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HiWe had two guitars, a bass, a drum kit and half an amplifier that we were all going through.--- Does it mean that they had two guitars and one of them was a bass guitar, or the bass guitar was the third one?--- I think half an amplifier is just a funny way of saying that they had, probably, a poor amplifier and everyone was using it?Thanks

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,
We had two guitars, a bass, a drum kit and half an amplifier that we were all going through.

--- Does it mean that they had two guitars and one of them was a bass guitar, or the bass guitar was the third one? They had 3 instruments, plus the drum kit.
--- I think half an amplifier is just a funny way of saying that they had, probably, a poor amplifier and everyone was using it? Yes.

Clive

Newguest · Answer

Many thanks Clive!!!

Avangi · Answer

Written this way, it clearly means three guitars. Otherwise you'd say "three guitars (lead, rhythm, and bass), or something like that. It's customary to say "bass" or "bass guitar." Usually if someone says "guitar" and means "bass" he's not a musician. But the keyboard man might ask the bass player, "Where's your guitar?", in the generic sense. The bass guitar is a fairly recent invention. I think stand-up basses were used in country music groups long after Les Paul invented the electric guitar. In jazz groups, "bass" always used to mean stand-up bass, but now some groups use bass guitars because of the superior agility - although the sound of the stand-up can never be replaced.

Half an amp sounds more to me like a reference to the fact that rock amps usually come in two pieces - the amp (the electronics/tubes) and the speaker (sometimes comprising multiple speakers.) The speaker is much larger than the amp. Although one is useless without the other, junk speakers are easy to come by.

Yes, you speak of "going through" the amp to the speakers.

Newguest · Answer

Thanks Avangi!

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