I was 11 years old when I got my first playing job in 1956 playing two nights a week at a officers club at Ladd AFB in Fairbanks, Alaska. Popular music was Les Paul and Mary Ford, Rosemary Clooney, etc.
Many of the early rock-n-rollers were from a country background (Marty Robbins, Bill Haley, etc.).

I couldn't figure out how some early rock-n-roll was recorded with such a uniques bass sound. Later, I discovered that a popular recording technique was to double the bass line played on an upright with a 6 string bass guitar. Fender made one, but the most popular one was a Dan Electro. I bought a reproduction "DanO" when they were re-introduced 5 or six years ago. Instrumentals like Rawhide and some early Duane Eddy tunes were also recorded on a six string bass guitar.

In 1960, I was playing in a club called Brocks in Lexington with Little Enis and the Fabulous Tabletoppers. Enis played an L-5 left-handed without reversing the strings. On Wednesdays, traveling acts were booked on their way from Chicago to Atlanta (about half-way). The club owner put them up in a six room motel behind the club, fed them and had them play with the band for an hour or so.
Most of these acts (Jerry Lee Lewis, B.J. Thomas, the McCoys (Hang on Sloopy)) traveled in a car with a box truck for equipment.
They were either rising acts who didn't play the biggest venues or older ones still on the circuit. They usually used the house system, but most had a Shure vocalmaster, and echoplex and Shure 585 high impedance mikes...no sound man and no monitors.

The switch to Fender P basses really changed the rock-n-roll business (Carol Kay-Jamison). We were part of a Dick Clark caravan of stars tour one year...man, I learned what being road weary really was. We had a Greyhound looking bus, but most had old school busses...lots of breakdowns...no airconditioning. It was a miserable summer.

During the early English invasion years, a massive stack of Marshalls was the thing. I used two Marchall heads and two marhall stacks (16 12's) for a house job in a nearby college town (Think Vanella Fudge). When strobe lights became affordable (1964?)
we OD'd on them. The use of B-3's was another huge influence, but because of the size, many bands used smaller M-3's.

I was privilaged to begin playing close to the birth of Rock-n-roll, then into surf music, then through the Brittish invasion.
Then, I got hooked on jazz and it was all downhill from there (Ha!).

Now, I work with an arranger and a nylon string playing dinner music. But, every night, I pull out some of the "oldies".

Man, the memories...!

Russ