Because of the early 1950s some acts were beginning to use, they were still frowned upon by the country music elite. Without a drummer, who was going to drive the rhythm? That chore fell to the bass player.
Along with country & # 39; s influence, rockabilly great out of blues and rhythm and blues. Blues bass players found themselves competitive to be heard over the rest of the band - especially in up - tempo music like jump blues and rhythm and blues. Of Along with the more aggressive play came the sounds of the strings snapping against the stringboard.
Bass players can now add a percussive element to the band simply by slapping the strings against the bass in various rhythms as they sounded their bass notes.
Rockabilly bass players took the concept even further and developed a very aggressive, percussive string slapping style that, when accentuated with the ever-present rockabilly echo during recording, created a very distinct sound that plays just as much a role in defining rockabilly music as the guitars do.
"Doghouse" bass fiddle. "That 's all Right," "Blue Moon of Kentucky, "" Mystery Train, "and more great songs feature just Bill Black & # 39; s slap bass, Scotty Moore & # 39; s electric lead guitar, and Elvis on vocals and acoustic rhythm guitar.
(Even still, when Elvis appeared on the stage at the Louisiana Hayride , house drummer DJ Fontana played along the back of the stage so as not to to the end of the stage 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 did not put an instant stop to the slap-bass sound, eventually bands realized that they no longer needed the bass player to provide the rhythm and - seeing as how an electric bass guitar is a lot easier to carry and amplify than a bass fiddle - many players began to make the switch to electric. as the rockabilly craze died out around 1960, so did the use of stand-up slap bass and it was all but gone from rock and roll by the early 60s.
Most of the late 70s and early 80s was also a revival of the stand-up slap bass style. Most modern rockabilly bands considered this an essential element to authentic rockabilly music. And many players have greatly expanded the slap-bass style. Lee Rocker, who played bass for the Stray Cats, is a perfect example of someone who & # 39; s taken the style to new heights and made it an art form all by itself.
Like the rest of rockabilly, it turns out there there was a historical basis for the slap bass style that everyone now associate with the genre. Rockabilly did not invent the style, but like it did with everything else that went into it, it did adopt it, expand it, enhance it, exploit it, and finally, own it.
