Acoustic-electric bass for rockabilly?

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Unsprung

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Although I'm planning to create and record some original rockabilly pieces, this coming year, my current bass choices are 2 P-basses (Squier Afinity & Fender Standard) and 1 acoustic-electric...Johnson JG-622-E. I don't see myself being able to add a double bass to my collection, unless I happen across a great deal on a used one. I figure a Jazz bass would have a better sound, for rockabilly, but I don't yet own a Jazz bass, so would the Johnson acoustic-electric fit the bill, where there'd normally be a double bass?

Matt
 
Try it and see!

I for one have mixed live for a rockabilly band that used a P bass, it was all a matter of how the guy played it...

The old timers will tell you that if you can't seem to do it with a P bass then it just ain't gonna happen for ya at all.

Plucking the strings at about the neck joint, giving yourself a wide thick bass tone, with a bit of thump/pluck will get you there better than you might think....
 
guitar junkie said:
Try it and see!

I for one have mixed live for a rockabilly band that used a P bass, it was all a matter of how the guy played it...
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I'll try all 3 of 'em, then. With the acoustic-electric, I can always fiddle with the EQ, maybe "dial in" a good rockabilly tone...or not. Somewhere along the line, I should've gone for a PJ bass, then I wouldn't have been asking this question. :)

Matt
 
Fyi

a few days ago there was a used upright at GC Castleton that they quoted me $700. It's kind of beat up, but in rocakbilly, that's a good thing, right? :D

It was a 3/4 Knilling. I really wanted it, but then I'd need to sell my current one and it's just not worth the hassle right now.

I can hear my wife now, 'You don't play the one you have, why do you need two?' :D
 
notCardio said:
a few days ago there was a used upright at GC Castleton that they quoted me $700. It's kind of beat up, but in rocakbilly, that's a good thing, right? :D

It was a 3/4 Knilling. I really wanted it, but then I'd need to sell my current one and it's just not worth the hassle right now.

I can hear my wife now, 'You don't play the one you have, why do you need two?' :D
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I've currently got a used Strat on lay-away, so it wouldn't do me any good to trek up to Indy to see if it's still there. My next project, after getting the Strat out of lay-away, will be to get a Peavey JF-2 EXP on lay-away, at a different store, so it'll be a little bit before I even go searching for deals like what GC just had. GC Castleton is likely where I'll buy a Gibson Les Paul FDC (P90 equipped) that'll be one of my main surf guitar axes...and will be good for some rockabilly and surfabilly.

Matt
 
Unsprung said:
Although I'm planning to create and record some original rockabilly pieces, this coming year, my current bass choices are 2 P-basses (Squier Afinity & Fender Standard) and 1 acoustic-electric...Johnson JG-622-E. I don't see myself being able to add a double bass to my collection, unless I happen across a great deal on a used one. I figure a Jazz bass would have a better sound, for rockabilly, but I don't yet own a Jazz bass, so would the Johnson acoustic-electric fit the bill, where there'd normally be a double bass?

Matt
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do you mean a fender jazz bass ?stay away for rockabilly tones. the guy who said" if you cant play it on a precision then dont "has my sympathy but it depends what you want ,if you mean original by old style 50s rockabilly you can pull it off with a p bass (they were being used back then)if you want that clicking sound you´ll need a double bass and nothing else and learn how to pound that dog house and get an extra mic/pickup for the neck ,you can get a damn close double bass sound with an halfacoustic being finger plucked (if you stand the thing uprite on a bar stool and pluck it you get a double bassy feeling and automaticly pluck the strings with your fingers in a way that gives you a warm tone)
 
kaminari13 said:
(if you stand the thing uprite on a bar stool and pluck it you get a double bassy feeling and automaticly pluck the strings with your fingers in a way that gives you a warm tone)
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I was kinda thinking about that before I saw your reply, except I was thinking maybe getting an actual stand designed to hold a bass in such a way. Who knows, maybe I'm aspiring too high, to want an actual, honest to God, huge hollow bodied double bass? There are electric double basses that would be within my realm of affordability...I'd definitely have to try before I buy, in that case, though.

