50s Style Band

[jmlee]

Perhaps avoid the lowest notes too. Please do correct me if I'm wrong but many early 50s and 60s basslines were played higher up the neck as not only were most commercial playback devices not capable of reproducing those lower frequencies, but recording them could cause the vinyl cutter to jump out of the groove.

This could of course be nonsense, but I'm sure I heard it somewhere.

I play in a band that is centred on exactly the sort of material that the OP describes. If you listen to the recorded stuff from that period the bass line very rarely goes below a low A (Eddie Cochran being an interesting counter-example). Ignoring the vinyl cutter issue, if you want the music to sound good on a transistor radio, with some components of the bass part being audible, there's certainly a sweet zone between that A and perhaps the E or F on the G-string.

I'm mostly an upright player these days but surprisingly I don't find that it works well for the do-wop, MOR and early rock and roll stuff. I've been experimenting with various bass guitars for this stuff. Surprisingly I've largely settled on a Yamaha BBP35 which just seems to sound good in every situation. I do like some foam under the strings at the bridge. Stylistically, the most important thing is to get some bounce to the lines: not quite a swing, but with the notes a bit shorter than you'd expect in 4 beats to the bar, mimicking something of a big swing band bass line. That feel is what gives the music from that era a bit of a light-hearted, good-feeling drive to it. (My $0.02 mind you.)

 

[JimmyM]

Which part?

McCartney usually played with a pick, but he did also play thumb style on slow ballad stuff from time to time. Other people definitely played with their thumb, hence the tug bar being located where it was on older basses.

That doesn’t mean everyone did it. Also, almost nobody back then stuck to only playing low notes. Even when they were using upright basses, you still heard plenty of higher notes.

Edit: Whoops! I misread your post. I thought you said nobody played high notes back then, not low notes. And that is because most rock bands had an upright player and little or no amplification, and those notes were hard to hear without being amplified. And yeah, up till 61, bass amps did kind of suck. Heads were fine, cabs sucked.

 

[BrassedOn]

Likewise,
KISS principle, do not over play.
If it seems easy, focus on groove for dancing, do more with the eye co text and interaction with ‘mates and audience, move with the groove. Have fun and look like you’re having fun.

Given the choice, for me, P bass…because science.

 

[g-dude]

That doesn’t mean everyone did it. Also, almost nobody back then stuck to only playing low notes. Even when they were using upright basses, you still heard plenty of higher notes.

Edit: Whoops! I misread your post. I thought you said nobody played high notes back then, not low notes. And that is because most rock bands had an upright player and little or no amplification, and those notes were hard to hear without being amplified. And yeah, up till 61, bass amps did kind of suck. Heads were fine, cabs sucked.

I thought there was some sort of miscommunication.

Also, just because he hasn't gotten mentioned yet, here's a cool photo of Monk Montgomery:

 

[J Wilson]

Music from those days is fun. You have to remember that at that time some of it was cut on upright, and some with this new instrument, the electric bass geetar.

Some original single coil Precision, the violin EB1, and a few others. The recording standards were fairly rudimentary, as was recording the bass or bass guitar and the amp, all in one take (no multitrack yet) in Mono.

You hear two kinds of bass playing, either upright (including old school guys who thought that playing this new
Fender thing was a joke after their 'real' upright bass) style, or you can hear guitar players switching off to bass ( see: P McCartney a few years later) not playing upright shapes.

This is when The Book of Bass was being written for the electric. Big Fun.

 

[g-dude]

I thought there was some sort of miscommunication.

Also, just because he hasn't gotten mentioned yet, here's a cool photo of Monk Montgomery:

Whoa...I just realized something. Look at his strap!

I would totally have nothing but dented basses if I did that.

 

[J Wilson]

When I posted the other day, I was thinking of things like this:


El Los Lobos covering Richie Valens' 'Let's Go'', from the movie soundtrack. Dynamite DOES come in small packages.


Robt Plant from the Honeydrippers project, with solos from both Page, and Jeff Beck (easy enough to tell apart). This groove is fundamental, and in this case, upright. The horns, the hep cats and hot chicks jitterbuggin', this is the straight up stuff.


'Rockin with Ollie Vee', Gary Busey from the Buddy Holly biopic doing this early Holly rave-up.

Those of us who are, ahem, of a certain age, remember gigs like this from when were teens just old enough to go places and see a little trio like this in a skating rink, bowling alley, or in a park. This is what that was like, this is what is sounded like, and it's what it looked like.

 

[g-dude]

When I posted the other day, I was thinking of things like this:


El Los Lobos covering Richie Valens' 'Let's Go'', from the movie soundtrack. Dynamite DOES come in small packages.


Robt Plant from the Honeydrippers project, with solos from both Page, and Jeff Beck (easy enough to tell apart). This groove is fundamental, and in this case, upright. The horns, the hep cats and hot chicks jitterbuggin', this is the straight up stuff.


'Rockin with Ollie Vee', Gary Busey from the Buddy Holly biopic doing this early Holly rave-up.

Those of us who are, ahem, of a certain age, remember gigs like this from when were teens just old enough to go places and see a little trio like this in a skating rink, bowling alley, or in a park. This is what that was like, this is what is sounded like, and it's what it looked like.

What's funny is that I really don't like the remakes of the originals. A bit too polished, and some of the mojo is lost.

Contrast to the original Richie Valens:



Or these versions of Good Rockin Tonight:





Or Buddy Holly:

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

Here's a picture of The Sliders, an eastern-Kansas band from the era (I have the photo because I used to play with Jim Wilson, the saxophonist). The bass player is Buddy Ross, the guy who started Kustom Electronics in Chanute, KS.

View attachment 4814016

For more formal gigs, consider tuxedos:

View attachment 4814020

Nothing nails the look better than a flat top hairdo.