Rockabilly Slap Bass Tips: The Hillbilly Slap

[@SconsinJoe]

Cool! I always thought it was the drummer who made those clicking noises. Thanks!

[@benhicksbass]

Thank you for this. I'm a professional jazz bassist who started branching out and doing country gigs and I couldn't figure out exactly how people were doing this technique

[@FuzzBass66]

Glad I could be of service. It's definitely a useful technique. Have fun with it.

[@folsom68ajohnnycashtribute7]

So true! 🎸🖤🔥

[@billries7883]

Great slap man. From a fellow bass thumper.

[@donaldswan1587]

Nice playing, and great sounding strings!

[@musicaficionado3805]

Great rockabilly slap bass sound!

[@yudiramasaputraofficial8348]

thank you 🙏 for teach 🙏good video easy for listening

[@reg4321]

Nice.

[@willw3900]

Great skills on display here, and good teaching to go with it! Thanks for the video. What song is the intro and outro? It’s driving me crazy it’s so good!

[@FuzzBass66]

Thanks. That song is...nothing actually haha, just a short 1 minute jam I recorded a couple years ago to use in intros/outros.

[@willw3900]

FuzzBass66 Bro, on one hand... I’m super bummed that I can’t go buy that song, listen to it repeatedly, and learn it. But on other hand.... I’m super inspired to call you Sensei. Seriously...that song is incredible. I need to learn everything about how you got that sound. The guitar had flawless reverb/compression/overdrive/slap back delay, and tone. The bass was mixed perfectly as to distinguish the slap from the drums. I know it’s probably a pain in the neck for you, but I’m a brand new rockabilly fan, but a long time musician. Im eager to learn every single detail about how you got that sound from each instrument.

[@JennyBaty1]

@@FuzzBass66 sounds a lot like Lay Down Sally by Clapton

[@bradsparks6008]

Brilliant informative vid bud! What bass is it high or low end sounds good nevertheless!

[@FuzzBass66]

This old girl is an Eastman VB80. Nothing special really, just your run of the mill, laminate 3/4 beater. But hey, she does the trick haha. Honestly though? It's the strings make all the difference in the world. Stomach churningly expensive, yes...but totally worth it.

[@cecileestelle9448]

Do you occasionally play live in SoCal?!! I'm in San Diego my partner & I would love to see you.

[@paulwhiting1648]

Great video. What strings and pick up are you using?

[@FuzzBass66]

Thanks. Strings are Innovation Psycho Slaps, and no pickup. The sound you hear is just the bass itself.

[@mrshieldsguitarclass101]

During the root/5th double slap groove, What are you doing when you walk between chords. Is that a fast single slap?

[@FuzzBass66]

Pretty much, yeah. Just some quick singles to tie everything together.

[@MizarMohican]

Great, What strings do you use?

[@THEREALCAPTAINDREAD]

Subbed

[@jonnytap]

Where does this technique originate from? I ask because it was used a lot in old school norteño music on the “tololoche” (a certain type of upright bass). It’s now used a lot in modern regional Mexican music (“corridos belicos”) when it got popular again around 2020. Now it’s heard worldwide from artists like Peso Pluma, etc. I wonder if old school Mexican musicians might’ve gotten inspiration from American musicians

[@melhernandezmusic]

Originally found in ragtime, big band, swing jazz from the 20s and 30s

[@HellbillyHalloween]

Sounds Luther Perkins

[@trrond]

who played the intro?

[@FuzzBass66]

Me, myself and I haha.

[@trrond]

@@FuzzBass66 cool. On Spotify ? 😎

[@FuzzBass66]

@trrond Haha, no, it was just something I threw together in about 15 minutes solely for use as into music (back when I was making videos more regularly and folks were more interested). I think the whole song was maybe a minute long, maybe a bit longer but not very much. Truth be told I don't even know what happened to the file, lost on a hard drive somewhere I suppose. In any event, it's cool you liked the sound. Any sort of positive feedback is always nice.

[@trrond]

well it sounds awesome@@FuzzBass66

[@randyvandiver6085]

Folsom prison blues by Johnny cash base licks

[@frankiebollinger3144]

Do you give lessons

[@statusquorules]

wow into rocks! where is full

[@ryansnodgrass5232]

I did that in class in middle School because I was bored and I was made an example out of.

[@parengstrand3101]

In a positiv or negativ way? 🙂

[@ryansnodgrass5232]

@@parengstrand3101 it was in a negative way. I'm from Appalachia and I was living in California at the time. There were teachers who very much thought the entire culture I'm from is completely backwards and tried to "correct" it.

[@parengstrand3101]

@@ryansnodgrass5232 I'm sorry to hear that. But the people with that kind of thinking are the ones missing out, not seeing the great diversity of different cultures and how it nakes our lives richer.

[@ryansnodgrass5232]

@@parengstrand3101ya know my japanese immigrant English teacher from back then said the same thing

[@JeromeCourtoisCA]

How is this different from the Tripple Slap? Just the fact that it's shuffled or am I missing something?

[@FuzzBass66]

The timing, sound, feel, how it's used within a song and the physical action of how it's played are what make it different. It contains three slaps, yes, but it's entirely different from the normal triple slap. Same idea with drag triplets. Three slaps? Yes. Same thing as a standard triple slap? Absolutely not.

[@folsom68ajohnnycashtribute7]

Hey Man, where are you located?

[@FuzzBass66]

Way north of stateside up Saskatoon way...my little frozen corner of hell haha.

[@folsom68ajohnnycashtribute7]

@@FuzzBass66 Ha! We’re planning on bringing the show up your way! Not too many playing that Bass the way it needs to be done. Awesome playing, brother!

[@FuzzBass66]

@folsom68ajohnnycashtribute7 Thanks for that, I try. You're not wrong either, us doghouse slappers seem few and far between these days.

[@FuzzBass66]

@folsom68ajohnnycashtribute7 I checked out a few of your live videos too, I think that's the closest I've heard anyone in the modern era get to that old sound (especially that lead guitar, I think Luther would approve). Great stuff.

[@keithclark486]

Does that make your hand hurt ? Like stinging like bee's Or do you just get use to it ? Anyways when I was in school year's back my teacher use to Slap my hand with a ruler I'm scared if I tried that I'd have flashbacks and attack the bass and do like I'd like to have done Mrs stepp back in the day.

[@elongatedmusket2584]

What kind of bass is this?

[@FuzzBass66]

Eastman VB80

[@statusquorules]

play like pro :D

[@sisiam3268]

Wish the camera was back s bit

[@FuzzBass66]

If you'd like to see this or any other slap technique from a different angle let me know. I can always throw something like that together.