What it is really good for, though, is accompanying a lead line of a song. In
this setting, the rich sound of an acoustic bass serves to beautifully bottom
out the high notes in an acoustic ensemble. Paired with an electric guitar, an
amplified acoustic bass helps fill out the tinny-ness of a classic Danelectro or
Rickenbacker. In an acoustic setting, the acoustic bass adds a feeling of
weight and volume to an ensemble.The Guitar .....................................................................................................
With almost all instruments in the guitar family — except the ones with alter-
nate, customized tunings — the strings are tuned to E, A, D, G, B, and E (with
the low E tuned to the second E below middle C, and E4 being the E above
middle C on the piano keyboard).Guitar-like instruments have existed since ancient times, with one precursor
to the modern design being a two-stringed version used by the Hittites in
Syria around 1500 B.C. The first “real” guitars appeared around the 14th cen-
tury in Spain. They had seven strings instead of six, with the first six tuned in
pairs (each of the three pairs of strings was tuned to the same note) and the
seventh its own note. (There was no standardized tuning in those halcyon
days before rigid guitar theory, so musicians were actually free to tune their
strings any way they wanted to.)Over the next three centuries, strings were added, removed, and doubled as
the guitar began to take its modern form. By the end of the 18th century, the
double courses of strings were turned into single strings, and six differently
tuned strings became the standard for the instrument. Guitar makers in the
19th century broadened the body, increased the curve of the waist, thinned
the belly, and changed the internal bracing, while the wooden tuning pegs
were replaced by longer-lasting modern machine heads.As an instrument of classical music, the guitar came to prominence largely
through the efforts of the Spanish composer Francisco Tarrega and the
Spanish guitar virtuoso Andrés Segovia.Using conventional tuning, with the strings tuned to EADGBE, the range of a
guitar is E3 to E6, though the guitar sounds one octave lower than written.
That means the guitarist reads the notes you write, but the sound that comes
out is actually an octave lower.Because the guitar does have such a wide playable range and is quick enough
to render complicated melodic phrases on, it’s often used as a lead instru-
ment in an ensemble, especially in pop or rock music.190 Part IV: Orchestration and Arrangement