Washtub bass

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Electric "inbindi" bass which is amplified by a public address system

A four-string washtub bass with a wooden bridge and fingerboard

The washtub bass, or "gutbucket," is a stringed instrument used in American folk music that uses a metal washtub as a resonator. Although it is possible for a washtub bass to have four or more strings and tuning pegs, traditional washtub basses have a single string whose pitch is adjusted by pushing or pulling on a staff or stick to change the tension.

The washtub bass was used in jug bands that were popular in some African-Americans communities in the early 1900s. In the 1950s, English skiffle bands used a variant called a tea-chest bass, and during the 1960s, US folk musicians used the washtub bass in jug band-influenced music.

Variations on the basic design are found around the world, particularly in the choice of resonator. As a result there are many different names for the instrument including the "gas-tank bass," "barrel bass," "box bass" (Trinidad), "bush bass" (Australia), "babatoni" (South Africa), "tingotalango" (Cuba), "tulòn" (Italy), "laundrophone" and others.

[edit] History

Ethnomusicologists trace the origins of the instrument to the 'ground harp' - a version that uses a piece of bark or an animal skin stretched over a pit as a resonator. The ang-bindi made by the Baka people of the Congo is but one example of this instrument found among tribal societies in Africa and Southeast Asia, and it lends its name to the generic term inbindi for all related instruments. Evolution of design, including the use of more portable resonators, has led to many variations, such as the dan bau (Vietnam) and gopichand (India), and more recently, the "electric one-string", which amplifies the sound using a pickup.

The washtub bass is sometimes used in a jug band, often accompanied by a washboard as a percussion instrument. Jug bands, first known as "spasm bands," originated among African-Americans around 1900 in New Orleans and reached a height of popularity between 1925 and 1935 in Memphis and Louisville.

At about the same time, European-Americans of Appalachia were using the instrument in "old-timey" folk music. A musical style known as "gut-bucket blues" came out of the jug band scene, and was cited by Sam Phillips of Sun Records as the type of music he was seeking when he first recorded Elvis Presley.

In English skiffle bands and Australian and New Zealand bush bands, the same sort of bass has a tea chest as a resonator. Before the Beatles, John Lennon and Paul McCartney's band, The Quarrymen, featured a tea-chest bass, as did many young bands around 1956.

A folk music revival in the U.S. in the early 1960s re-ignited interest in the washtub bass and jug band music. Bands included Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions which later became The Grateful Dead, and, the Jim Kweskin Jug Band featuring Fritz Richmond (1939-2005) on bass. Richmond has performed on numerous recordings from America and Japan. One of his washtub basses is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution.

[edit] Players

Brian Ritchie of the band The Violent Femmes plays a 'tubless electric washtub bass', and Les Claypool of Primus, often plays a variation called a whamola.