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Hearing low frequencies (bass tones) is among humanity's greatest achievements in the realm of music.

Humans have been unconsciously hearing thunders since the Stone Age, and the production of low-pitched sounds has always captivated our fascination.

If you trace its evolution from whistling to singing, you’ll notice that low sounds have gradually emerged over the centuries. It wasn’t until Haydn in Austria, during the 18th century, that he introduced the contrabass—a large, unwieldy instrument that was initially met with skepticism—into the symphony orchestra. Its primary function was merely to amplify the bass, and no classical music was composed specifically for it. Instead, it served as a supporting instrument, playing the same notes as the bass, while the bass had existed and was played by the CELLO (from note C2 ≈65,41 Hz) since the previous century (the 17th century), after all in 1827 this giant was prejudicedly named octave-transposing instrument.

In the following 19th century (1827), the French composers Berlioz and his contemporaries, including Liszt, Chopin, Mendelssohn and others, addressed this issue and redefined it as the 'Double Bass.' In the preceding classical era, which they criticized as being of poor quality, it merely doubled the cello, effectively playing an octave lower. Even Beethoven utilized it this way . Back then, gossip circulated just as it does today—musicians critiquing one another. Berlioz was considered the mad dog, Liszt disparaged other equally skilled pianists, Chopin deemed Beethoven ineffective, irrelevant, and Mozart, known for his sarcasm, claimed the Italian composer Clementi would ruin the hands of anyone who played his works.

It was during the Romantic period of the 19th century that the bass gained prominence and a distinct identity. Our appreciation for music is enriched by low sounds, which infuse it with movement and life.

No one would have imagined that Jazz, Rock, Bossa, Funk and the plethora of genres that exist today would emerge, I prefer to stay quiet and never criticize any of them.

The term "double-bass" is a technical designation coined by the French in 1827, which was later misused by the English in the Americas. It's evident that when we play the contrabass , we are not doubling anything; rather, we are presenting an authentic and distinct sound. For instance, if a jazz CD indicates that 'Ron Carter' plays the double-bass, this is simply incorrect. Ron Carter is an innovator, independent of the notion of doubling, as pianists and guitarists provide the harmony without the bass notes, often employing complex inversions and when you listen closely to them, you may notice that something is missing—the contrabass.

A great free AI tool that demonstrates all of this is the website vocalremover.org. You can upload any jazz trio featuring piano or guitar and use the second tool, SPLITER, to separate the tracks. From there, you can reduce the bass and drum tracks, allowing you to focus on the remaining elements, though the double bass will be absent and sometimes harmony won't make sense.

Of Course, when discussing genres like jazz, rock, R&B, etc., we can simply refer (abbreviate like a semantic extension" or "semantic shift) to the term "COUNTER-BASS" as "BASS", as we use to simplify long words, since there is no other bass to compare with or double, unlike in classical music from the 18th century.

Consider that for a thousand years at the dawn of music, men and women believed they sang the same musical notes and frequencies. It wasn't until an avant-garde discovered the fifth interval that this understanding changed, leading us into the Middle Ages.