Greg_L said:
Just use flat-wound strings on your electric bass.
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Another good excuse for me to keep the Squier P-bass, along with the Fender Precision! String one with flatwounds, the other with roundwounds. I'll have to do a bit of experimenting...try 'em both each way, and "see" which one sounds best with which string type. Will be worth the effort, in the end. :)

Matt
 
I used to play bass in a rockabilly band for a few months (I was normally the drummer - long story) and i used an EB-3. It was my only bass, and I wasn't about to buy a stand-up (since I was really the drummer), so I made do with flat-wounds on my EB-3 and it sounded great. It didn't have that boomy upright sound, but it still sounded way more 'rockabilly' than normal round-wounds on an electric bass. I played through an old don't-know-what-model rickenbacker bass amp, and it sounded pretty cool.
 
Gibson EB-3 or Epiphone EB-3? I've got an Epiphone EB-3 (long scale) on my "to buy" list, and the more I think about it, I may not really need a Fender Jazz Bass. What sold me on the EB-3 is the 3-way switching, and two volume and tone control knobs, although the Gibson I had on lay-away 10 years ago I had to let go, due to reasons beyond my control. This was before I knew that Jack Bruce had used a Gibson EB-3, with Cream, that I fell in love with the EB-3 sound.

But, should I get one with a 30" or 34" scale? The Gibson is out of my financial reach, so my choices would be Epiphone's 30" scale Elitist, or their cheaper 34" scale offering.

Matt
 
Unsprung said:
Gibson EB-3 or Epiphone EB-3? I've got an Epiphone EB-3 (long scale) on my "to buy" list, and the more I think about it, I may not really need a Fender Jazz Bass. What sold me on the EB-3 is the 3-way switching, and two volume and tone control knobs, although the Gibson I had on lay-away 10 years ago I had to let go, due to reasons beyond my control. This was before I knew that Jack Bruce had used a Gibson EB-3, with Cream, that I fell in love with the EB-3 sound.

But, should I get one with a 30" or 34" scale? The Gibson is out of my financial reach, so my choices would be Epiphone's 30" scale Elitist, or their cheaper 34" scale offering.

Matt
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Mine was an Epi, and to be totally honest, I don't know the scale length. This was 15 years ago, and back then scale length meant nothing to me. I bought it used, put the flatwounds on it, and played it for about 4 months as the bassist in my rockabilly band. We finally found another bassist, I went back on drums, and 2 months later my house was robbed and I never saw it again. :(
 
Well...

It seems like it really is all subjective man....

I happen to be located here in Indy myself....

And I work at a violin shop!

We have basses around, sad to say none of them are out on the rental fleet free and ready right now but.... you might be able to rent a bass from someplace and get your tracks down, then call it a cheap session player.....

I don't have a bass around here any more or I would just say send me some tracks.

but you might try and find an online collab somewhere.
 
Will Lee on fake uprights.

I read in an interview that Will Lee does this alot to simulate an upright. I've done it, seemed ok. Better then nothing.

Use a flat wound string, palm mute the string while playing it nearer the neck with your thumb and add some short room reverb for the kind of boomy sound. So the thump comes from the palm mute and the reverb is adding the decay but because after the initial transient is done it doesn't get muddy because the string isn't sustaining.

Rockabilly bass is generally either a 1-5 thing or that 1-3-5-6-b7 pattern for every chord.

Good luck.
 
IMO....no upright slap bass, no 'billy. We tried the e bass approach and it sounded like a bar band trying to cover a rockabilly song. Bought an upright BOOM!!!...'billy.
Just don't expect to put down the P bass and sail on the upright...it's a whole 'nuther animal.
 
the closest to a double bass rockabilly sound would be a fretless electric acoustic
or a fretless hollow body. either way you are going to spend around the same amount of cash as a cheap upright unless you shop around for something used.

you can buy new plywood uprights for $400.00 that sound really good for rockabilly sound.
 
guitar junkie said:
Try it and see!

I for one have mixed live for a rockabilly band that used a P bass, it was all a matter of how the guy played it...

The old timers will tell you that if you can't seem to do it with a P bass then it just ain't gonna happen for ya at all.

Plucking the strings at about the neck joint, giving yourself a wide thick bass tone, with a bit of thump/pluck will get you there better than you might think....
Click to expand...





Yep, the technique is the same no matter what bass you use. Try them all.:cool:
 
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