Female Bass Players Learn Bass Guitar Intuitively
Feb 14th, 2008 by guitarnews
All the good bass players are guys, right? Female bass players are not that plentiful in the majority of music genres across the board. You’ve only got to look back to the 1970’s to find this statement to be fairly accurate.
However, in the intervening years, many women have taken an interest in playing the bass guitar, and are now proving to be very good at their craft. Not only can women learn bass guitar just as well as guys, many guitar teachers think that women learn more intuitively and have a more inbuilt sense of rhythm and pitch than a lot of men.
George Urbaszek is an innovative and highly respected music educator who plays double bass, guitar, bass guitar and bassitar. He has written a very interesting article on female bass players.
Girls On Bass
At last female bass players are emerging! As a male bass player and music teacher I’d like to present some of my observations regarding the emergence of female bass players over the past 32 years. (That’s how long I’ve been teaching music).
In 1976 there was hardly a female bass player in sight. This applied across the board, in any music genre. Things were changing, however, in all walks of life. Emancipation of both males and females was a priority in many minds. Especially art forms were undergoing the (r)evolution instigated in a huge way in the 1960s, and music was a driving voice.
The bass guitar had only been commercially available for about twenty years – just one generation. It is a lot less cumbersome than the double bass, and apparently more suited to petite hands. The double bass, however, after being set up correctly, is only slightly more physically demanding. Both instruments fulfill the same function in almost all musics: to provide the centre of rhythm and pitch.
My main comparative observation – so far – has been that females intuitively have a superior sense of both rhythm and pitch (sorry guys). That’s a killer combination, because the result is usually melodic bass playing (I’m in heaven!).
In my teaching, I’ve gone from zero female bass students to about 15%, which roughly equates to the real world of music performance and recording. I would love to see this percentage increase dramatically – because I love bass and I know what girls on bass can do.
About The Author: Besides being an innovative and highly respected music educator, George Urbaszek plays double bass, guitar, bass guitar and bassitar. He has over 3000 performances and 120 recording sessions to his credit and has toured Australia, Central Europe, Canada, USA and the Pacific Islands.
George has performed with artists ranging from Rolf Harris through to Judith Durham, Beccy Cole, Marina Prior, George Washingmachine, Thelma Housten and the New York production of Porgy and Bess. His former students include Brendan Clarke (winner of the Australian National Jazz Award), Kim Khahn (Robbie Williams, Mel C, Natalie Imbruglia) and Rory Quirk (John Butler Trio).
After lecturing for thirteen years in the Jazz Department of the Australian National University, George is now residing near Byron Bay, Australia, where he works from home teaching students from all over the world using an innovative approach of step-by-step online bass lessons. These lessons cost as little as US $3.46 each and are available at http://www.creativebasslessons.com
So if you are a female looking to learn bass guitar, but feeling a little intimidated, it sounds as though you may already have a head start! Learning bass guitar can also be simpler in the initial learning phase – sounds like an irresistible combination for a would be female rocker!
Thanks, fellow musicians, for posting my article here – and for the excellent intro.
George Urbaszek
Always on the lookout for quality articles from quality authors George. Good to know you’re just down the road from us at Byron Bay (we’re at Mudgeeraba on the Gold Coast). We look forward to publishing more from you in the future. Thanks for the article! Jean
Ever heard of Carol Kaye? She played electric bass on just about every hit recorded in LA between 1960 and 1975(Stevie Wonder,Supremes,Beach Boys,Quincy Jones soundtrack stuff etc.Besides literally writing the book on electric bass she also played guitar on many hit records. So, there is no question females can play bass. However the idea that they are better or worse is silly. I have had 1000’s of students here in LA over the years and have not observed any difference in musical ability.
Great to hear there is a future for girls. My daughter has just started DB at Guildhall in London and I am struggling for striking female role models as you would find in Cello. Sounds like that will change.
Great to read your article.
Jayne
Maybe that explains it…, I’m a female bass player and it came so easily for me, almost effortless. I remembered and ex-rocker who just couldn’t pick up a bass line, well, I learned bass a couple of years later and as a new player, almost effortlessly learned it. I tend to discount myself as a female, as men have typically been the guitar/ bass players, but it gives me encouragement to know that maybe I have a lot more potential for continued growth than I realized. I think the huge strings scare women away, but it’s way easier on my fingers than playing acoustic guitar the same amount of time. I can play 2 hour nonstop sets without blisters.
I have found very interesting article here.
Thanks for sharing.