ska/reggae band techniques

Patterson8040 · #1 12-23-2004, 06:21 PM

Hi,
I am in a ska/reggae trio and I havent been playing a real long time.
Our guitar player will often just play one chord like a g, over and over muting the downstroke and playing the upstroke. I was wondering what I could do to spice up the lines. Thanks

purevolume.com/7stepdrop and the song is untitled if anyone wants to listen then critique, thanks a ton!

Skaboy21 · #2 12-23-2004, 07:09 PM

hey man, ska is your time to shine. i'm in a ska band called The Wonka Mobile. our guitarist isnt the craziest either though he does your standard 4 chord progression. hey as far as what to do to spice things up? treat it like a never ending smooth solo. like play in the scale, but than branch off... like slide up the neck to a nother position and just walk on the octive... i'm really not sure what more to tell you... just like ... jam it.... the more u play with him the more u'll reallize what u can do with it.... i swear, if our guitarist only played 2 chords i wouldnt be sad at all.. just mess with octives, arpeggios and well... u know the drill.

Patterson8040 · #3 12-23-2004, 08:07 PM

Not throwing down on him at all, he is one sexy beast, and thats all he needs to do. Thanks for the reply skaboy

. Anyone else?

Bruce Lindfield · #4 12-24-2004, 02:09 AM

Walking bassline on the scale, is a good Ska thing - that is, 4 notes to the bar, smooth transition - but no swing and no chromatic passing notes or it's Jazz!!

Brush up on chord/scale relationships!!

Patterson8040 · #5 12-26-2004, 09:05 PM

Thanks Bruce.

corinpills · #6 12-26-2004, 10:10 PM

As far as important ska/reggae bass techniques, I'm quite sure you're already adept at the three most important thing: muting, muting and muting. I love playing in that idiom, there's so much freedom and such a wealth of great bass players to check out for inspiration- from the deep dub of Bill Laswell and jah Wobble, to the super hooky lines of Aston Barrett and early Sting, to the Specials, English beat Oporation Ivy, etc. etc. There are a million different ways to aproach those grooves.

Faded · #7 12-28-2004, 05:59 PM

Play boxy with passing tones, I hope that makes sense. Leave lots of space for reggae, and let your lines breath.

Whoring my band: www.myspace.com/kubensis