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49-566: James Walter Rodford (7 July 1941 – 20 January 2018) was an English musician, who played bass for several British rock bands. He was a founding member of Argent , which was led by his cousin Rod Argent , and performed with them from their formation in 1969 until they disbanded in 1976. He was the bassist for the Kinks from 1978 until they disbanded in 1997. In 2004, he joined the reunited Zombies , whom he had been closely associated with since

98-536: A single coil pickup similar to that of a Telecaster . By 1957 the Precision more closely resembled the Fender Stratocaster with the body edges beveled for comfort, and the pickup was changed to a split coil design. The Fender Bass was a revolutionary instrument for gigging musicians. In comparison with the large, heavy upright bass , which had been the main bass instrument in popular music from

147-415: A 30-inch (762 mm) scale-length instrument. The Fender VI , a 6-string bass, was tuned one octave lower than standard guitar tuning. It was released in 1961, and was briefly favored by Jack Bruce of Cream . Gibson introduced its short-scale 30.5-inch (775 mm) EB-3 in 1961, also used by Bruce. The EB-3 had a "mini-humbucker" at the bridge position. Gibson basses tended to be instruments with

196-690: A band that ex- Animals guitarist Hilton Valentine formed, the Animals II, which also featured former Animals drummer John Steel , and keyboardist Dave Rowberry . Rodford continued with this band (which changed its working name to "The Animals and Friends" after Valentine left) until joining Argent and Colin Blunstone in the revival of the Zombies. Rodford never played with the Zombies during their original incarnation, despite having been closely involved with them. However, he began to play with them in

245-486: A compensating system, the tubing from the final valve is routed back to the first valve, and each of the valves before the final one is fitted with a short valve slide in addition to the normal ones. When the third or fourth valve, as applicable, is depressed in combination with any of the other valves, the additional tubing brings the pitch into tune. This has the primary effect of making the lowest octave playable including B natural (unplayable on non-compensating horns), and

294-408: A fixed bridge, such as a pin bridge on an acoustic guitar. A luthier or technician adjusts a floating bridge simply by carefully changing its position until the intonation is correct. Adjusting intonation on a fixed bridge involves carefully shaping the bridge saddle with a file to alter the string's contact point. Another cause of poor intonation on a fretted instrument is that the maker didn't cut

343-400: A guitarist and a daughter, Paula. Rodford died after a fall on 20 January 2018, at the age of 76, a few days after returning from America where he had played a few gigs with The Zombies. His son Steve is currently the drummer for the Zombies . Bass guitar The bass guitar , electric bass or simply bass ( / b eɪ s / ) is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It

392-434: A hybrid between the two. Coated strings have their surface coated with a synthetic layer while tapewound strings feature a metal core with a non-metallic winding. Taperwound strings have a tapered end where the exposed core sits on the bridge saddle without windings. The choice of winding has considerable impact on the sound of the instrument, with certain winding styles often being preferred for certain musical genres. In

441-419: A note not requiring it. Imprecise articulation often ends up as poor intonation and tone. Woodwinds are manufactured with holes that must be covered or uncovered to shorten or lengthen the bore to change pitch, and (except for flute ) require register keys to change octaves. Most woodwind instruments comply to a regular harmonic series of pitches and require one register key to change octaves. The exception

490-405: A secondary effect of putting low B natural and C natural into tune. Compensating systems add weight and "stuffiness" to a horn, so they are not commonly fitted to tubas. They find principal use in euphoniums, in which virtually all professional models are compensating. Some French horns have an altogether different system: they have a complete set of slides on each valve in B ♭ , parallel to

539-985: A shorter 30.5" scale length than the Precision. Gibson did not produce a 34-inch (864 mm)-scale bass until 1963 with the release of the Thunderbird . The first commercial fretless bass guitar was the Ampeg AUB-1, introduced in 1966. In the late 1960s, eight-string basses, with four octave paired courses (similar to a 12 string guitar), were introduced, such as the Hagström H8. In 1972, Alembic established what became known as "boutique" or "high-end" electric bass guitars. These expensive, custom-tailored instruments, as used by Phil Lesh , Jack Casady , and Stanley Clarke , featured unique designs, premium hand-finished wood bodies, and innovative construction techniques such as multi-laminate neck-through-body construction and graphite necks. Alembic also pioneered

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588-527: A single pickup . Around 100 were made during this period. Audiovox also sold their "Model 236" bass amplifier. In the 1950s, Leo Fender and George Fullerton developed the first mass-produced electric bass guitar. The Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company began producing the Precision Bass , or P-Bass, in October 1951. The design featured a simple uncontoured "slab" body design and

