ON THIS DAY IN 1977 - CHUCK RAINEY HID HIS SLAP-BASS PART FROM THE CONTROL ROOM

🎸 ON THIS DAY IN 1977 — CHUCK RAINEY HID HIS SLAP-BASS PART FROM THE CONTROL ROOM

During the sessions for Steely Dan’s “Peg,” bassist Chuck Rainey was given a clear instruction from Donald Fagen and Walter Becker: no slap bass.

But drummer Jeff Porcaro had another idea. 🥁

Rainey and Porcaro had worked together on other sessions, where the bassist had used the technique. As they played “Peg,” Porcaro repeatedly encouraged him to slap during the bridge. Rainey initially refused, knowing that it was exactly what Steely Dan’s leaders did not want.

Eventually, he agreed to try it. According to Rainey’s recollection, he positioned the studio’s sound partitions around himself and turned away from the control room so that Fagen and Becker could not see what his hands were doing. 🎛️

Then, when the bridge arrived, he slapped the bass. ⚡

The concealment did not last forever. Once the session moved on and the musicians began overdubbing their parts, Rainey returned to playing the bridge without the slap technique. Fagen noticed that the bass sounded different from the earlier performance with Porcaro.

Porcaro then revealed what had happened: Rainey had been slapping during those previous takes. Rather than removing the idea, they had him restore the approach that had created the sound they preferred. 🎶

The released version of “Peg” contains that passage, preserving a small act of studio defiance inside one of Aja’s best-known songs. What began as a forbidden technique became part of the finished record—not through confrontation, but because the groove made its own case. ✨

Sometimes the part you were told not to play is the one the song refuses to lose.

#musicOnOff #SteelyDan #Aja #Peg #ChuckRainey #JeffPorcaro #MusicHistory