Rock and roll

History and character

Rock and roll emerged in the United States between the late 1940s and the early 1950s, mainly from rhythm and blues with influences from gospel, jazz, boogie-woogie, jump blues, swing and country. Contenders for the title of "first rock and roll record" include Sister Rosetta Tharpe's Strange Things Happening Every Day (1944), Fats Domino's The Fat Man (1949) and Rocket 88 by Jackie Brenston with Ike Turner's band, recorded in March 1951 by Sam Phillips in Memphis. DJ Alan Freed popularized the term on Cleveland radio from 1951.

The boom came between 1954 and 1958: Bill Haley & His Comets (Rock Around the Clock), Elvis Presley (That's All Right at Sun Studio in 1954, Heartbreak Hotel in 1956), Chuck Berry (Maybellene, 1955, with a distorted guitar solo), Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley (with his beat, 1955), Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran; independent labels such as Sun, Chess and Atlantic. Rockabilly is the more country branch (the Sun-era Elvis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash).

Around 1958–59 early rock and roll declined (Elvis's military service, the deaths of Holly, Valens and the Big Bopper), giving way to teen idols; in Britain Cliff Richard (Move It, 1958) and then the Beatles inherited its legacy. Instrumentation: at first piano or saxophone as solo instruments, then electric guitar; slap upright bass, drums with a backbeat on the snare, shouted or "hiccup" vocals (the rockabilly hiccup), and tape echo (slapback) from Sun Studio.

Scales and keys

Major and major pentatonic

• Formula: major 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (W W H W W W H); major pentatonic 1 2 3 5 6.
• Example in A: A B C# D E F# G#; pentatonic A B C# E F#.
• Characteristic note: the 6th (F#), which in rock and roll is everywhere (A6 chords, boogie riffs, melodies).
• Chords: I A, IV D, V E (with sevenths: A7, D7, E7), vi F#m in doo-wop progressions.
• Use: vocal melodies, saxophone and country guitar solos (Scotty Moore, Carl Perkins).
• Real-world example: Buddy Holly — Peggy Sue (A major); Elvis Presley — Hound Dog (C, with pentatonic and blue notes).

Minor pentatonic and blues over major

• Formula: 1 b3 4 5 b7 / 1 b3 4 b5 5 b7. In Bb (a horn key): Bb Db Eb F Ab.
• Characteristic note: b3 and b7 against major chords (blue notes).
• Use: Chuck Berry's licks (double stops on strings 1-2 with bends on the G string), honking sax solos, Little Richard's vocal screams.
• Real-world example: Chuck Berry — Johnny B. Goode (intro in Bb with b3–3 double stops).

Mixolydian (seventh chords)

• Formula: 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7. In E: E F# G# A B C# D.
• Characteristic note: b7 (D), which turns the I into an I7.
• Use: the I7 as the tonic chord, boogie riffs with the b7 (E–G#–B–C#–D–C#–B–G#), solos that arpeggiate the dominant.

Country/blues "composite" scale

• Formula: 1 2 b3 3 4 5 6 b7. In E: E F# G G# A B C# D.
• Use: rockabilly and Scotty Moore/Cliff Gallup-style guitar: hammer-ons from the b3 to the 3, double stops in sixths, arpeggios.
• Common mistakes: playing the scale linearly; rockabilly lives on double stops and fingerpicked arpeggios (hybrid picking).

How to choose

• Vocal melody: major/major pentatonic. "Nasty" Chuck Berry-style solo: minor pentatonic and blues. Riffs and bass: arpeggio with the 6th and b7 (Mixolydian). Rockabilly: composite with double stops.

Harmony

12-bar form

The dominant form is the 12-bar blues (I–IV–V with seventh chords), often with the quick change and the turnaround: Johnny B. Goode, Rock Around the Clock, Tutti Frutti, Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On, Blue Suede Shoes.

Doo-wop progression (I–vi–IV–V)

• The "1950s" progression (C–Am–F–G) for ballads and pop rock and roll songs (Stand by Me uses I–vi–IV–V; Earth Angel, Blue Moon).
• Harmonic rhythm of two beats or one bar per chord, in 12/8.

Stop-time and breaks

• The band plays only the first beat of some bars while the voice sings (Blue Suede Shoes, Hound Dog): tension and release.

Function

• Clear V7–I cadences, IV7–I plagal; sixth chords (A6, D6) and ninths in the horns; the bVII and rock modes would come later.

Voicings

• Guitar: seventh chords in open position, double stops, boogie riffs on the two low strings (fifth and sixth).
• Piano: chords hammered in eighths or triplets with the right hand (Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard), boogie bass in octaves with the left.
• Horns: sax sections with unison riffs or sixth chords.

