Electric bass in the context of Plectrum

Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the mid-20th century. It deemphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on a strong rhythmic groove of a bassline played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a percussionist, often at slower tempos than other popular music. Funk typically consists of a complex percussive groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves that create a "hypnotic" and "danceable" feel. Early funk, specifically James Brown, fused jazz and blues, and added a syncopated drum groove.

Funk originated in the mid-1960s, with James Brown's development of a signature groove that emphasized the downbeat—with a heavy emphasis on the first beat of every measure ("The One"), and the application of swung 16th notes and syncopation on all basslines, drum patterns, and guitar riffs. Rock- and psychedelia-influenced musicians Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament-Funkadelic fostered more eclectic examples of the genre beginning in the late 1960s. Other musical groups developed Brown's innovations during the 1970s and the 1980s, including Kool and the Gang, Ohio Players, Fatback Band, Jimmy Castor Bunch, Bootsy Collins, Earth, Wind & Fire, B.T. Express, Hamilton Bohannon, One Way, Lakeside, Dazz Band, The Gap Band, Slave, Aurra, Roger Troutman & Zapp, Con Funk Shun, Cameo, Bar-Kays and Chic.

A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a tour. Session musicians are usually not permanent or official members of a musical ensemble or band.

Many session musicians specialize in playing common rhythm section instruments such as guitar, piano, bass, or drums. Others are specialists, and play brass, woodwinds, and strings. Many session musicians play multiple instruments, which lets them play in a wider range of musical situations, genres, and styles. Examples of "doubling" include double bass and electric bass, acoustic guitar and mandolin, piano and accordion, and saxophone and other woodwind instruments.

Live sound mixing is the blending of multiple sound sources by an audio engineer using a mixing console or software. Sounds that are mixed include those from instruments and voices which are picked up by microphones (for drum kit, lead vocals and acoustic instruments like piano or saxophone and pickups for instruments such as electric bass) and pre-recorded material, such as songs on CD or a digital audio player. Individual sources are typically equalised to adjust the bass and treble response and routed to effect processors to ultimately be amplified and reproduced via a loudspeaker system. The live sound engineer listens and balances the various audio sources in a way that best suits the needs of the event.

A solid-body musical instrument is a string instrument such as a guitar, bass or violin built without its normal sound box and relying on an electromagnetic pickup system to directly detect the vibrations of the strings; these instruments are usually plugged into an instrument amplifier and loudspeaker to be heard. Solid-body instruments are preferred in situations where acoustic feedback may otherwise be a problem and are inherently both less expensive to build and more rugged than acoustic electric instruments.

Recognisable solid body instruments are the electric guitar and electric bass, developed in the 1930s.Common woods used in the construction of solid body instruments are ash, alder, maple, mahogany, korina, spruce, rosewood, and ebony. The first two make up the majority of solid body electric guitars.

Vanilla Fudge is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1967 and originally active until 1970, during which time they released five albums. They became known for their hard rock arrangements of contemporary pop songs, particularly with their cover of "You Keep Me Hangin' On", a Motown song originally recorded by the Supremes, which became a hit single in 1968. After occasional reunions during the 1980s and early 1990s, the band reformed full time in 1999.

The group's foundational lineup remained consistent during 1967–1970, comprising vocalist/organist Mark Stein, bassist/vocalist Tim Bogert, guitarist/vocalist Vince Martell, and drummer/vocalist Carmine Appice. Bogert retired from live music in 2009, whereafter Pete Bremy joined on bass; Bogert died from cancer in 2021. "The Fudge", as members call the group, is currently touring with Stein, Martell, Appice, and Bremy, with concert dates scheduled through 2026.

In music, notably in jazz, a ghost note (or a dead, muted, silenced or false note) is a musical note with a rhythmic value, but no discernible pitch when played. In musical notation, this is represented by a cross "×" for a note head instead of an oval, or parentheses around the note head. It should not be confused with the X-shaped notation () that raises a note to a double sharp.

On stringed instruments, this is played by sounding a muted string - "Muted to the point where it is more percussive sounding than obvious and clear in pitch. There is a pitch, to be sure, but its musical value is more rhythmic than melodic or harmonic... they add momentum and drive to any bass line." Occurring in a rhythmic figure, they are purposely deemphasized, often to the point of near silence. In popular music drumming, ghost notes are ones played "very softly between the 'main' notes," (off the beat on the sixteenth notes) most often on the snare drum in a drum kit. Ghost notes are often used by electric bass players and double bass players in a range of popular music and traditional music styles. In vocal music, this style of notation represents words that are spoken in rhythm rather than sung.

A guitar pedalboard is a platform or container used to manage a collection of effects pedals for the electric guitar and bass. Depending on the model, pedalboards often have integrated power supplies with connection cables, use multiple tiers, and can act as patch bays to simplify switching between multiple pedals. Pedalboards can be store-bought or made by a player. Most have flat or angled surfaces where pedals and external power supplies attach using hook-and-loop fasteners or other techniques, and often have a removable lid when part of an integrated case to enable easier transportation.

Pete Cornish has been described as "the inventor of the guitar pedalboard", having pioneered their use in the 1970s when effects pedal offerings had greatly expanded and live rigs were becoming increasingly complicated.

A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments, often but not exclusively at a professional level of proficiency.

Also known as doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where a particular instrument may be employed only briefly or sporadically during a performance. Doubling is not uncommon in orchestra (e.g., flutists who double on piccolo) and jazz (saxophone/flute players); double bass players might also perform on electric bass. In music theatre, a pit orchestra's reed players might be required to perform on multiple instruments. Church piano players are often expected to play the church's pipe organ or Hammond organ as well.