# What's the clicking in Bill Haley's Rock Around The Clock?



## noiseboyuk (Nov 7, 2010)

You know the bit I mean - a shuffle pattern throughout the main part of the song. Is it slapping on the fretboard of the acoustic bass? (if so I can't really marry it up to the bass line). Or rim shots? Or something else?


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## George Caplan (Nov 7, 2010)

its a high hat.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 7, 2010)

George Caplan @ Sun Nov 07 said:


> its a high hat.



NO WAY!!!!!!

I'd never have guessed that! Dammit, I want a hi hat sample like that now...


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## steb74 (Nov 7, 2010)

Perhaps we're describing different sounds but the dominant clicking that I hear throughout the piece is just the offbeat slap of the stand up bass.


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## Ashermusic (Nov 7, 2010)

steb74 @ Sun Nov 07 said:


> Perhaps we're describing different sounds but the dominant clicking that I hear throughout the piece is just the offbeat slap of the stand up bass.



Yes.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 7, 2010)

steb74 @ Sun Nov 07 said:


> Perhaps we're describing different sounds but the dominant clicking that I hear throughout the piece is just the offbeat slap of the stand up bass.



That sounds more likely to me too actually. But how is that played? The slaps (if that's what they are) sound very consistent, and yet they are both with the played note and just slaps on the offbeat. (You can tell I'm not a double bass player...)


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## Ethos (Nov 7, 2010)

I forget what the technique is called. He's plucking the strings with his middle finger (maybe like a bartok piz - not sure what it's called in jazz) and then slapping his thumb & heel of his hand on the fret board on the off beats.


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## George Caplan (Nov 7, 2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qnOf-OMuAw

the clicking i hear is a high hat. cant be a double bass.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 7, 2010)

OK. I do hear a hi hat, but yes, that's not the clicking I meant - it's the constant shuffle pattern.

Logic - I wondered myself if that was what was going on, but what I can't understand is how the pluck can sound so similar to the slap on the fretboard. Obviously that youtube clip is a mime, so I can't see the actual technique used... certainly neither the bass player or drummer are miming it!


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## steb74 (Nov 7, 2010)

Yeah, in the version above the hats are most certainly louder than this version I was listening to for example.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud_JZcC0tHI
I wonder if it was remastered or something and had some extra hats added?

Here are a couple of vids that might help to give you some insight into the slap technique.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4rWl7Zt8cE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT9hf1dw6Hs
(I'm sure there are alot more examples on youtube) I have the video from the first link and it's pretty good.


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## Ethos (Nov 7, 2010)

Okay, now that I'm watching the YouTube clip - that sound is definitely a woodblock played by someone off-camera.


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## cc64 (Nov 7, 2010)

noiseboyuk @ Sun Nov 07 said:


> steb74 @ Sun Nov 07 said:
> 
> 
> > Perhaps we're describing different sounds but the dominant clicking that I hear throughout the piece is just the offbeat slap of the stand up bass.
> ...



Hi Guy,

FWIW if you're interested in this type of bass playing, i've seen a few amazing Rockabilly guys playing live, often in clubs too small to hold a trap kit so the bass player literally replaces the drummer with a few great techniques including heavy Duct Tape on the index and middle finger etc...

Best,

Claude


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## steb74 (Nov 7, 2010)

Yeah, I've heard some good results with Trilian.
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## Mike Connelly (Nov 9, 2010)

George Caplan @ Sun Nov 07 said:


> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qnOf-OMuAw
> 
> the clicking i hear is a high hat. cant be a double bass.



Do we hear them playing in that video or are they syncing? In the video, you can see that neither the hihat nor bass are doing it. Bass players can definitely do that sort of thing, but in the Haley track it just doesn't sound like it's coming from the bass.

Maybe the band knew about other bass players doing that sort of thing but their guy didn't have the technique so they faked a similar sound with a percussion instrument?


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## JJP (Nov 9, 2010)

It looks and sounds like the drummer is playing on something with his right hand to create a typical hi-hat shuffle groove. Every drumset sounds different and he could be playing on a rim or some part of the hardware (tom mount?) to get that sound.

