Tic Tac Bass and other recording techniques

[Greg Cutshaw]

Here's a link to a topic on the telecaster forum where they are discussing how to do tic tac guitar parts and indeed whether they are even necessary anymore. The history of this is summarized along with the idea of doubling the guitar parts with a 6 string bass to make them more mammoth. I learned a lot in a few short paragraphs!

Tic Tac Discussion

Greg

[Bill Hatcher]

There was only one guy on there who had a good knowledge of what the tic-tac part was and why it was used. It was to add a top end to the acoustic bass parts that were nice and round in the low and mid area but totally lacking in the top. The bass of choice was a cheap Danelectro 6 string bass NOT the baritone version.

The trick is to have a player playing the tictac sound that works well in tandem with the upright player. Harold Bradley was the king of this. He said he made a small fortune just playing tictac bass even though he was a fine guitarist.

The tic-tac sound.....back to the future maybe. Every old recording technique will be dug up and tried by a new group of recordist at some point. Next thing you know there will be a room full of musicians and singers doing sessions again.......nahh.

[Howard Tate]

I admired the way Bobby Caldwell did it on the stage in St Louis. I don't know if many noticed it but I thought it added a lot.

[G Strout]

I clicked the link and shot over to TDPRI. Bill Hullett was all over that discussion. When BH speaks I would listen... not only is Bill a monster picker but to say he knows his way around a studio would be putting it mildly. Hmmmm come to think of it...he builds one hell of amplifier too!!

[Steve Alcott]

On my playalong disc, "Texas Dancehall Classiscs II", I used a Danelectro longhorn bass guitar, bridge pickup, muted with my picking hand. Worked out OK to my ears.

[Eric Jaeger]

I'm reading the thread cited right now, but my interest is more in recreating that vibe live. I've got a recently acquired baritone I've been experimenting with. Since I'm the bass player I can't double myself, but I'm still looking for a "twang" on the bottom.I've got a Dani longhorn 4-string, but it doesn't have the "body". Got any ideas?

-eric

[Dennis Olearchik]

what amp does Bill Hullett build?

[Greg Cutshaw]

Here's a link to his amp website:

BillHullet Amps

There's also some YouTube videos showing his amps.

Greg

[Craig Stenseth]

I take it Harold Bradley was the one playing the tic tac part on Elvis Presley's "Marie's the Name of His Latest Flame" and "Little Sister", stuff from around that era? Wikipedia lists him as a musician for a compilation from then. Of course the Internet's been wrong before.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_Nashv ... 0s_Masters

[Pete Finney]

For what's it's worth I did sessions this week (old school country for sure) where Harold Bradley was playing tic-tac bass. He had his old Danelectro 6-string bass and played through a medium size tweed Fender (vibrolux maybe?). The interesting thing to me was that he had the treble on his amp on 9 and the bass on 1! I heard a lot about how that was done in the old days, doubling an upright bass with little discussion about the lines being played, there are definitely formulas for the bass parts so they don't have to work out every little thing. Emory Gordy was producing and he'd told me stories years ago about how Harold set him straight when he first came to Nashville about the "proper" way to play bass lines if you were being doubled by a "tic-tac'. An interesting few days for sure!

Seemed worth resurrecting this discussion to throw this into the mix...

[Clyde Mattocks]

Tic-tac can work magic in a track if a player knows how to make it fit the song. The early tic-tac on the Hank Williams records was straightforward, no walks. The Nashville session guys in the 60's turned it into an art form. There is the dead string, semi dead string, dead on the straightaways
live on the walks, pattern tic tac, and all kinds of
combinations. If you try to show an uninformed
player, he'll usually say, "Oh you mean Johnny Cash
style".