Typical progressions

Rhythm and groove

4/4 with a backbeat on the snare (2 and 4) as the feature that sets it apart from much earlier R&B. Two feels: shuffle/swing (triplets, inherited from jump blues and boogie: Bill Haley, Fats Domino) and straight eighths (Chuck Berry, Little Richard, pushing toward modern rock). Ballads in 12/8 with piano triplets. Slap upright bass accenting every beat, rhythm guitar in eighths, piano in triplets or hammered eighths. Fast tempos (150–185), an energetic yet relaxed feel.

Drums

Role

1950s drumming is a small jazz/swing kit (20"–22" kick, snare, hi-hat, one tom, one floor tom, a ride and a crash), recorded with few microphones (often just one). Models: Earl Palmer (Little Richard, Fats Domino: inventor of the modern backbeat and of rock straight eighths), D.J. Fontana (Elvis), Jerry Allison (Buddy Holly), Fred Below (Chuck Berry at Chess).

Kick

• Light, "feathering" on the quarter notes (played softly on every beat in the jazz manner) or on 1 and 3. It is barely audible in the mix: the upright bass provides the low end.

Snare

• Strong backbeat on 2 and 4 (rimshot), reinforced by the hi-hat pedal. In the hotter sections, snare on every beat or triplet rolls.
• Ghost notes and jazz rolls between phrases.

Ride and hi-hat

• Shuffle on the ride or closed hi-hat: first and third triplet of each beat (ding-da-ding).
• In straight-eighth songs (Little Richard), ride or hi-hat in even eighths.

Percussion

• Handclaps on 2 and 4, maracas (Bo Diddley), toms with the Bo Diddley beat (3-2 clave: x..x..x...x.x... on a 16-step grid).

Interaction

• Slap upright bass hitting every beat (and the wood "clack" on 2 and 4): drums and bass together form the backbeat.
• Stop-time: drums and band on the 1 of each bar.

Sections

• Verse: full groove; sax or guitar solo: louder drums, crash on the accents; ending: roll and held chord with crash.

Fills

• Triplet rolls on the snare, fills on the tom before the chorus or solo, "shots" (kick + crash) on the horn accents.

Sounds

• Small, jazz-style kit, warm heads, little attack, natural room; tape slapback echo on the drums too in the Sun recordings.

Typical mistakes

• Modern kick that is too loud; modern bright cymbals; wrong swing (the shuffle goes on a triplet grid or 66% swing).

Bass

Sound

Slap upright bass (Bill Black with Elvis, Marshall Lytle with Bill Haley): the string is pulled and slapped against the fingerboard, producing a note and a percussive click. From 1957–58 the electric bass appears (Fender Precision).

Notes and rhythm

• Walking boogie in quarter notes: root–third–fifth–sixth–seventh–sixth–fifth–third (in A: A C# E F# G F# E C#), or root–fifth alternating.
• "Double" slap (note + two clicks) for the rockabilly swing.

Relationship with the drums

The bass is the real "kick" of rock and roll: every beat is played by the bass, and the click on 2 and 4 reinforces the backbeat.

Examples

• Elvis Presley — Mystery Train; Bill Haley — Rock Around the Clock; Chuck Berry — Johnny B. Goode (Willie Dixon on upright bass in the Chess sessions).

Harmonic instruments

Guitars

• Rhythm guitar: chords in eighths or two-string boogie riffs (Chuck Berry).
• Lead guitar: Gibson ES-350/ES-295, Gretsch 6120, Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster (Buddy Holly), small saturated amps (Fender Tweed, Gibson); double stops, bends, Travis-picking-style arpeggios (Scotty Moore).
• Acoustic in rockabilly (Elvis at Sun).

Piano

• Boogie-woogie: left hand in octaves and triplets, right hand with hammered chords and glissandi (Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Fats Domino in triplets).

Horns

• Solo tenor sax (honking: repeated, shouted notes), sax section with unison riffs (Little Richard, Fats Domino, Bill Haley).

Voicings

• 7th and 6th chords, double stops in thirds and sixths, unison riffs among guitar, sax and piano.

Melody and vocals

Vocals

• Energetic, shouted voices (Little Richard: "Wop-bop-a-loo-bop"), the rockabilly hiccup (Elvis, Buddy Holly), crooning in ballads.
• Simple melodies on the major pentatonic with blue notes, short phrases, repeated title.

Backing vocals

• Doo-wop: 3–4 part harmonies with syllables ("sha-la-la," "doo-wop"), vocal bass, falsetto; answering backing vocals to the lead.
• Handclaps and group vocals in the faster songs.

