The bass guitar ( also called electric bass, or simply bass ; ) is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb, by plucking, slapping, popping, tapping, thumping, or picking.

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.

Following Fender's lead, Gibson released the first short scale violin-shaped electric bass with extendable end pin in 1953, allowing it to be played upright or horizontally.

The prima balalaika is played with the fingers, the secunda and alto either with the fingers or a plectrum, depending on the music being played, and the bass and contrabass ( equipped with extension legs that rest on the floor ) are played with leather plectrums.

Wills formed several bands and played radio stations around the South and West until he formed the Texas Playboys in 1934 with Wills on fiddle, Tommy Duncan on piano and vocals, rhythm guitarist June Whalin, tenor banjoist Johnnie Lee Wills, and Kermit Whalin, who played steel guitar and bass.

Brown added twin fiddles, tenor banjo and slap bass, pointing the music in the direction of swing, which they played on local radio and at dancehalls.

Love briefly played bass in Bjelland's group Babes In Toyland in 1987 before being ejected from the band.

John Adams, known by baseball fans as " The Drummer ", has played a bass drum at nearly every home game since 1973.

Like many other string instruments, the double bass is played either with a bow ( arco ) or by plucking the strings ( pizzicato ).

Prior to the mid-20th century, double bass strings were usually made of gut, but since that time, steel strings have largely replaced gut strings, because steel strings hold their pitch better and yield more volume when played with the bow.

Dragonetti frequently played on a three string double bass tuned G-D-A from top to bottom.

Because of improvements to the double bass with steel strings and better set-ups, the bass is now played at a more advanced level than ever before and more and more composers have written works for the double bass.

Karr was given Koussevitzky's famous solo double bass by Olga Koussevitsky and played it in concerts around the world for 40 years before, in turn, giving the instrument to the International Society of Bassists for talented soloists to use in concert.

Beginning around 1890, the early New Orleans jazz ensemble ( which played a mixture of marches, ragtime, and Dixieland ) was initially a marching band with a tuba or sousaphone ( or occasionally bass saxophone ) supplying the bass line.

Bassists played " walking " bass lines — scale-based lines that outlined the harmony.

In the experimental post 1960s eras, which saw the development of free jazz and jazz-rock fusion, some of the influential bassists included Charles Mingus ( 1922 – 1979 ), who was also a composer and bandleader whose music fused hard bop with black gospel music, free jazz and classical music ; free jazz and post-bop bassist Charlie Haden ( born 1937 ) is best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman and for his role in the 1970s-era Liberation Music Orchestra, an experimental group ; Eddie Gomez and George Mraz, who played with Bill Evans and Oscar Peterson, respectively, and are both acknowledged to have furthered expectations of pizzicato fluency and melodic phrasing, fusion virtuoso Stanley Clarke ( born 1951 ) is notable for his dexterity on both the upright bass and the electric bass, and Terry Plumeri, noted for his horn-like arco fluency and vocal tone.

But with Bill O'Connor on the fiddle, and Gran Harrow exuberantly shouting `` Glory Be '' and `` Hallelujah '' above their united chant of the lilting old ballads, they played their quaint folk games with all the fervor and abandon of a real celebration.

The active sponsor of Jefferson's measure for religious liberty in Virginia, Madison played the most influential single role in the drafting of the Constitution and in securing its ratification in Virginia, founded the first political party in American history, and, as Jefferson's Secretary of State and his successor in the Presidency, guided the nation through the troubled years of our second war with Britain.

He played the leading role in negotiating the treaty with Great Britain that ended the Revolution, and directed America's foreign affairs throughout the Confederation period.

To perpetuate wealth control led by small groups of individuals who played no role in its creation prevents those with real initiative from coming to the fore, and is basically anti-democratic.

The complexities of Venetian politics eluded him, but the story of the revolution itself is told in restrained measures, with no superfluous passages and only an occasional overemphasis of the part played by its leading figure.

At the same time, however, I availed myself of the services of that great English actor and master of make-up, Sir Gauntley Pratt, to do a `` quickie '' called The Mystery of the Mad Marquess, in which I played a young American girl who inherits a haunted castle on the English moors which is filled with secret passages and sliding panels and, unbeknownst to anyone, is still occupied by an eccentric maniac.

At the end of work one day, the personnel man took the applicants one at a time, asked them to sit behind the receptionist's desk and he then played the role of a number of people who might come to the receptionist with a number of queries and for a number of purposes.

In modern jazz, the saxophone is treated as a woodwind and played with conventional embouchure.

She played chess with him by postcard.

Babe Ruth, as he always did in the Stadium, played right field to avoid having the sun in his eyes, and Tommy Thevenow, a rather mediocre hitter who played shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals, knocked a ball with all his might into the sharp angle formed by the permanent stands and the wooden bleachers, where Ruth could not reach it.

