain

Category:1935 births Category:Living people Category:American rock bass guitarists Category:American session musicians Category:The Beach Boys Category:The Monkees Category:People from Everett, Washington Category:Musicians from Washington (U.S. state) Category:The Wrecking Crew members Category:Female bass guitarists Category:American female guitarists Category:Crest Records artists

Name	Beginner
Background	group_or_band
Alias	Absolute Beginner
Origin	Hamburg, Germany
Years active	1992 - present
Label	Buback, Universal
Url	www.beginner.de
Current members	EißfeldtDenyoDJ Mad
Past members	DJ BurnNabilMirkoPladdin Mardin

Beginner (formerly Absolute Beginner is a German rap group from Hamburg, consisting of Eizi Eiz [alias Jan Delay/Eißfeldt], Denyo and DJ Mad.

Band history

The group was founded as Absolute Beginner in 1991, initially with six members: Jan, Denyo, Mardin, DJ Burn, Nabil, Mirko, but the latter three dropped out after a few months. They started rapping in English and German with homemade beats, but later went over to rapping solely in German. During their first public appearance they met DJ Mad, who immediately joined the group.

In 1992 they released their first track, K.E.I.N.E. on the Sampler Kill the Nation With a Groove. The following year they released their first E.P., Gotting, and embarked on their first tour.

Their first proper album Flashnizm was released in 1996, to a fairly moderate commercial success. Nevertheless they produced a video for the single Natural Born Chillaz, which MTV refused to play, and went on tour throughout the German speaking countries to smaller crowds. Mardin became dissatisfied with the band’s progress and left in 1997. That same year Eißfeldt founded the Underground tape label Eimsbush, references to which are interspersed in many German hip hop tracks. Eimsbush records later developed into a full-fledged independent label, producing new acts like D-Flame and Illo77, but closed down in 2003.

In 1998 they had a Top 10 hit with Liebes Lied ("Dear Song", a pun on the word for love song). Their album Bambule entered the album TOP 30 and the next singles Hammerhart ("Hammer Hard") and Füchse ("Foxes"), which featured Samy Deluxe. They went on three tours with Dynamite Deluxe, Main Concept and the Beastie Boys respectively and appeared at major festivals. In 2001 the Beginners released a remix album to Bambule, called Boombule.

In 1999 Eißfeldt released his first solo reggae single, a cover-version of New Wave idol Nena’s Irgendwo, Irgendwie, Irgendwann. In 2001, he then released a solo reggae album, Searching for the Jan Soul Rebels. Denyo also went solo and released his album Minidisko 2001, while DJ Mad produced for other major acts and hosted a weekly radio show. This did not signalize a break-up, however, with Denyo and Eißfeldt going on the 60Hz-tour together, along with Eimsbush-act D-Flame.

In 2002, after the German hip hop hype had abated, Mad, Eißfeldt and Denyo agreed to record an album together again, which became their 2003 hit album Blast Action Heroes, heralded by the Top 10 single Fäule. It rose to first place in the German album charts, countering the downwards trend of non-mainstream music styles, which had been brought about by a number of changes in the music industry and Germany's media landscape. Their 2003 Blast Action Heroes-tour went into its second round in 2004. The first Beginner DVD is scheduled for release in December 2004. After Blast Action Heroes reached number one on the German charts, they released Danke, a song thanking their fans for their support.

Music

The Beginners started out with highly politicized lyrics. Their first song K.E.I.N.E. attacked the German police force. Their lyrics often mix comedy and politics. Indeed, a lot of the early satire of their lyrics abated in their first commercially successful album Bambule, especially in the singles released, and some rival acts accused them of selling out. However Eißfeldt’s reggae album has political lyrics throughout and Denyo has been engaged in the anti-racism hip hop project Brothers Keepers and Blast Action Heroes is also a thoroughly politicized album.

After the long break, the Beginner returned with a more progressive and experimental sound, without letting go of their old-skool roots.

Aliases

Jan Eißfeldt is also known as Eisfeldt65, Jan Delay (his reggae and funk name), Boba Ffett (his Style-Liga name) and Eizi Eiz (originally a character – a pretentious young rapper – in a duet with D-Flame, now his current stage name).

Denyo is also known as Denyo77, Denyo Deutschland and, simply, Dennis.

Discography

1993: Song K.E.I.N.E. on the sampler Kill The Nation With A Groove (LP/CD, Buback Tonträger)

1993: Gotting (EP/EPCD, Buback)

1995: Die Kritik an den Platten kann die Platte der Kritik nicht ersetzen (12"/SingleCD, Buback)

1996: Natural Born Chillas (12"/SingleCD, Buback)

1996: Flashnizm [Stylopath] (LP/CD, Buback)

1998: Rock On (12"/SingleCD, Buback/Universal Records)

1998: Bambule (LP/CD, Buback/Universal)

1998: Liebes Lied (12"/SingleCD, Buback/Universal)

1999: Hammerhart (12"/SingleCD, Buback/Universal)

1999: Füchse/K2 (12"/SingleCD, Buback/Universal)

2000: Boombule - Bambule Remixed (RMX LP/CD, Buback/Motor)

2003: Blast Action Heroes (LP/CD, Buback/Motor)

+ solo projects and features

References

External links

Category:German hip hop groups Category:Hamburg hip hop Category:Musical groups from Hamburg