637-417: A six-string bass tuned (low to high) B0, E1, A1, D2, G2, C3, adding a low B string and a high C string. Intonation (music) In vocal music, intonation also signifies the singing of an opening phrase. The lower or upper pitch of an interval may be sharp or flat, or both pitches of an interval. If the lower pitch is sharp or the upper pitch is flat, the interval may be said to be flat given that as

686-449: A slight increase in the distance from the bridge saddle to the fret, the note sounds sharp. Playing technique has some effect on intonation but some amount of intonation variability may be uncontrollable. Most electric fretted string instruments have individually adjustable bridge saddles, adjustable with a screw driver or Allen wrench. Acoustic fretted instruments typically have either a floating bridge, held in place by string tension, or

735-485: A tritone on a slide length of over 80 centimeters. The trombonist may use his/her ear to minutely adjust pitch on sustained notes. By coincidence, the position of the bell on most trombones provides a reference for fourth position, but this is not accessible during fast passages and is massively unreliable as intonation varies by instrument make and model. Articulation is also an important consideration when playing trombone: imprecise articulation may add unwanted glissandi to

784-474: A whole it is too narrow; while if the lower pitch is flat or the upper pitch is sharp, the interval may be said to be sharp given that as a whole it is too wide. Intervals are conventionally measured from the bottom, as such in an interval that is too wide the upper pitch is thus sharp. Intonation exists within the context of musical temperament , of which there are several types. However, the interval itself may be in tune, in relation to itself (i.e. both notes of

833-417: Is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or acoustic guitar , but with a longer neck and scale length . The bass guitar most commonly has four strings, though five- and six-stringed models are also relatively popular, and bass guitars with even more (or fewer) strings or courses have been built. Since the mid-1950s, the bass guitar has largely come to replace

882-410: Is termed a fretless bass . The scale of a bass is defined as the length of the freely oscillating strings between the nut and the bridge saddles. On a modern 4-string bass guitar, 30" (76 cm) or less is considered short scale, 32" (81 cm) medium scale, 34" (86 cm) standard or long scale and 35" (89 cm) extra-long scale. Bass pickups are generally attached to the body of the guitar and located beneath

931-399: Is the clarinet , which sounds only every other pitch of the harmonic series. This means that the clarinet, rather than having an octave key, has a "register key" that raises the pitch by a 12th. Brass instruments with valves have an inherent intonation defect in that valve combinations tend to be sharp. This is because the open horn is in a pitch of (for example) B ♭ , so depressing

980-656: Is usually tuned the same as the double bass, which corresponds to pitches one octave lower than the four lowest-pitched strings of a guitar (typically E , A , D , and G ). It is played primarily with the fingers or thumb, or with a pick . The electric bass guitar is acoustically a relatively quiet instrument, so to be heard at a practical performance volume, it requires external amplification . It can also be used in conjunction with direct input boxes , audio interfaces, mixing consoles, computers, or bass effects processors that offer headphone jacks. The majority of bass pickup systems are electromagnetic in nature. According to

1029-592: The Fender Jazz Bass , initially known as the "Deluxe Bass", used a body design known as an offset waist which was first seen on the Jazzmaster guitar in an effort to improve comfort while playing seated. The Jazz bass, or J-Bass, features two single-coil pickups. Providing a more "Gibson-scale" instrument, rather than the 34-inch (864 mm) Jazz and Precision, Fender produced the Mustang Bass ,

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1078-578: The Masses in Giovanni Battista Bassani 's Acroama missale . Intonation sensitivity is "determined by how the preference for a chord varies with the tuning , or mistuning, of the center note ," and may be used to assess and evaluate a known or new chord and its perceptibility as the harmonic basis for a scale . For example, the chord formed by pitches in the ratios 3:5:7 has a very similar pattern of intonation sensitivity to

1127-571: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , an "Electric bass guitar, usually with four heavy strings tuned E 1 '–A 1 '–D 2 –G 2 ." It also defines bass as "Bass (iv). A contraction of Double bass or Electric bass guitar." According to some authors the proper term is "electric bass". Common names for the instrument are "bass guitar", "electric bass guitar", and "electric bass" and some authors claim that they are historically accurate. A bass guitar whose neck lacks frets

1176-456: The StingRay , the first widely produced bass with active (powered) electronics built into the instrument. Basses with active electronics can include a preamplifier and knobs for boosting and cutting the low and high frequencies. In the mid-1970s, five-string basses, with a very low "B" string, were introduced. In 1975, bassist Anthony Jackson commissioned luthier Carl Thompson to build

