The washtub bass, also called the gutbucket, is a stringed instrument used in American folk music. It uses a metal washtub as a resonator to create sound. While some washtub basses may have four or more strings and tuning pegs, traditional versions have only one string. The pitch of this string is changed by pulling or pushing on a stick or staff to adjust the string's tightness.

The washtub bass was played in jug bands that were popular in some African-American communities during the early 1900s. In the 1950s, British skiffle bands used a similar instrument called the tea chest bass. In the 1960s, American folk musicians included the washtub bass in music influenced by jug bands.

The instrument has many variations worldwide, especially in the type of resonator used. Because of this, it has many names, such as "gas-tank bass," "barrel bass," "box bass" (Trinidad), "bush bass" (Australia), "babatoni" (South Africa), "tanbou marengwen" (Haiti), "tingotalango" (Cuba), "tulòn" (Italy), "laundrophone," and others.

The traditional washtub bass is simple to build, very inexpensive, and made by hand. These features explain its historical connection to people with fewer resources. Today, builders often add changes to the basic design, such as a fingerboard, pedal, electronic pickup, drumhead, or a fixed stick.

History

Ethnomusicologists study the history of the instrument, which began as a "ground bow" or "ground harp." This early version used a piece of bark or animal skin stretched over a pit to create sound. The ang-bindi, made by the Baka people of the Congo, is one example of this instrument found in African and Southeast Asian tribal groups. This instrument is called "inbindi" in general for all similar instruments. Over time, designs changed to use more portable resonators, leading to variations like the dan bau (Vietnam) and gopichand (India). More recently, the "electric one-string" instrument uses a pickup to make the sound louder.

The washtub bass is sometimes used in a jug band, often with a washboard as a percussion instrument. Jug bands, originally called "spasm bands," were popular among African-Americans in New Orleans around 1900. They became widely popular between 1925 and 1935 in Memphis and Louisville.

At the same time, European-Americans in Appalachia used the instrument in "old-timey" folk music. A style called "gut-bucket blues" developed from jug band music. Sam Phillips of Sun Records said this style was the kind of music he wanted to record when he first worked with Elvis Presley.

According to Willie "The Lion" Smith's autobiography, the term "gutbucket" comes from "Negro families" who owned pails or buckets used to hold ingredients for chitterlings. The term describes a style of music that is played in a low, rough way.

In English skiffle bands, Australian and New Zealand bush bands, and South African kwela bands, the same type of bass uses a tea chest as a resonator. The Quarrymen, John Lennon and Paul McCartney's band before the Beatles, used a tea-chest bass. Many young bands around 1956 also used this instrument.

A folk music revival in the U.S. during the early 1960s renewed interest in the washtub bass and jug band music. Bands such as Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, which later became The Grateful Dead, and the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, which had Fritz Richmond on bass, were part of this revival.

Tea chest bass

A tea chest bass is a type of washtub bass. It uses a tea chest as the part that makes the sound louder for an upright stringed bass. The instrument is made with a pole, usually a broomstick, placed inside or next to the chest. Strings are stretched along the pole and plucked to make music.

In Europe, especially in Britain and Germany, the tea chest bass is used by skiffle music groups. In Australia, it was used by "bush bands" to create deep sounds. However, many groups now use electric or double bass instead. In Australia, it is also called bush bass or Tbox. The Northern Territory group the Mills Sisters used this instrument.

Other variations

Other types of this basic design are found in many places around the world, especially in the type of resonator used, such as:

• "gas-tank bass"
• "barrel bass"
• "box bass" (Trinidad)
• "bush bass" (Australia)
• "babatoni" (South Africa)
• "dumdum" (Zimbabwe)
• "dan bau" (Vietnam)
• "sanduku" (Zanzibar)
• "tanbou marengwen" (in English, mosquito drum) (Haiti)
• "tingotalango" (Cuba)
• "tulòn" (Italy)

Notable players

• Will Shade was a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist in the Memphis Jug Band. He recorded music from the 1920s until his death in 1966.
• Kansas Joe McCoy was a washtub bass player and multi-instrumentalist. He recorded music with Arthur Crudup in 1941.
• Fritz Richmond (1939–2005) performed on many recordings from America and Japan. One of his washtub basses is displayed in the Smithsonian Institution.
• Donald Kachamba and Moya Aliya are one-string box players in the influential Malawi group Kachamba Brothers Band. They can be heard on the recordings "Donald Kachamba's Kwela Band" and "Malawi / Concert Kwela."
• Brian Ritchie, a member of the band The Violent Femmes, plays a 'tubless electric washtub bass.'
• Les Claypool, of the band Primus, often plays a variation called a whamola. This can be heard in the opening theme of the tenth season of South Park.
• Bill Smith, Len Garry, Ivan Vaughan, and Nigel Walley were tea-chest bass players in The Quarrymen.
• John Sanford, also known as Redd Foxx, began his career as a washtub bass player for the "Bon Bons." In the Sanford and Son episode "Sanford and Gong" (aired December 17, 1976), Sanford and Don "Bubba" Bexley auditioned for The Gong Show with Bubba playing washtub bass.
• Emmett Otter, a Muppet in Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas, made a hole in his mother's washtub to create a washtub bass. He later performed with it in a talent show.
• Bob Weir and Mike Garbett played washtub bass on the album Mother McCree