The Bass Fiddle...

In the blues world, often times the only bass fiddler that people know of is the great Willie Dixon. I suppose this is a bit of a tangent, but I've read more than a few comments on Youtube of people proclaiming that Willie invented, or at least started the idea, of slap bass :|

Well, to that I'd say, check out this video of the great Milt Hinton demonstrating the technique. Milt came from a different musical background than Willie but interestingly would incorporate the same slap technique. This is to say, that bass fiddle slapping was probably prevalent all over the place, way back when...