Rockabilly Double Bass: Learn to Jump, Jive & Wail

Series Summary

From its original uses in medieval and classical music, to its ubiquitous use in jazz, to even its influences in big band and rockabilly, the upright bass is the monster of the low-toned family of instruments. Perhaps called “double” because of its uses as a low octave double for the cello, the upright bass is the backbone of any orchestra or band, because it lays the sonic foundation for the organization of the notes and beats within a song.

In particular, rockabilly music uses the double bass to generate a feeling of constant, rhythmic motion. With proponents from Elvis Presley to the Stray Cats, rockabilly incorporates slapping, big band basslines that help keep the songs pumping along; they give rockabilly some of its most characteristic tones.

In this free video series, our expert bass player will show you the basics of rockabilly style double bass playing, including how to set up the instrument for lower action and slapping techniques. Also learn the basic boogie woogie, as well as the single, double and triple slap beats. Finally, get some suggestions of rockabilly artists to listen to; you may pick up some riffs or learn new playing tips, techniques and styles.

Video Transcript

" Hi! I’m Ken Steiner on behalf of expertvillage.com, I’ll be talking today about slap bass. Slap bass is a technique for upright bass players you hear it often in Rockabilly music but you can also hear it in Blues music, Country music, Latin, Jazz, we’ll be exploring these different types of music and its application with slap bass today. Before we start actually learning some of the techniques I want to talk a little about the setup of the bass, just an acoustic bass and I guess we’ll get started."