What makes Rockabilly 02 (Bassplaying)

Posted by Angel On October - 5 - 20105,427 views

Or should i say; What made Rockabilly..

L-R:Willie Dixon, Otis Spann, S.P. Leary (CBC- TV Studios - January 1966)

On purpose i’m not gonna’ say WHO made Rockabilly. And i’m certainly not going to say that Elvis invented it, because he didn’t, although he was there when it was first made. I firmly believe that people like Les Paul and Willie Dixon gave Elvis’ Guitar and Bassplayer what they needed in order to make Elvis shine. Because even i have to admit, Elvis was one helluva frontman for a band to have!

Reading this you might think that i don’t like Elvis but make no mistake, i love him even though he has cost me fortunes!

First the bass in rockabilly and let me make myself perfectly clear here; A Doublebass, doghousebass, stringbass, upright or slapbass, whatever you may want to call it. No Fender P-bass, no Warwick, no Yamahahaha!
Willie Dixon was a black bluesman, playing a proper bass. Btw; Later he turned out to be one of the most succesfull writers in blues up to today. In the late 40’s, early 50’s he made his first recordings and did quite a bit of touring. Back in those days bassplayers began having problems to be heard in a band setting with horn sections and electric guitars. In order to be heard, they pulled the strings harder. The strings started to slap back against the fingerboard. For a short period this seemed to be sufficient for bassplayers to be heard. And it gave them an extra twist, that was the percussive sound, that’s one of the reasons why some drummers are confused when hearing an early Elvis recording; What’s the weird stuff the drummer’s doing there? No weird stuff, it was the doublebass player! Amen! But why do i think that Dixon was one of the players that influenced Bill Black? Simply because he was about 10 years older and started recording earlier dan Bill Black did. And it’s no secret that Elvis himself was a huge fan of rhythm and blues, jazz and country, the same goes for Bill Black and Scotty Moore. And they did knock Sam Philips’ door at exactly the right time and the Sun label went through the roof after that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1s-E1WWipc

Every Rockabilly bassplayer will agree that Willie Dixon was the man and the man himself shows us he was, on the youtube footage. And Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore and Bill Black ofcourse!

Next time i’ll have a go at rhythm and leadguitar, i guess.

Cheers!

Angel

2 Responses to “What makes Rockabilly 02 (Bassplaying)”

  1. Steve Pastor says:

    Well, then there was Fred Maddox, who had been slapping a bass since about 1938. Maddox’s bass is displayed at the Experience Music Project in Seattle. “They wanted his bass because they believe he might have hit the first note of rock ‘n’ roll on it.”

    And, you know, Bill Haley and the Comets “Shake Rattle and Roll” made it to #21 on the Cashbox list. It was recorded a month before “Blue Moon of Kentucky” and “That’s Alright”. And although this Comets tune isn’t considered to be rockabilly (Rockin Country Style web site) it has slapped bass, too.

  2. Angel Angel says:

    Thanks Steve for giving us your extra bits of info, goes to show that there’s always something more for us to find out about!

    Cheers!

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