It's tricky to say from the recording, but it sounds to me like the drummer may be just playing on the snare rim. You may not be able to easily find this sound in a sample library. It's different from a "cross-stick" and a "rim-shot". It's literally playing on the rim of the drum. It also can sound very different depending on the listener's distance from the drum. (i.e. A close mic will pick up the resonant drum sound, but a distant mic may get mainly the rim "click".)

To get a similar sound, jazz drummers will sometimes play on the hi-hat stand, though this often gives a little more of a "ping" than a "click" that sometimes cuts through the ensemble better. Again, every set sounds different and distance and volume of the rest of the ensemble greatly affects the perception of these sounds, so your mileage may vary.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 9, 2010)

That YouTube clip is definitely a sync... no use in looking at the performances for clues. I'm totally convinced that it's the double bass in the actual record now I've seen those other vids.


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## Mike Greene (Nov 9, 2010)

JJP @ Tue Nov 09 said:


> It's tricky to say from the recording, but it sounds to me like the drummer may be just playing on the snare rim.


Sounds that way to me, too. But . . . you can hear the drummer playing the hi hat through the whole song, as well as some fills, during which the clicking never stops. Plus the drums and hat sound way more distant than the clicking.

On the other hand, the bass also sounds more distant and dark than the clicking, so I'm not sure that's it either.

I almost think they had an additional drummer during the recording who's only job was to play the side of the snare. (An overdub was unlikely that year.)


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## midphase (Nov 9, 2010)

I agree with the RimShot theory. It's not a bass slap that's for sure, and it's too staccato and mid-rangy to be a HH.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 9, 2010)

Having started this thread, I now find this continuing debate pretty perplexing! Now goodness knows I might be wrong, but this video linked earlier - 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4rWl7Zt8cE

Demonstrates the technique and sound pretty much spot on. Although I still can't see perfectly how the player does it, what is clear that the pull/slap with a note sounds the same as a pure rhythmic slap, which is where I was initially confused. The technique is even called the Rockabilly bass - it helps define the sound of that genre.

As for the Billy Haley video - folks, it's a mime...


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## leitmotif (Nov 9, 2010)

Bill Haley's drummer frequently rode the snare rim, instead of the high hat or ride cymbal, which I believe is what you're hearing. There may well be a bass slap also, but I believe that's only supporting the shuffle on the quarter notes. In fact I think I hear them flamming at times.
In this video you can hear the drummer rolling on the rim during the bass solo and see him briefly riding the rim. Sometimes hard to distinguish from a high pitched hat, especially when hitting the hat while rolling, which he's doing here, either with a stick or foot pedal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPJ-eG91 ... re=related


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## Jack Weaver (Nov 9, 2010)

I didn't bother listening to the example. I know what it is. It's the bass. 

In the early '80's I engineered and produced a handful of rockabilly revival bands. I remember the first day with one of these types of bands. After my assistant set up the mics and we had the first run-through I coyly slid out into the studio and whispered into the ear of the drummer (who was a good friend of mine) so as to not tip off the rest of the band how ignorant I was, 'What's making that clicking sound?'. 

He looked at me incredulously, sighed, and whispered back to me that it was the bass and so I sauntered back into the control room pretending like I knew what was happening all along. I unrolled the left sleeve of my t-shirt and pulled out a Lucky Strike, put it behind my ear and said over the talk-back, 'C'mon, you guys ready or what?'

.


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## Hannes_F (Nov 9, 2010)

As so often I can not open the same youtube clips here as you can. But if it is this one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5fsqYctXgM

then the sound is hand clapping.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 9, 2010)

Jack Weaver @ Tue Nov 09 said:


> I didn't bother listening to the example. I know what it is. It's the bass.
> 
> In the early '80's I engineered and produced a handful of rockabilly revival bands. I remember the first day with one of these types of bands. After my assistant set up the mics and we had the first run-through I coyly slid out into the studio and whispered into the ear of the drummer (who was a good friend of mine) so as to not tip off the rest of the band how ignorant I was, 'What's making that clicking sound?'.
> 
> ...