Usually she marked the few who did thank you, you didn't get that kind much in a place like this: and she played a little game with herself, seeing how downright rude she could act to the others, before they'd take offense, threaten to call the manager.

Rice has not played since injuring a knee in the opener with Maryland.

Skorich, who is 39 years old, played football at Cincinnati University and then had a three-year professional career as a lineman under Jock Sutherland with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

`` I think they played Hail To The Chief better than the Marine Corps Band, and we are grateful to them '', President Kennedy remarked after mounting the bandstand and shaking hands with conductor James Christian Pfohl.

Certainly not in Orchestra Hall where he has played countless recitals, and where Thursday night he celebrated his 20th season with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, playing the Brahms Concerto with his own slashing, demon-ridden cadenza melting into the high, pale, pure and lovely song with which a violinist unlocks the heart of the music, or forever finds it closed.

Nikolai Cherkasov, the Russian actor who has played such heroic roles as Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible, performs the lanky Don Quixote, and does so with a simple dignity that bridges the inner nobility and the surface absurdity of this poignant man.

In recent years Anna Xydis has played with the New York Philharmonic and at Lewisohn Stadium, but her program last night at Town Hall was the Greek-born pianist's first New York recital since 1948.

She played with style and a touch of the grand manner, and every piece she performed was especially effective in its closing measures.

Music lovers who are not familiar with this literature may hear an excellent example, played for RCA by Emil Gilels.

Two late Sonatas, Op. 110 and 111, were played with similar insight, the disarming simplicities of the Op. 111 Adagio made plain without ever becoming obvious.

The concerto's soloist, Hans Richter-Haaser, played with compensatory ease and economy, though without the consummate plasticity to which we had been treated on the previous evening by Herr Riefling.

Phillip played a leading part in the capture of the Spanish ship San Agustín ( 1768 ), on 19 April 1777, off Santa Catarina.

Born in Los Angeles, Walsh played running back in the San Francisco Bay Area for Hayward High School in Hayward.

Walsh played quarterback at the College of San Mateo while attending there two years.

Both John Madden and Walsh played and coached at the College of San Mateo early in their careers.

After playing at the College of San Mateo, Walsh transferred to San José State University, where he played tight end and defensive end.

Bonds played from 1986 to 2007, for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants.

They also played regularly every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night at the Mission Beach Ballroom in San Diego.

Although Latin Jazz is most popularly associated with artists from the Caribbean ( particularly Cuba ) and Brazil, young Mexican Americans have played a role in its development over the years, going back to the 1930s and early 1940s, the era of the zoot suit, when young Mexican American musicians in Los Angeles and San Jose began to experiment with banda, a Jazz-like Mexican music that has grown recently in popularity among Mexican Americans such as Jenni Rivera.

Thus the first two games were played at Wrigley Field and the next three at the home of their opponents, San Diego.

On April 4, 1999, the Rockies made history as they played their Opening Day game against the defending National League champion San Diego Padres at Estadio de Beisbol Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico – marking the first time Major League Baseball opened the regular season outside the United States or Canada.

San Francisco Giants pitcher Brian Wilson chose " Jump Around " as his official theme song, played whenever he enters a game.

Following their Super Bowl championship, the Colts would go onto a 13 – 3 record during the 2007 season and would lose to the San Diego Chargers in the divisional playoffs, which would be the final game the Colts played at the RCA Dome, with the Colts moving into Lucas Oil Stadium in 2008.

A large athlete at and, Bingham also played for the gay-inclusive rugby union team San Francisco Fog RFC.

Osborne Earl " Ozzie " Smith ( born December 26, 1954 ) is an American former baseball shortstop who played in Major League Baseball ( MLB ) for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals from 1978 to 1996.

The first West Coast punk scenes emerged in San Francisco, with the bands Crime and The Nuns, and Seattle, where the Telepaths, Meyce, and The Tupperwares played a groundbreaking show on May 1.

Also from San Francisco, Blue Cheer played psychedelic-influenced rock in a blues-rock style.

He played clarinet at the age of twelve at San Francisco Polytechnic High School.

During this time, Clemente was also involved in managing the Senadores de San Juan, for whom he also played part-time.

The Chargers played in Los Angeles in 1960 and moved to San Diego in 1961.

Alworth, Mix, Hadl, Joiner, Coryell, Gillman, Garrison, Fouts, White, Winslow, Faison, Benirschke, Lincoln, Washington, Humphries, Ladd and Wilkerson are also members of the San Diego Hall of Champions, which is open to athletes from the San Diego area as well as those who played for San Diego-based professional and collegiate teams.

He played on the junior varsity football team while at Fresno High School, but frequent fighting and discipline problems caused his parents to enroll him in the San Rafael Military Academy for his senior year.

The Giants played at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan, New York, until the close of the 1957 season, after which they moved west to California to become the San Francisco Giants.