Double bass

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Double bass

Side and front views of a modern double bass with a French-style bow
String instrument
Other names	Bass, upright bass, string bass, acoustic bass, acoustic string bass, contrabass, contrabass viol, bass viol, bass violin, standup bass, bull fiddle, doghouse bass, and bass fiddle
Classification	String instrument (bowed or plucked)
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	321.322-71 (Composite chordophone sounded by a bow)
Developed	15th–19th century
Playing range
Related instruments
Viol Viola Cello Bass guitar Acoustic bass guitar Electric upright bass Diyingehu Bazantar
Musicians
List of double bassists
Sound sample

The double bass (/ˈdʌbəl beɪs/), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched chordophone^[1] in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions such as the octobass).^[2] Similar in structure to the cello, it has four or five strings.

The bass is a standard member of the orchestra's string section, along with violins, violas, and cellos,^[3] as well as the concert band, and is featured in concertos, solo, and chamber music in Western classical music.^[4] The bass is used in a range of other genres, such as jazz, blues, rock and roll, rockabilly, country music, bluegrass, tango, folk music and certain types of film and video game soundtracks.

The instrument's exact lineage is still a matter of some debate, with scholars divided on whether the bass is derived from the viol or the violin family.

Being a transposing instrument, the bass is typically notated one octave higher than tuned to avoid excessive ledger lines below the staff. The double bass is the only modern bowed string instrument that is tuned in fourths^[5] (like a bass guitar, viol, or the lowest-sounding four strings of a standard guitar), rather than fifths, with strings usually tuned to E₁, A₁, D₂ and G₂.

The double bass is played with a bow (arco), or by plucking the strings (pizzicato), or via a variety of extended techniques. In orchestral repertoire and tango music, both arco and pizzicato are employed. In jazz, blues, and rockabilly, pizzicato is the norm. Classical music and jazz use the natural sound produced acoustically by the instrument, as does traditional bluegrass. In funk, blues, reggae, and related genres, the double bass is often amplified.