Effects

• Tape slapback (the Sun Studio trademark: a single echo between roughly 80 and 140 ms made with a second tape recorder), chamber reverb on the major-label records.

Instruments

• Lead vocals and doo-wop backing vocals.
• Semi-hollow or solid-body electric guitar, acoustic guitar (rockabilly).
• Slap upright bass (later electric bass).
• Small jazz drum kit.
• Piano (boogie-woogie).
• Tenor and baritone saxophone, sometimes trombone and trumpet.
• Handclaps, maracas, tambourine.

Drum patterns

Synths and sounds

• Piano V — Boogie-woogie piano: Bright upright piano (honky-tonk with slight detuning) for Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard: eighth-note chords in the right hand, boogie octaves in the left; little reverb, short chamber.
• B-3 V — Organ: Rare in the 1950s, useful for background R&B and gospel: soft drawbars, slow Leslie.
• Wurli V — Electric piano: The Wurlitzer arrives in the late 1950s (Ray Charles — What'd I Say, 1959): light drive, tremolo off.
• Augmented Strings — Strings: For late-decade pop ballads (Buddy Holly — True Love Ways): warm legato strings.

Song structure

Form (2:00–2:45)

Very short songs designed for the jukebox and radio; the unit of measure is the 12-bar chorus.

Mixing and mastering

Sonic goal

Mono sound (until around 1958 almost all pop was conceived in mono), warm, midrange, with slapback echo and an echo chamber; voice in front, band "around" it in a single space. References: Elvis Presley — Sun Sessions (1954–55), Chuck Berry — Johnny B. Goode (1958), Little Richard — Tutti Frutti (1955), Buddy Holly — That'll Be the Day (1957).

General approach

• If you are recreating the sound: work in mono or narrow stereo (L30/R30 at most), band-limited (HP 60–80 Hz, LP 8–10 kHz on the bus), tape and tube saturation.
• Few microphones: a shared ambience that ties everything together.

Drums

• Bus EQ: HP 60 Hz, +2 dB at 150–200 Hz (snare body), LP 8 kHz.
• Light tube compression (Fairchild/vari-mu 2–3 dB); room or chamber 0.8–1.2 s.
• The snare needs crack at 2–4 kHz; the kick is barely heard.

Upright bass

• EQ: HP 50 Hz; +2 dB at 100 Hz; +3 dB at 1.5–2.5 kHz (the slap click); LP 6 kHz.
• Opto compression 3–4 dB. In the center.

Guitars

• Mono or slightly off-center; EQ HP 100 Hz, +2 dB at 1–2 kHz, LP 7–8 kHz; slapback 100–130 ms (−10 dB) for rockabilly; small saturated amp.

Piano

• Mono or narrow stereo, HP 80 Hz, +2 dB at 2–3 kHz for the hammered sound, short chamber.

Sax

• HP 120 Hz, +2 dB at 1–2 kHz, compression 3–4 dB, chamber or 1.2 s plate.

Lead vocal

• Chain: EQ (HP 100 Hz, +2 dB at 2–3 kHz, LP 10 kHz) → tube compressor (LA-2A/Fairchild 3–5 dB) → tape saturation → slapback (Fruity Delay 3 or EchoBoy: a single repeat at 100–140 ms, feedback 0–10%, filtered HP 200 Hz / LP 5 kHz, −8/−12 dB).
• Chamber reverb 1–1.5 s for ballads.

Doo-wop backing vocals

• Grouped together, slightly behind the lead, longer chamber.

Buses and groups

• Tape saturation on everything, 2:1 glue compression.

Sidechain

• No.

Master

• Target: −12/−10 LUFS integrated for a period sound; true peak −1 dBTP. Consider the master mono-compatible by definition.

Common mistakes

• Modern stereo mix with huge kick and sub; bright cymbals; slapback that is too long (it becomes a delay) or too loud.

Reference tracks for the mix

• Elvis Presley — That's All Right (1954); Bill Haley & His Comets — Rock Around the Clock (1954); Little Richard — Tutti Frutti (1955); Chuck Berry — Johnny B. Goode (1958); Buddy Holly — Peggy Sue (1957); Jerry Lee Lewis — Great Balls of Fire (1957).

Reference listening

• Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats — Rocket 88 (1951)
• Bill Haley & His Comets — Rock Around the Clock (1954)
• Elvis Presley — That's All Right (1954)
• Chuck Berry — Maybellene (1955)
• Little Richard — Tutti Frutti (1955)
• Bo Diddley — Bo Diddley (1955)
• Carl Perkins — Blue Suede Shoes (1956)
• Jerry Lee Lewis — Great Balls of Fire (1957)
• Buddy Holly — Peggy Sue (1957)
• Chuck Berry — Johnny B. Goode (1958)