Bassist Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols.
Better detection by the brain could explain why low-pitched
notes carry the beat across musical cultures.
Lead guitarists usually get to play the flashy solos while
the bass player gets only to plod to the beat. But this seeming injustice could
have been determined by the physiology of hearing. Research published today in
the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences1 suggests that people’s
perception of timing in music is more acute for lower-pitched notes.