Electric Bass Explorer (3D)
About this app
A four-string electric bass with a split pickup on a stand, with cable and bass combo, sound computed in real time from a string model with frets as obstacles. A small speaker like a phone removes the fundamental, yet the pitch stays: the missing fundamental. Slap and pop make the string crack against the frets. Plays a walking bass line and a slap groove.
With explain mode: an AI tutor walks you through the app, points out what matters in the scene and answers your questions.
Why a bass has such long strings
An electric bass sounds an octave below the low guitar strings: E1 vibrates at 41.2 hertz, G2 at 98 hertz. Such low notes need long, heavy strings. The usual scale is 864 millimetres, 34 inches; the E string is about 2.7 millimetres thick and pulls with roughly 18 kilograms. The pickups work by induction, just as on the electric guitar.
What the app shows
An electric bass with a split pickup at the neck and a single coil at the bridge, cable and bass combo in 3D, sound in real time from a waveguide model without recordings. The live speaker spectrum marks the fundamental. A small speaker like a phone cuts everything below about 300 hertz: the fundamental disappears, the pitch stays audible. With slap the frets act as obstacles in the model; the string bounces and sounds bright.
Things to try
Pluck across a string over the body or fret on the fretboard. Compare the split neck pickup with the bridge pickup, switch on the small speaker and hear that the note stays the same. Switch to slap and hear the impact. The bass plays a walking bass line and a slap groove.
Frequently asked questions
- Why can you hear a bass on phone speakers?
- Small speakers reproduce little below about 300 hertz, so the bass fundamental is missing. The overtones, however, are spaced by the fundamental frequency. The ear derives the pitch from that spacing. This is called the missing fundamental or residue pitch.
- How low does an electric bass go?
- The open E string of a four-string bass vibrates at 41.2 hertz, an octave below the low E of a guitar. The strings are E1, A1, D2 and G2.
- What happens with slap?
- The thumb strikes the string against the frets at the end of the neck. With pop a finger pulls the string up and lets it snap back. The impact on the frets sharpens the kink of the vibrating string and creates many high partials.
- What can I try in the Electric Bass Explorer?
- You pluck and fret yourself, choose finger, pick or slap, compare the pickups, switch the small speaker and watch the live spectrum, look inside with the X-ray view and let it play a walking bass line and a slap groove.
Subject: Music (Gymnasium)
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