[Vintage-Audio] Marty Robbins bass

[Bob Young]

Hi Duane,
 
I'm not real familiar with Marty Robbins (yet) but thought being a bass player myself thought I let you know what I know about country music bass. There was a style during the 60's that was popular in Nashville called Tic Tac in which used two bass players, one playing upright bass which of course sounded deep and full, and another using a baritone guitar which was actually an early 6 string bass. The baritone player would play in unison usually in the same octave or sometimes one octave up along with the upright player using a pick and playing with a sharp guitar-like sound. The baritone would also play more connecting runs with the upright player usually sticking to fundamentals. The effect was a very deep but prominent bass sound, sounding like only bass bass player to most people. The first manufacturer to make these was Danelectro, Fender also makes them. A famous tune I can think of which starts with one is Dance Dance Dance by the beach Boys although the bass line is not tic tac. Many of the Everly Brothers Warner bros hits also included Tic Tac bass. Patsy Cline's work includes a lot of Tic Tac bass,
 
Bob Young
Analog MA

> 
> 1. Who Is On The Keyboard? (Duane Fischer, W8DBF)

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> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:29:15 -0400
> From: "Duane Fischer, W8DBF" <dfischer at usol.com>
> Subject: [Vintage-Audio] Who Is On The Keyboard?
> To: <vintage-audio at mailman.qth.net>
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> 
> Then there is the bass guitar. How do they make it sound so sharp, almost a 
> snap to the notes? Somebody told me years ago that it was done using paper 
> wound around certain strings.
> 
> Thanks for the insights!
> 
> Duane, W8DBF
>