Bass Guitars Trivia Quiz

Answer: All of these

Piezos are more commonly found on six-strings, but they are used on bass guitars as well.

Whereas coil pickups translate the string vibrations through the disturbance they make in a magnetic field, piezo pickups are in contact with the strings and sense the vibrations directly.

Answer: Mustang

The Mustang is made by Fender.

One of the most recognizable designs in the line of Gibson basses is the Thunderbird, released in 1963. It was designed by auto designer Raymond H. Dietrich and resembles Gibson's Firebird solid-body electric guitar.

Answer: E, A, D, G

There are now many companies that offer a five-string bass. These guitars add a string lower than the E-string and tuned to B.

Six-string basses (yep, they make them) add a string above the G-string tuned to C.

Answer: Bill Wyman

Bill Wyman (of the Rolling Stones) removed the frets from another bass to produce a fretless bass in 1961.

Ampeg then created the first production fretless bass in 1966.

Fender did not produce one until 1970.

The amazing Jaco Pastorius did create one on his own some time after all the above occurred.

Answer: Ernie Ball MusicMan Bongo

The Hofner Violin Bass was made famous by The Beatles' Paul McCartney.

Both the Fender Mustang and the Gibson SG were discontinued, but later reissued, the Gibson SG being my axe of choice.

Fender did produce a "short-scale" bass called the Musicmaster, but the Ernie Ball MusicMan Bongo has a 34" neck.

Answer: The arrangement of the pickups

Wikipedia's article on the Jazz Bass states:

"The [Jazz] bass is distinct from the Precision Bass in that its tone is brighter and richer in the midrange with less emphasis on the fundamental harmonic. Because of this, many bass players who want to be more "forward" in the mix (including smaller bands such as power trios) prefer the Jazz Bass."

The different tone is created by the different arrangement of the pickups.

Answer: Headstock, neck, body, tuning machines, pickguard

So this question was a bit of a gimme.

The items at the top of the head that you use to tune each string by tightening or loosening them have many different names: tuning machines being just one of them. More commonly used names are tuning pegs and tuning keys. Tuning heads, tuners and tuning knobs can also be used.

Tuning fish should never be used. At least without some mayonnaise. : )

Answer: Paul Tutmarc in the 1930s

Paul Tutmarc invented the electric bass in Seattle, WA and it appeared in the 1935 catalogue for the Audiovox Manufacturing Company.

Leo Fender developed the first mass-produced electric bass guitar in the '50s.

To my knowledge, there is no one of note by the name of Peter Bismuth. If you are taking this quiz and your name IS Peter Bismuth, please contact me and I will apologize to you for that last comment as you must be considered a person of note due to your presence on FunTrivia.com.

NOTE: The writer of the movie "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is named PIERRE Bismuth. Yes, Pierre and Peter both translate to "rock" and are therefore pretty much the same name. Point taken, but not conceded.

Answer: Slinky

You can get Regular Slinky, Extra Slinky, Super Slinky, Hybrid Slinky, Power Slinky and even Baritone Slinky strings.

Answer: Alison Steele

David "Shuffle" Steele was with Fine Young Cannibals.

Michael Steele was with The Bangles.

Peter Steele played bass and sang for Type O Negative.

Alison Steele is the late-night DJ with the sultry voice better known as The Nightbird to New York area listeners. Sadly she passed away in 1995 from stomach cancer.