Electric Washtub Bass

4 string washtub bass

The washtub bass, or "gutbucket," is an American folk instrument that uses a metal washtub as a resonator. Although it is possible for a washtub bass to have four or more strings and tuning pegs, traditional washtub basses have a single string whose pitch is adjusted by pushing or pulling on a staff to change the tension. Image File history File links ElectricInbindiBass. ... Image File history File links ElectricInbindiBass. ... Image File history File links WashtubBass. ... Image File history File links WashtubBass. ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and for the common people. ...

Variations on the basic design are found around the world, particularly in the choice of resonator. As a result there are many different names for the instrument including the "gas-tank bass," "barrel bass," "box bass" (Trinidad), "bush bass" (Australia), "babatoni" (South Africa), "tingotalango" (Cuba), and many others.

Ethnomusicologists trace the origins of the instrument to the 'ground harp' - a version that uses a piece of bark or an animal skin stretched over a pit as a resonator. The ang-bindi made by the Baka people of the Congo is but one example of this instrument found among tribal societies in Africa and Southeast Asia, and it lends its name to the generic term inbindi for all related instruments. Evolution of design, including the use of more portable resonators, has led to instruments such as the dan bau (Vietnam) and gopichand (India), and more recently, the "electric one-string." The dan bau (dàn bâu) is a Vietnamese one-stringed zither. ...

The washtub bass is sometimes part of a jug band, often accompanied by a washboard as a percussion instrument. Jug bands, first known as "spasm bands," originated among African-Americans around 1900 in New Orleans and reached a height of popularity between 1925 and 1935 in Memphis and Louisville. At about the same time, European-Americans of Appalachia were using the instrument in "old-timey" folk music. A jug band is a band employing a jug player and a mix of traditional and home-made instruments. ... A washboard (left) and a piano player A washboard is a tool designed for hand washing clothing. ... A percussion instrument can be any object which produces a sound by being struck with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration. ...

A musical style known as "gut-bucket blues" came out of the jug band scene, and was cited by Sam Phillips of Sun Records as the type of music he was seeking when he first recorded Elvis Presley. Sam Phillips, born Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – June 30, 2003), was a record producer who played an important role in the emergence of rock and roll as the major form of popular music in the 1950s. ... Label of the fourth Sun Records Sun Records has been the name for four 20th century record labels. ...

In English skiffle bands and Australian and New Zealand bush bands, the same sort of bass has a tea chest as a resonator. Before the Beatles, John Lennon and Paul McCartney's band, The Quarrymen, featured a tea-chest bass, as did many young bands around 1956. Skiffle music is a type of folk music with a jazz and blues influence, usually using homemade or improvised instruments such as the washboard, tea-chest bass, kazoo, cigar-box fiddle, or a comb and paper, and so forth. ... The washtub bass is a folk instrument that uses a metal washtub as a resonator. ... The Beatles were a highly influential English rock band from Liverpool, Merseyside, England. ... John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980), (born John Winston Lennon, known as John Ono Lennon) was an iconic English 20th century rock and roll songwriter and singer, best known as the founding member of The Beatles. ... Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942, Liverpool) is an English singer and songwriter. ... The Quarry Men (sometimes Quarrymen) were a little-known skiffle group formed around Liverpool, England in March 1957 by John Lennon. ...

A folk music revival in the U.S. in the early 1960s re-ignited interest in the washtub bass and jug band music. Bands included Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions (spelling intentionally variable) which later became The Grateful Dead, and, the Jim Kweskin Jug Band featuring Fritz Richmond (1939-2005) on bass. Richmond was considered the world's foremost washtub bass virtuoso, and his work can be found on numerous recordings from America and Japan. One of his washtub basses is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. The Grateful Dead were an American psychedelia-influenced rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. ... Fritz Richmond (1939-2005) was an American musician and recording engineer. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Currently, Brian Ritchie of the band The Violent Femmes plays a 'tubless electric washtub bass', and Les Claypool, formerly of Primus, often plays a variation called a whamola. This article is about the band. ... Leslie Edward Les Claypool (born September 29, 1963 in Richmond, California, USA) is a bassist and lead singer, best known for his work with the alternative rock band Primus. ... Primus is an American rock band formed in California in the mid-1980s. ... The Whamola is a unique bass instrument used in Funk-Jazz styles of music. ...

External links

• The Washtub Bass Page
• Inbindis Around the World - related instruments old and new.
• "How-to" and much more information on homemade basses.