1225-415: The double bass in popular music due to its lighter weight, the inclusion of frets (for easier intonation ) in most models, and, most importantly, its design for electric amplification. This is also because the double bass is acoustically compromised for its range (like the viola ) in that it is scaled down from the optimal size that would be appropriate for those low notes. The four-string bass guitar

1274-409: The "Beatle bass". In 1957, Rickenbacker introduced the model 4000, the first bass to feature a neck-through -body design in which the neck is part of the body wood. The Burns London Supersound was introduced in 1958. With the explosion in popularity of rock music in the 1960s, many more manufacturers began making electric basses, including Yamaha , Teisco and Guyatone . Introduced in 1960,

1323-404: The 1930s, musician and inventor Paul Tutmarc of Seattle , Washington, developed the first electric bass guitar in its modern form, a fretted instrument designed to be played horizontally. The 1935 sales catalog for Tutmarc's company Audiovox featured his "Model 736 Bass Fiddle", a solid-bodied electric bass guitar with four strings, a 30 + 1 ⁄ 2 -inch (775-millimetre) scale length, and

1372-569: The 1950s. Kay Musical Instrument Company began production of the K162 in 1952, while Danelectro released the Longhorn in 1956. Also in 1956, at the German trade fair "Musikmesse Frankfurt" the distinctive Höfner 500/1 violin-shaped bass first appeared, constructed using violin techniques by Walter Höfner , a second-generation violin luthier. Due to its use by Paul McCartney , it became known as

1421-527: The F slides. Pressing a separate trigger routes the air through the B ♭ slides vice the F slides, and via shorter tubing to the bell. Intonation is less of a problem in French horn, because it usually plays using higher harmonics where use of the 1-3 and 1-2-3 valve combinations is not needed. In vocal music, intonation can signify the singing of an opening phrase. For example, compositions of sacred vocal music, or sections thereof, often only start after

1470-579: The Fender Precision Bass around 1957. The bass guitar was intended to appeal to guitarists as well as upright bass players, and many early pioneers of the instrument, such as Carol Kaye , Joe Osborn , and Paul McCartney were originally guitarists. Also in 1953, Gibson released the first short-scale violin -shaped electric bass, the EB-1, with an extendable end pin so a bassist could play it upright or horizontally. In 1958, Gibson released

1519-526: The Zombies in 1964. Rodford later joined the Mike Cotton Sound as a bassist.⠀ Along with Rod Argent, Rodford was one of the founding members of Argent. When Rod Argent quit the band, the remaining three members (Rodford, Bob Henrit , and John Verity ) formed the short-lived band Phoenix. Eventually, Rodford joined the Kinks as a bass guitarist in 1978 and played with them until their final disintegration in 1997. From 1999–2001 Rodford appeared in

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1568-546: The band's reincarnation in 1968 and again in the early years of the 21st century, with his son Steve on drums. In 2008, Rodford joined the Kast Off Kinks, on the retirement of John Dalton , whom he had followed into the Kinks after Andy Pyle. In 2009, Jim Rodford regularly played in "The Rodford Files" along with his sons Steve Rodford (Blunstone/Argent band) on drums and Russ Rodford on guitar, plus Derik Timms (mOOn Dogs) on guitar, lap steel, slide and vocals. In 2010,

1617-449: The core. Bass guitar strings vary by the material and cross-sectional shape of the winding. Common variants include roundwound, flatwound, halfwound (groundwound), coated, tapewound and taperwound (not to be confused with tapewound) strings. Roundwound and flatwound strings feature windings with circular and rounded-square cross-sections, respectively, with halfround (also referred to as halfwound, ground wound, pressure wound) strings being

1666-697: The early 1960s, and remained a member until his death in 2018. He was also a member of the Swinging Blue Jeans and the Kast Off Kinks . Rodford was born on 7 July 1941, in St Albans , Hertfordshire , England. In the late 1950s and early 1960s he was a member of the Bluetones, the biggest band in St Albans at the time. Although he did not become a band member at this stage, Rodford was instrumental in helping his younger cousin Rod Argent form

1715-424: The early 20th century to the 1940s, the bass guitar could be easily transported to shows. When amplified, the bass guitar was also less prone than acoustic basses to unwanted audio feedback . The addition of frets enabled bassists to play in tune more easily than on fretless acoustic or electric upright basses , and allowed guitarists to more easily transition to the instrument. In 1953, Monk Montgomery became

1764-413: The first and/or third valve slides to allow lengthening of the valve slides, while on larger instruments like the euphonium and tuba, such devices are impractical. Instead, better-quality tubas and euphoniums are provided a fourth valve, which takes the place of the 1-3 valve combination and allows use of 2-4 in place of 1-2-3. Better manufacturers of three-valve instruments such as Sousaphones often make

