My OperaHow to Play Slap Bass - The Person Should Perform Chord Bond
Sunday, March 11, 2012 10:42:34 AM
From the early 1950s some acts were increasingly using them, nevertheless they were still frowned upon through the country music elite. Because country music had this kind of important impact on the creation of rockabilly, drums were originally excluded from the rockabilly lineup at first too. With out a drummer, who was simply going to drive the rhythm? That chore fell towards the bass player.
In addition to country's influence, rockabilly grew out of blues and rhythm and blues. Blues bass players found themselves competing being heard within the rest of the band--especially in up-tempo music like jump blues and rhythm and blues. Obviously, these were all playing acoustic upright basses and was lacking amplification on their behalf, so they really started playing hard to be heard. Combined with more aggressive playing came the sounds of the strings snapping up against the stringboard.
Players soon pointed out that, definately not being a problem, this noise presented an opportunity. Bass players could now give a percussive element to the band by simply slapping the strings against the bass in various rhythms because they simultaneously sounded their bass notes.
Rockabilly bass players took the theory even further and created a very aggressive, percussive string slapping style that, when accentuated with the ever-present rockabilly echo during recording, made a very distinctive sound that plays equally as much a task in defining rockabilly music because the guitars do.
Elvis' early Sun Records recordings were arranged without drums whatsoever. All of the rhythm was given by Bill Black slapping around the ol' "doghouse" bass fiddle. "That's Fine," "Blue Moon of Kentucky," "Mystery Train," and much more great songs feature just Bill Black's slap bass, Scotty Moore's electric lead guitar, and Elvis on vocals and acoustic rhythm guitar.
It didn't take long for rockabilly cats to realize that the no-drums rule didn't apply to this new music and drums started appearing on recordings very quickly. (Even still, when Elvis appeared about the stage on the Louisiana Hayride, house drummer D.J. Fontana played along from behind a curtain at the back of happens so you don't offend the united states audience! Fontana and Elvis quickly hit it off and played together for years, with Elvis immediately letting him out from behind the curtain!)
While the addition of drums didn't put an immediate stop and the slap-bass sound, eventually bands pointed out that they no more needed the bass player to provide the rhythm and--seeing as how an electrical bass guitar is a lot easier to carry and amplify than the usual bass fiddle--many players started to make the switch to electric. Since the rockabilly craze not survived by around 1960, so did the use of stand-up slap bass also it was just about gone from rock and roll through the early 60s.
But the rockabilly revival with the late 70s and early 80s was also a revival from the stand-up #slap bass lessons. Most modern rockabilly bands consider this an essential element to authentic rockabilly music. And several players have greatly expanded the slap-bass style. Lee Rocker, who played bass for the Stray Cats, is an ideal example of someone who's taken the design and style to new heights making it a creative art form by itself.
In addition to country's influence, rockabilly grew out of blues and rhythm and blues. Blues bass players found themselves competing being heard within the rest of the band--especially in up-tempo music like jump blues and rhythm and blues. Obviously, these were all playing acoustic upright basses and was lacking amplification on their behalf, so they really started playing hard to be heard. Combined with more aggressive playing came the sounds of the strings snapping up against the stringboard.
Players soon pointed out that, definately not being a problem, this noise presented an opportunity. Bass players could now give a percussive element to the band by simply slapping the strings against the bass in various rhythms because they simultaneously sounded their bass notes.
Rockabilly bass players took the theory even further and created a very aggressive, percussive string slapping style that, when accentuated with the ever-present rockabilly echo during recording, made a very distinctive sound that plays equally as much a task in defining rockabilly music because the guitars do.
Elvis' early Sun Records recordings were arranged without drums whatsoever. All of the rhythm was given by Bill Black slapping around the ol' "doghouse" bass fiddle. "That's Fine," "Blue Moon of Kentucky," "Mystery Train," and much more great songs feature just Bill Black's slap bass, Scotty Moore's electric lead guitar, and Elvis on vocals and acoustic rhythm guitar.
It didn't take long for rockabilly cats to realize that the no-drums rule didn't apply to this new music and drums started appearing on recordings very quickly. (Even still, when Elvis appeared about the stage on the Louisiana Hayride, house drummer D.J. Fontana played along from behind a curtain at the back of happens so you don't offend the united states audience! Fontana and Elvis quickly hit it off and played together for years, with Elvis immediately letting him out from behind the curtain!)
While the addition of drums didn't put an immediate stop and the slap-bass sound, eventually bands pointed out that they no more needed the bass player to provide the rhythm and--seeing as how an electrical bass guitar is a lot easier to carry and amplify than the usual bass fiddle--many players started to make the switch to electric. Since the rockabilly craze not survived by around 1960, so did the use of stand-up slap bass also it was just about gone from rock and roll through the early 60s.
But the rockabilly revival with the late 70s and early 80s was also a revival from the stand-up #slap bass lessons. Most modern rockabilly bands consider this an essential element to authentic rockabilly music. And several players have greatly expanded the slap-bass style. Lee Rocker, who played bass for the Stray Cats, is an ideal example of someone who's taken the design and style to new heights making it a creative art form by itself.
