The earliest depictions of the upright bass date back to 1493, though the earliest named inventor was Hanns Vogel in 1563. There are two main styles of upright bass - one shaped like a large violin and another like a viol. For a long time the upright bass only had three strings tuned to ADG or GDG, but it evolved to its current four-string tuning of EADG by the 20th century. The upright bass originated from the violone, which had six strings but was too large, and it became a more prominent solo instrument in classical music starting with Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.

1. Upright Bass History
The earliest forms of upright or “Double Bass” illustrations are dated as far back as 1516, however
this is contradicted by “Prospero” in 1493 as he wrote of “viols as big as myself” which due to
speculation could be a reference to an even earlier form of upright/double bass. It is easier to look
for an instrument with a similar tuning rather than a particular shape (pointed out by Planyavsky in
1970) when looking for an early form of double bass. The earliest name associated with a double
bass instrument is Hanns Vogel in 1563. Although there were illustrations by Prospero in 1516, these
are only illustrations and drawings of an instrument with upright bass qualities whereas Hanns Vogel
is declaired as the inventor of the upright bass as a standard instrument we all recognise and
associate mainly with jazz music today. (http://earlybass.com/articles-bibliographies/history-of-the-
double-bass/)
Although the style and design of the upright/double bass has changed over the course of the years
from back in the early 16th
century to the present day there are currently two main styles that exist
side by side and differ ever so slightly yet both produce different sounds and suit different playing
styles. The first is like a huge violin shape sometimes with a curved back and has higher “shoulders”
attached to the neck. The second is more like a viol with a flat back and lower “shoulders” that slope
more quickly and steeply away from the neck. Both of these designs will have sound holes more
often than not in the shape of a backwards C.(http://www.soundjunction.org/thedoublebassahistory.aspa?NodeID=1)
This is the more common form of double bass relating
to the “Violin” shape which has withstood the test of
time and they are quite expensive in today’s market.
Some of the top end upright basses can fetch around
£2000, £5000 or even £9000 in some cases which is
around about the same price someone would pay for a
top end electric bass guitar.
This is an
illustration of
the “Viol”
shaped upright
bass” as you can see the shoulders on this slope down
more steeply than the image on the left.
To tune a double bass it is done in fourths (E-A-D-G) to produce a rich lower down tone to the
sound. Sometimes a fifth string is added to the bass making it (B-E-A-D-G) so that in an orchestra
every note that is played can be doubled down an octave giving it the rich boost of the low end.
Sometimes a lever can be added to the upright bass making the tuning go from standard (E-A-D-G)
to (C-A-D-G) but these are only available on private request from specially made upright basses.
(http://www.soundjunction.org/thedoublebasstuning.aspa?NodeID=0)

2. For a long period of time this instrument only had 3 strings tunes to either (A-D-G) or (G-D-G) and it
was done because the Violone which was the bass instrument on the 16th
century had originally 6
strings and was too big to play comfortably and was too big and heavy to be transported around. It
was only until the 20th
century that a 4th
string was made and became the norm for the upright bass
and created more room for independent lines for the bass to play. Later this instrument became the
most common in forms of Jazz and Rock ‘n’ Roll. The bass mainly just doubled the cello’s notes in
orchestral music yet the earliest forms of classical music where the bass had an independent line
would be the “Scherzo” of Beethoven’s fifth symphony.
(http://www.soundjunction.org/thedoublebasstuning.aspa?NodeID=0)
More modern makes on the double bass are companies such as:
T + G Martin
Adrian Vickers
Hawkes and Fendt