1813-613: The first bassist to tour with the Fender bass, in Lionel Hampton 's postwar big band . Montgomery was also possibly the first to record with the electric bass, on July 2, 1953, with the Art Farmer Septet . Roy Johnson (with Lionel Hampton), and Shifty Henry (with Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five ), were other early Fender bass pioneers. Bill Black , who played with Elvis Presley , switched from upright bass to

1862-517: The first phrase, meaning that that first phrase has to be intoned according to a traditional (usually Gregorian) melody. Where that tradition was not upheld, an intonation had to be composed afterwards for a performance of the complete work. Johann Sebastian Bach composed such inserts for church music by other composers, for example the Credo intonation in F ;major, BWV 1081 , for the Credo of one of

1911-524: The first valve lowers the pitch to A ♭ . Depressing the second valve in isolation lowers the pitch to A natural. But together, these two valves produce a sharp G natural, because the second valve slide, which is long enough to lengthen a B ♭ horn to A natural, is slightly too short to lower the longer A ♭ horn to G. Combinations using all three valves have even worse intonation, so instruments need some means to compensate. Trumpets and flugelhorns commonly have saddles or triggers on

1960-424: The interval are in tune in relation to each other), but flat or sharp as a whole and thus both notes of the interval are out of tune. Notes within a melody can be either sharp or flat, or in tune, in relation to the other notes in the melody or other pitches sounding at the same time. With fretless string instruments such as violins or cellos , intonation depends on the exact places the musician's fingers press

2009-497: The just major chord , formed by 4:5:6—more similar than does the minor chord . The major or minor triad may be used to form the diatonic scale and the 3:5:7 triad may be used to form the Bohlen–Pierce scale . The semiotic concept came to musicology from linguistics. In Soviet musicology, it refers to Boris Asafiev ’s concept of intonation in music. This concept looks at intonation as a basis of musical expression, and relates it to

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2058-612: The maple arched-top EB-2 described in the Gibson catalog 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). The Fender and Gibson versions used bolt-on and set necks. Several other companies also began manufacturing bass guitars during

2107-444: The nut, bridge saddle position, the position of the frets themselves, the bending stiffness of the string, and the technique of the musician. On fretted string instruments, pushing a string against a fret—aside from raising the string's pitch because its effective length is reduced—also causes a slight secondary raise in pitch because pushing the string increases its tension. If the instrument doesn't compensate for this with

2156-526: The original line-up of Argent reformed and resumed playing in concert. They mounted a short tour including gigs in Frome, Southampton, Wolverhampton, Leamington Spa and London. On 20 January 2018, Rodford died after he fell down stairs at his home in St Albans . Rodford met his wife, Jean, at the Pioneer Club, St Albans, in the early days of his music career. They have two sons, Steve, a drummer, Russell

2205-406: The string slots in the nut deep enough. If the string is higher than fret height at the nut, the string deflection-caused pitch increase is progressively greater closer to the nut. Like unfretted string instruments, the trombone relies on the musician precisely positioning something, in this case the trombone's slide. The slide's pitch adjustment on a single partial is approximately the interval of

2254-404: The strings against the instrument's fingerboard, as well as any pull or push the musician exerts on the string, either along the string's length or perpendicular to it. The pleasantly "alive" sound of a large string section results from the amount by which each stringed instrument is slightly out of tune. Several factors affect fretted instrument intonation, including depth of the string slots in

2303-408: The strings. They are responsible for converting the vibrations of the strings into analogous electrical signals, which are in turn passed as input to an instrument amplifier . Bass guitar strings are composed of a core and winding . The core is a wire which runs through the center of the string and is generally made of steel, nickel, or an alloy . The winding is an additional wire wrapped around

2352-449: The third valve slide long enough to partially address this deficiency. Also, many tuba models place the first valve slide in a position where it may be manipulated by the musician with the left hand during playing, which allows tuning for the always-flat 5th partial harmonic at the C below middle C. Another solution for euphonium or tuba is called a compensating system, and these have been made in both three- and four-valve versions. In

2401-618: The use of onboard electronics for pre-amplification and equalization. Active electronics increase the output of the instrument, and allow more options for controlling tonal flexibility, giving the player the ability to amplify as well as to attenuate certain frequency ranges while improving the overall frequency response (including more low-register and high-register sounds). 1976 saw the UK company Wal begin production of their own range of active basses. In 1974 Music Man Instruments, founded by Tom Walker, Forrest White and Leo Fender , introduced

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