Love this story!!!! I can relate to it too... as soon as I heard the double bass demo I thought "bloody 'ell, I really should have known that!"

Interesting to reflect that 55 years after one of the most famous records of all time recorded, some of us professional musicians/composers still can't ID the sound (and a relief to know I'm in good company). Also I can't think of another style where the bass player is so integral to the percussion - electric slap bass is a totally different effect. This is like 2 percussionists, one of whom also plays bass...


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## George Caplan (Nov 10, 2010)

the clicking in the version i put up is definitely a a high hat because the timing of the high hat opening slightly would be impossible to sync with any other clicking device.


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## Mike Connelly (Nov 10, 2010)

So I googled the song and it turns out the bass player on the track, Marshall Lytle. was a pioneer of the slapping technique (not the first to do it, but one of the main guys to popularize it). There are a number of articles and interviews that mention that the percussive clicking is the bass.

If you listen to the samples on iTunes, many of those versions sound much more like the bass examples in the other videos in this thread. For some reason the youtube version of the song makes that part sound really different, I don't know if it was the recording technique or if it just suffers from coming off an old TV broadcast and compressed for online streaming. Or who knows, maybe that version isn't doing it on the bass, even if it is miming, it seems like the bass player would probably still be playing it the same way. The bass player did leave the band and there are later recordings that don't have the sound at all, it is possible they couldn't find a replacement who had the technique.

So definitely bass on the original recording, on the youtube version, hard to tell for sure.





Hannes_F @ Tue Nov 09 said:


> As so often I can not open the same youtube clips here as you can. But if it is this one
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5fsqYctXgM
> 
> then the sound is hand clapping.



The clicking in that version isn't really audible at all. Definitely not hand clapping in the other ones.


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## midphase (Nov 10, 2010)

Topics like these always remind me of those:

"How many ... does it take to screw in a lightbulb?" jokes. 

I guess ask 100 people to identify a sound and you'll get 100 different answers...all of them plausible!


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## leitmotif (Nov 10, 2010)

I really regret commenting on this subject. Not because I was ignored, but because I’ve spent so much time researching something that I couldn’t care less about. And no, that video with people clapping is not what I posted. Really? Clapping? But, was the bass solo a demonstration of triple slapping bass technique, I don’t think so, but no one bothered.

My final analysis, which I’m 100% certain is correct, no matter what anyone else thinks, :D is:

1) There is no question that this is a shuffle bass slap, not just on the quarter note as I theorized in my last post. If the slap was just on the downbeat, then there would be a difference in timber, which is not evident here.

2) Along with the bass slap is percussion, doubling the rhythm.
Maybe played on the snare rim, which is my first choice, or the bass drum rim or the snare drum or high hat or a plate in someone’s head. It’s part of the clicking sound you hear in RATC and it is definitely not just the bass slap.

3) The other variable in getting that unique sound is the way RATC was mic’d and recorded and of course the tight performance.

So two sounds playing in unison, creating a unique sound that neither sound could make exactly on it's own. We used to do this sort of thing in the orchestra all the time, it's nothing new. :mrgreen:


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## Hannes_F (Nov 11, 2010)

US folks, if you are posting youtube links then be aware that some of them can not be watched in Europe because of copyright issues. Most times we can look them up if we have video specific keywords, however there is some uncertainity. Just saying.


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## George Caplan (Nov 11, 2010)

noiseboyuk @ Sun Nov 07 said:


> OK. I do hear a hi hat, but yes, that's not the clicking I meant - it's the constant shuffle pattern.



ok i missed that. a different clicking? has anyone tracked down this constant clicking shuffle pattern? :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## Mike Connelly (Nov 11, 2010)

I think some of the confusion comes from watching videos of the song (most if not all of which are mimed, and the people onscreen aren't doing what's on the recording).

Here's the original tune, the clicking is very obvious and it definitely sounds like bass slapping (as seen in the instructional video links posted above).

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/rock-a ... ?i=5669846


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