What is 'tic tac' on the bass?

I keep hearing about 'tic tac' on bass (presumably upright) on old country and rockabilly records as a means of providing percussion. Does this just refer to the clatter of the strings on the fretboard?
Steve

It is basically just a doubling of the bass part with a muted guitar.

I have read that it is usually a 6 string bass like a dano used, 6 as in EADGBE, like a fender VI and played with a pick, hence the click. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

You are not wrong, the 6-string bass doubles the upright bass thus giving more definition to the bass as it comes out of tinny car speakers(in the 50s/60s).
The most cited example being Patsy Cline records.

Isn't it that slap and pluck action Rockabilly bassists
would do on an upright or does that have another name ?

Isn't it that slap and pluck action Rockabilly bassists
would do on an upright or does that have another name ?

That's called "slapping" (not to be confused with the funk slap technique), and you get that great clicking sound from the strings hitting the fingerboard.

Cheers, Tim

This is usually referred to as "tic-toc" guitar.

Master of slapping.

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Thanks, I really don't know where else Id go to ask these questions!

Master of slapping.

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That was cool :cool:

Now here's the master of upright slapping, starting at about the 1:10 mark:

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Most versions of this have the images reversed which makes him appear to be a lefty. This is the right way.

dave w..... cool

do you know if the maracca player is single?

dave w..... cool

do you know if the maracca player is single?

As a matter of fact, she is...

...of course, she's also 97 years old now!

Cheers, Tim

There was a snobbism against the Fender electric bass in the 50s, especially when it came to recording. The upright was not loud enough so the producer usually had somebody double on the Dano 6 string bass ("tic tac" bass) so you could hear it. Eventually Leo decided to give Dano a run for the money and came up with his Fender VI. Somebody figured out that they could save money by hiring a bassist with a Fender P-bass and eventually the tic tac sound became a thing of the past.

Slapping upright bass has nothing to do with the tic tac sound. It had to do with many rockabilly acts not having a drummer (ala Elvis and the Blue Moon Boys their first couple of years) because the Grand Old Opry forbid drums. A single slap was the string bouncing off the neck. If you follow that slap with your hand coming down on the neck immediately afterwards that was a doubleslap. Bring your hand down twice after the string slap and that's a triple. Check out www.rockabillybass.com for the history and every little thing under the sun to do with uprights if you're interested in learning more.

Dave W,
Where do you guys dig up this stuff ???
That's so cool.Thanks for sharing.

I feel for those poor girls. There they are smiling and
playing their hearts out while the bassist is up there
showboatin' :wink:

I first saw the Reg Kehoe video pre-YouTube. Back in 2005 I bookmarked this (http://www.archive.org/details/SoundieF) page because there was a post from a woman whose mother was one of the marimba girls. Now I see there's info on the bassist, posted by a man who married one of his granddaughters. His name was Frank DiNunzio and he played bass until he was in his 90s. The marimba player next to him was his wife. Sorry, hockey_head, no word on the maracca player.:mrgreen:

Now, as long as we're off the subject of tic tac anyway, and since bobbybigmac obviously wants more entertainment from the 40s :wink:, here are the Ross Sisters doing "Solid Potato Salad." Be sure to watch it all the way through.

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Top that! :lol:

Yowsa!!!

Cheers, Tim

:shock: Huba Huba
Now that's entertainment !
Thanks Dave.

...... hey honey ya gotta see this......

I keep hearing about 'tic tac' on bass (presumably upright) on old country and rockabilly records as a means of providing percussion. Does this just refer to the clatter of the strings on the fretboard?
Steve

And I believe it helped define certain studios. An identifiable feature of many Booker T & the MG's songs is a unison part between Duck on the Pre and Steve on the baritone strings of his Tele. I believe they learned this technique early.

Later on, when both Stax and Motown occasionally adopted each other's styles, Motown would latch on to the Tele & Pre unison thing and leave out their own 2/4 backbeat click, for stuff like "Why When Love Is Gone" by the Originals or "Too Late I Learned" by the Spinners.

A Tele and a Pre make a powerful statement.

I first saw the Reg Kehoe video pre-YouTube. Back in 2005 I bookmarked this (http://www.archive.org/details/SoundieF) page because there was a post from a woman whose mother was one of the marimba girls. Now I see there's info on the bassist, posted by a man who married one of his granddaughters. His name was Frank DiNunzio and he played bass until he was in his 90s. The marimba player next to him was his wife. Sorry, hockey_head, no word on the maracca player.:mrgreen:

Now, as long as we're off the subject of tic tac anyway, and since bobbybigmac obviously wants more entertainment from the 40s :wink:, here are the Ross Sisters doing "Solid Potato Salad." Be sure to watch it all the way through.

EHEtXkReIbE

Top that! :lol:

The tall drink of water in the back line to his right? I had picked her out as my favorite! :lol:

Ross Sisters? I had never seen them... These modern day contortionists could take a few lessons from these gals... ...some great gags they had in there. ...looked dangerous! Speaking of safety, those chickies should come with fire extinguishers!