How do you play Reggae Bass?

[dlloyd]

I do listen to Burning Skies advice/suggestions, but I just dont have much money I will consider buying it once I get more money

Check your pm...

 

[Drifta]

i'm a little late to this thread(because this is my first post). the reason i started playing bass, well, was to play Reggae! i love it, and still fairly new to it. Reggae basslines are pretty easy to pick up by ear.

some artists to listen to with some really good material:
Sly and Robbie
the Abyssinians (satta massagana)
Culture
Dennis Brown
Burning spear
Greggory Issacs
The upsetters
King Tubby

thats just a few of my favorite... theres so much more out there.

also theres a website Link Removed that has most riddims listed and what songs use which riddim, aswell as recordings of alot of classic and newer(dancehall type riddims) riddims that you can jam to.

 

[Moe Monsarrat]

Lately I have been working on exactly when to mute notes in a phrase. I was listening to Roots Raddics playing a riddim behind Gregory Issacs' " Don't Want To Be Lonley". As we also play that song every night, I know the line well. I noticed he was cutting the notes off shorter than I do. Almost staccato. I tried it & right away noticed how tight it made the groove. It doesn't apply to all reggae songs by any means. There are some songs where you let it ring till the next note like "Ride In: by Bunny Wailer. In the 80s my band opened shows for Peter Tosh on 3 different tours, Two were with Santa & Fully on bass & drums & one(the 1st) was with Sly & Robbie. While both ensembles were great, there were definate differences. Sly & Robbie had a tighter, more polished groove while Santa & Fully were a little looser & more rootsy. Santa & Fully seemed to accentuate the changes & stops & starts a bit more dramatically. Sly & Robbie made less of the accents & just played that WICKED groove. It was quite instructional for me to check the differences & has made me listen for that sort of thing since then. Try listening to Pluto(Shervington). His bass player(whoever it is), is different than anyone I've heard & very good. I've had to learn his parts while singing Pluto's vocals. It's one of those things that you can't really think about while you're doing it. One slip & the whole thing comes apart.

 

[Drifta]

you opened for peter tosh? thats awesome man. raspect. Last night me and my buddies were jamming to Declaration of Rights by the Abysinnians, wicked song. rocksteady/ska/reggae 4 life!

 

[bassmasta05]

thanks for all the great advice guys

 

[Drifta]

Do you got anyone to jam your reggae basslines with? i hope so, thats what i love about reggae, me and my two best friends were just jamming to like 6-7 diff riddims for like 4 hours it was an awesome jam session. the riddim just takes over you.

 

[bassmasta05]

Do you got anyone to jam your reggae basslines with? i hope so, thats what i love about reggae, me and my two best friends were just jamming to like 6-7 diff riddims for like 4 hours it was an awesome jam session. the riddim just takes over you.

i was originally going to be in this one band but that never worked out and one of my friends just starting guitar. I plan to form a band with him and a drummer in a year or two.

 

[zazz]

i love to jam out some reggae from time to time and try to mix it in with my other stuff and see what comes.

i almost think the question of how to play reggae is not valid ..simply to say if you listen to enough of it and get into it then it will or will not come ..depends on you.

also one guy worth listening to for a modern take on the subject is jah wobble...a white guy from london!!

listening to the opening bass line of "visions of you"!!...pure magic.

 

[MakiSupaStar]

Do you got anyone to jam your reggae basslines with? i hope so, thats what i love about reggae, me and my two best friends were just jamming to like 6-7 diff riddims for like 4 hours it was an awesome jam session. the riddim just takes over you.

There you go. Did just that myself. I recently decided I needed more reggae. Jammed with a couple of brothers, the youngest brother is 19 that were looking for a bassplayer that was into DUB and reggae. So I gave them a call. There originals sound pretty Sublimish, but we're developing dub grooves. Soooo.... Long story short. We're opening for Beres Hammond on Jan. 8th. This is our FIRST gig.

STOKED.

 

[feet_]

just do what sublime did and rip off old reggae songs.
literally...

if you got bit torrent search

rewind selector sublime

some guy made a compilation album mixing 1/2 sublime with the originals.

20+ tracks

i still love them tho.
Eric wilson FTW!

 

[Drifta]

Rip off old reggae songs? sorry but they didn't Rip off anyone. It is the way jamacian music works, there are many many different riddims(rhythms) . one riddim may have over 1000 different songs recorded with it for example. And i don't think sublime really even used that many old riddims, lot of their stuff is original.

 

[MrBassie]

Go to Link Removed for an extensive list of reggae "foundation" and popular newer riddims. They are listed by name (usually the name of the original or more popular version) and you can hear and play along to them as they are in a continuous loop.

This is the real meat and potato of reggae bass!

 

[fat-k]

i was having the exact same issues as bassmasta so i read this whole thread three times and still dont get it bassmasta must be a lot quicker than me. i have listened to reggae music since i can remember but playin it is a whole different story. Can someone put all this into stupid people form for me or something? Please.
Thanks.

Capt. Kirk Fat.

 

[firststringer]

Funny how this thread lay dormant for nearly a year and then was resurrected on the eve of Bob Marley's b'day...

One Love

Bob Marley: February 6, 1945 - May 11, 1981