im trying to get my head round Reggae. Would u mind check this out?

[seifukusha]

reggae bass clip on a really bad bass, sorry

 

Hi everyone. Im really loving my time with the bass lately. doing it fingerstyle, no picks! anyway, after listening to alot of reggae, i think i kind of got it. the POS bass im using has really high strings, so sorry for the missed note or two . Is what reggae bass? Seems like what I hear in the songs ive checked out. making its own melody to mesh with the song, its own phrase if you will. sorry, its on soundclick.

 

thanks for your time. ill wait for your response..

[Grumpy_Polecat]

It has a definite Caribbean feel to it.

 

Reggae is a pretty loose structure, open to lots of subtleties. Same as blues. How many types of blues are there? Lots.

 

And there's lots of different Reggi as well (I just coined that word: 'reggi', plural for reggae).

 

I know a lot of Reggae is done with triplets on beats 1-3 (which gives an odd nine count to a 4/4 beat). The keynote is to put accents in different places than where they are expected. (Which is called syncopation). Sometimes a little ahead or behind of the beat.

 

It's probably harder to do with the drum machine because the drum machine can't syncopate! You get a slightly sloppy and slighty drunk drummer to play along with in your own slightly sloppy and slightly drunk way, THAT's reggae!

[seifukusha]

thnks,cool. well, carribean is decent. its in the ballpark. its alot of fun. i think ill do a roots reggae instrumental (sans the whiteboy singing that i would surely do)

 

any other ideas?

[Funkee1]

The main thing to remember with Reggae is once you get a pattern, repeat it with little or no variation. That's the whole thing with Reggae and dub......hypnotic repetition, hypnotic repetition, hypnotic repetition, hypnotic repetition, hypnotic repetition

[Grumpy_Polecat]

Mark, you forgot to mention the hypnotic repetition.

[Grumpy_Polecat]

seif,

 

Reggae IS a type of carribean music after all. I find it to be harder-edged than calypso, which is light and airy... 'festive' I guess. But they have the same roots and the line is easily blurred. (How many points of seperation are there when there are only 12 notes?)

 

Sorry I can't give a more definitive answer of what exactly makes something reggae and another thing not.

 

Well, except for hypnotic repetition, that is.

[seifukusha]

hmm..good answers everyone. thank you so much. im guessing that the idea of reggae is now kind of blurry, but its all the above:

 

the upstroked guitar on the "and" (it can be downstroked as well)

the bass that makes its own melody and follows the drums..

the drums with the accent on the three. or not

 

anyway, im having a blast playing bass. ive always had one around, but now, im doing fingerstyle and really trying. ive never liked the blues so much, but reggae is so free and fun. ive been a guitarist all my life, but a bassist for a week so to say. alot of fun. i mean, i know my scales already, so im slipping in some indian stuff..

 

i may be a natural and if so, im soooo psyched about the future.

[dwalmz]

I'm of Jamaican descent. I play reggae stuff all the time. I'd like to offer a snippet of some Bob Marley stuff I've done as an example.

 

http://www.zshare.net/audio/stir-it-up-mp3-gf6.html

[PaulyWally]

Yeah... repetition.

 

One thing I would suggest, is a bit more staccato in your playing. Reggae is a very laid back kinda groove. And to make a bass line groove, I think it's more important to pay attention to what you're NOT playing... instead of what you ARE playing.

 

Lots of space... less is more...

[Enderz13]

All good comments, so let me add mines. You are little stiff, Reggae is about feeling the grove, if you dance it you shall play it. Listen and Feel. Two easy and good songs to try are "Cares Me Down" Sublime and "Natty Dread" Bob Marley and enjoy:snax:

[nos]

Here's 4 hours of killer reggae tracks courtesy of my kickass favorite radio station.

 

http://www.kdhx.org/programs/nightshift.htm

 

(Click either of the two 'Stream' buttons at the top. Go about 5 minutes in because there's usually about 5 minutes of the previous show on the stream. Then listen and play along. GREAT reggae.)

 

4 more hours of reggae:

 

http://www.kdhx.org/programs/positivevibrations.htm

 

4 hours of dub:

 

http://www.kdhx.org/programs/dubmixture.htm

 

I love my KDHX!!!

[seifukusha]

thanks nos.

 

stacatto and space

 

funny i was messing with a biut of stacatto last night

i always thought that was the guitar playing the stacatto parts

 

but hey, ive been doing this for like 6 days, its a start right.

i AM in the right direction,no?