The Rhythm Section

The instruments in music that provide a rhythmic and harmonic foundation.

The "Standard" Drum Set

A Drum set usually consists of a bass drum, snare drum, tom-toms, hi-hat cymbals, ride cymbals, and crash cymbals. Typically, there are three tom-toms (two rack toms, one floor tom), and one of each of the other types of drums, but that formula is frequently changed to modify the sounds one can produce. Rock drummers, for example, often use lots of cymbals and tom-toms to flesh out fills and create more variation. Many drummers use an additional mid-level tom-tom, and some even use two bass pedals simultaneously to create an extremely heavy, frenetic pace. Drums provide the rhythm that musicians follow, thereby making the drummer somewhat of the leader of the band. A drummer who is off beat or tempo could lead the entire band astray. For this reason, many bands rely heavily on the drummer to provide a strong beat that is easy to follow. Many musicians are drawn to the drums for the opportunity to provide leadership to a band. The drums are among the few instruments that can be self-taught with relative ease. This is not to say that drums are easy instruments to play but rather that the techniques and concepts relating to drums are fairly easy to understand.

The Electric Bass

The electric bass is tuned the same as the bottom four strings of a standard guitar, only an octave lower. More recent versions of the electric bass have 5-6 strings. Early acoustic basses had to have huge bodies in order to amplify such a low sound, this made them impractical and difficult to play. Most were played in the upright position. Electric basses were being built as early as the 1930's, but it was Leo Fender that took the electric bass into main stream production with the invention of the Fender Precision bass. This new design was not much bigger than a guitar. Players were now able to wear their bass around the neck like a standard guitar and playing techniques changed accordingly. Paul McCartney helped change the image of the bass, no longer was the bass player stood at the back.

The 1970's saw the arrival of funk and bass players became more flashy than ever. Artists like Bootsy Collins and Larry Graham developed the slapping style that was later taken even further by the likes of Flea and Les Claypool. The electric bass remains very much the same as Fenders original design, although five and six string basses are now available. Recent years have also seen the development of active pickups, giving the player greater control of the sound. The electric bass is now firmly established within contemporary music.

The Electric Guitar

Electric guitars are guitars with solid or semi-solid bodies that use vibration to stimulate electromagnetic pickups, which then translate the vibration into an electrical voltage. This is then broadcast through an amplifier, or amp, creating the electric guitar's distinctive sound. Unlike acoustic guitars, electric guitars don't depend on the hollow body for their sound. Because of this, they can come in many different shapes and materials.

Artists such as B.B. King found they could bend the strings to add expression to their playing. Chuck Berry took this one stage further by bending double strings in his unique rock 'n' roll style. In the sixties innovative guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Alvin Lee found that by turning a valve amp up full they could make it distort and a whole new sound was created. Jimi Hendrix took this to the extreme, using distortion and feedback as part of his playing. Unfortunately this sound could not be achieved at low volumes so the distortion pedal was created. These days most amps have a distortion channel built in and a master volume. This way the guitarist can get distortion without deafening themselves. Throughout the years the level of distortion used has become higher, multi effects are now available with all manner of effects built in, but the basic principle of electrifying the guitar has remained unchanged.

A piano is a keyboard instrument, widely used in western music for solo performance, chamber music, and accompaniment, and also as a convenient aid to composing and rehearsal. The piano produces sound by striking metal strings with felt hammers. These vibrations are transmitted though the bridges to the soundboard. The piano is a crucial instrument in Western classical music, jazz, film, television and electronic game music, and most other complex western musical genres. A large number of composers being proficient pianists, the piano is often used as a tool for composition. The role of the piano in the modern world is very versatile. The piano can cover a wide range of musical types from classical to pop to jazz.

A synthesizer is an electronic musical instrument designed to produce electronically generated sound, using techniques such as additive, subtractive, FM, physical modelling synthesis, or phase distortion. Synthesizers create sounds through direct manipulation of electrical voltages (as in analog synthesizers), mathematical manipulation of discrete values using computers (as in software synthesizers), or by a combination of both methods. In the final stage of the synthesizer, electrical voltages generated by the synthesizer cause vibrations in the diaphragms of loudspeakers, headphones, etc. This synthesized sound is contrasted with recording of natural sound, where the mechanical energy of a sound wave is transformed into a signal which will then be converted back to mechanical energy on playback (though sampling significantly blurs this distinction).