Rockabilly Bass Archives

D’Orazio’s new Rockabilly Ropecore Double Bass Strings are chrome-steel flatwounds that the company engineered specifically for the rockabilly genre. Made in Italy, the design offers a lighter feel while its outer winding gives a more aggressive tone that suits the slapping style. The D’Orazio Rockabilly Ropecore chrome-steel upright bass strings come in 3/4 and 4/4 sizes as well as gauges...

Steve Bunker sent in this request: “Can you talk about the best way to amplify the upright to avoid feedback and the best way to record the bass. I play mostly rockabilly.” Hi Steve! I’ll get to the recording part of the question another week. For today, let’s talk feedback. Feedback is a real problem for anyone amplifying the double...

This is the final installment of Dr. D’s 3-part Slap Bass series. Check out part 1 and part 2. In addition to having its own specialized musical and technical considerations, Playing Upright Slap has its own particular instrumental setup issues. Here are some basic things slap players need to think about when customizing their bass for their specific situation. String...

This is part 2 of the Upright Slap Bass series by Dr. D. Check out Part 1 and Part 3. Here are a few etudes to help you improve your slapping. We will use a two octave G blues scale (6 note version) as our starting point. You can use any scale, arpeggio or lick you want, but this is...

In my opinion, one of the more interesting things you can do on the Upright these days is Slap it! Beyond it’s hipitude, it is a legitimate technique, just like arco (bow) and pizzicato (plucked), and it can make you more employable if you master it. So let’s take a look at the technique. What is Upright Slap Bass? (in...