Help: 50's Basslines

Bassist4Life · #1 08-16-2005, 02:01 PM

I have a 50's gig coming up next month and I have to learn a bunch of 50's tunes. The tunes aren't difficult but I am so frustrated!!!

You can barely hear the bass in these old recordings. Also, the tuning isn't A440... Was there a different tuning standard in the 50's for hit records? What tha' heck...

I can transcribe these tunes, but the tuning issue is making me pull my hair out! Does anyone have experience with this?

Joe

Thurisarz · #2 08-16-2005, 02:20 PM

What songs are you gonna play?

Bassist4Life · #3 08-16-2005, 02:39 PM

We're going to do a lot of tunes. Here are just a few of them:

Sweet Little Sixteen - Chuck Berry
Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley and the Comets
Charlie Brown - The Coasters
Bye Bye Love - Everly Brothers
Blueberry Hill - Fats Domino

Simple tunes, but hard to hear the bass. Did they have tuners back then? Just curious... Or did they tune to the piano? Someone must have tuned the piano, right? Especially if you were going to record a hit record... C'mon!

Joe