The bass clarinet is a type of clarinet, and is a woodwind single-reed instrument. The earliest record of a bass clarinet is called a 'bass tube' invented in Paris in 1772 by G. Lott. It usually has a B-flat pitch. It plays an octave lower than the normal clarinet. This means that when a Bass Clarinet makes a note, the note that actually sounds is an octave and a whole tone lower. There are some bass clarinets that have an A or C pitch as well as E flat, but there are not very many of these.