noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bassist
Explanation
If you're a musician who plays a standup bass or a bass guitar, you're a bassist. All bassists play instruments with deep, low tones, and the word derives from a Latin root meaning "low." In a rock band, the bassist and drummer provide the rhythm that forms a song's foundation — and the bassist also plays notes that harmonize with the guitar, keyboards, and any other instruments. Classical and jazz bassists do something similar, but they have to stand up while they're playing.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Barely a week passed between the news, via GoFundMe, that L7 bassist Jennifer Finch was fighting an aggressive form of brain cancer and the announcement of her death.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026
Jennifer Finch, bassist for the influential Los Angeles rock band L7, has died.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
"I grew up over there and I live over there," says bassist Theo Ellis, gesturing towards the horizon from the stage.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
He convened a slightly different quintet—trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, tenor saxophonist Mark Shim, pianist Lex Korten and bassist Tyrone Allen II—for a Jazz at Lincoln Center performance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
Flea, the bassist, was phenomenal, and the front man, Anthony Kiedis, was a cyclone, lunging and pacing and whirling in every direction, belting out the lyrics.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
But rock-band bassists were in short supply, so I fooled around on the bass.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
“So the trumpets would come one day, the reeds the next. The drummers and the bassists would be there a third day.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 7, 2024
I love his recording of “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” with fellow bassists John Clayton and Christian McBride.
From New York Times ● Oct. 5, 2022
“You can’t go wrong with two of the greatest bassists on the whole planet,” Evans says.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 26, 2022
And bassists are tall and skinny, like me.
From "Sparrow" by Sarah Moon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
