Fuzz bass

Fuzz bass is a style of playing the electric bass or modifying its signal that produces a buzzy, distorted, overdriven sound. Overdriving a bass signal significantly changes the timbre, adds higher overtones (harmonics), increases the sustain, and, if the gain is turned up high enough, creates a "breaking up" sound characterized by a growling, buzzy tone.

One of the earliest examples may be the 1961 Marty Robbins Country and Western song "Don't Worry". By the mid- to late-1960s, a number of bands began to list "fuzz bass" in addition to "electric bass" on their album credits. Two well-known examples are The Beatles' 1965 song "Think for Yourself" from their Rubber Soul album, which marked the first instance of a bass guitar being recorded through a distortion unit, and the 1966 Rolling Stones song "Under My Thumb". Album or performance credits for fuzz bass can be found from every decade since then (see examples below).