original slap bass?

The characteristic slap of rockabilly bass that we all know and love is prevalent in modern (70's-present) rockabilly, but aside from Bill Haley and his Comets, what original rock and roll bands (50's) used slap bass?

I should add I'm mostly interested in well known bands but would like to know about obscure ones too.

Elvis used Bill Black on upright/slap/acoustic/doghouse/double bass on the Sun Sessions and many of the early RCA records as well.

Carl Perkins had his brother Jay Perkins.

Gene Vincent had Jack Neal on those great 1956 records with Cliff Gallup.

Eddie Cochran had Guybo Smith throughout his brief career, but switched to mostly electric in Sept 1957, before Summertime Blues, C'mon
Everybody, and Nervous Breakdown. Still, 20 Flight Rock is a great example of his talents on doghouse bass.

Little Richard had a driving bass played by Frank Fields, though the bass was not necessarily prominent in the mix like on Bill Haley records.

Chuck Berry had the iconic Chess legend Willie Dixon on his seminal 1950's recordings.

Most of Buddy Holly's records feature slap bass, but I notice in his Fall 1958 tour photos, Joe B. Maudlin is rockin' his new electric bass. I imagine it was easier to use on tour, as Joe would tell stories of strapping his bass to the roof of the car when they would tour in the early days. The best Holly records as far as dbl bass are concerned are the pre-Cricket Nashville sessions, where Don Guess played on such classics as Blue Days Black Nights, Midnight Shift, and Rock Around With Ollie Vee.

I really like Dorsey Burnette from the Johnny Burnette Rock-n-Roll Trio.

I was thinking most of the early acts still used upright bass, but it seems the electric bass really took over in late 1957-58. I don't know the gear history at all, but maybe electric rose to prominence at the time, or perhaps the industry finally started taking rock-n-roll seriously, and electric bass became a more versatile and economic solution. Studio guys on guitar could overdub electric bass parts without having to tackle the doghouse bass or wait for the bass player to show up. I think even Eddie Cochran, who spent hours in the studio working on his and other artists' records, would occasionally overdub electric bass parts.

That's a short starter list. I'm gonna have to spend some time in my library going through liner notes to find more obscure gems, like Joe Clay's 16 Chicks and Ducktail.

Rumblin' Bass-a-billy

Thanks Rick, for the very comprehensive info, as usual! As you mentioned regarding Little Richard, I don't think most of those early recordings make the bass as prevalent as it is on the Haley records, where the actual slap is practically a percussion instrument, completely separate from the bassline. That's specifically what I'm looking for. I'll have to re-listen to some of the stuff you've listed.

Coincidental, your mention of Willie Dixon - a search for well recorded slap bass this morning yielded this:



Just... wow.

In terms of the history I know that Jerry Lee Lewis has claimed that his cousin, JW Brown, was the first person to play a Fender Electric Bass on US TV when he played "Whole Lotta Shakin'" on the Steve Allen Show in 1957.

I think Slapping was also a common technique under early Jazz and Swing musicians. Would have to look through my record collection now, but I'm pretty sure, that I even have some records from like the 30's and 40's that feature a slapped upright Bass.

What Webby said. I have quite a few Django Reinhardt albums, and there are many examples of Hot Club de France bassist Louis Vola slappin'. Like on this tune:



Going back to original rockabilly, there's another important session slap bassist: Bob Moore. He played on many of the classic Johnny Burnette recordings, when Dorsey for some reason was unavailable (or had left the band...). Bob was part of the "A-team", alongside guitarist Grady Martin (who played lead guitar on pretty much ALL the Burnette classics [not Paul Burlison] but that's another issue...), and played on tracks by Don Woody, Johnny Carrol, and others:

List of Bob Moore's rockabilly stuff

Rickabilly wrote:

Most of Buddy Holly's records feature slap bass, but I notice in his Fall 1958 tour photos, Joe B. Maudlin is rockin' his new electric bass. I imagine it was easier to use on tour, as Joe would tell stories of strapping his bass to the roof of the car when they would tour in the early days. The best Holly records as far as dbl bass are concerned are the pre-Cricket Nashville sessions, where Don Guess played on such classics as Blue Days Black Nights, Midnight Shift, and Rock Around With Ollie Vee.

Although Joe B played upright bass for Buddy's records and the majority of his tours I don't think he ever slapped it as such, certainly not in the way that's become a trademark of rockabilly.

The other name that needs a mention is Marshall Grant of Johnny Cash's band, near all of his early Sun tracks feature slap-bass.

...and this is why I lovice this forum, you guys are awesome. Webby, Gretschoholic and richjohnson, thank you!!

richjohnson26 wrote:

Rickabilly wrote:

Most of Buddy Holly's records feature slap bass, but I notice in his Fall 1958 tour photos, Joe B. Maudlin is rockin' his new electric bass. I imagine it was easier to use on tour, as Joe would tell stories of strapping his bass to the roof of the car when they would tour in the early days. The best Holly records as far as dbl bass are concerned are the pre-Cricket Nashville sessions, where Don Guess played on such classics as Blue Days Black Nights, Midnight Shift, and Rock Around With Ollie Vee.

Although Joe B played upright bass for Buddy's records and the majority of his tours I don't think he ever slapped it as such, certainly not in the way that's become a trademark of rockabilly.

The other name that needs a mention is Marshall Grant of Johnny Cash's band, near all of his early Sun tracks feature slap-bass.

Totally agree about Marshall Grant. The Nashville sessions (pre-Joe B) are the more rockabilly of Buddy's brief career, which is why I mentioned them specifically.

Western bop records of the 1940's featured a lot of slappin as well. I didn't think to mention the pre-cursors to rock-n-roll.



Here's a great bass photo featuring Lum York of Hank Williams' Drifting Cowboys. I don't consider him a slap bass player in terms of what I hear on the records, but I hear he really cut loose on stage, in addition to providing comic relief in Hank's live shows. Also, I'm too lazy to post this in the photos thread.

Silly Billy

HAHA!! That is AWESOME!! I gotta suggest something like that to the bass player on the photo gig next week

I know too many bass players on facebook not to post this - I hope you don't mind!

I don't even remember from where I stole it. Have fun with it!

Thievery-billy

Just remembered, that there's even an old Gershwin Song called "Slap that Bass"
Here's what Wikipedia had to say about it:

"Slap That Bass" is a song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, introduced by Fred Astaire and Dudley Dickerson in the 1937 film Shall We Dance.

The song refers to the slap style of double bass playing that was popular at the time.

Another great original Recording with cool Slap Bass is an alternative (very Nashville sounding) Version of "You Mostest Girl" by Bobby Lee Trammell.
Even today people are not sure how it was played, it's some crazy kind of quadruple slap.
Check it out: