I've been playing guitar for about half a year now, mostly punk music. I've been wanting to write and play some ska material, how exactly do ypou get that sound? I heard something about muting down-strokes and playing up-strokes, it wasn't very clear. Is that all their is to it? I'm gonna learn Sound System by Operation Ivy first to get some ska experience.
ok - it's not as hard as people like to make out.
I presume you're comfortable with the normal 1-2-3-4 count, and can work 1-&-2-&-3-&-4-&- without any troubles. Ska is played with upstrokes on the "&" of every beat. As you count the actual beat itself you need to kill the sound so that nothing's ringing out between beats - which is where your palm muting idea comes from.
Best to use barre chords as you can mute them by releasing the pressure on your fretting hand. If you're using open position chords then you need to mute them with the side of your hand as you finish the upstroke.
Skank it up dude - it's superb music. Check out "The Specials", "Bad Manners" and "Selector" from the late 1970's for some great examples.
Best,
A :-)
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I've not played ska, but it's really more feel than technology, just like the blues. The basis seems to be playing upstrokes on the weak beat - as a beginner, you can get away with leaving out the muted downstrokes.
Listen to some Madness - House in the middle of our Street or Baggy Trousers, for example.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=AHkuNhPky7g&mode=related&search=
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Think it's pretty much all been said. It is a very simple tool, but one of my favorites. Every time I get a chance to throw a few in, I do.
Instantly gives me a very nice rocky/jamming sense.
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Yeah I know counts like 1,2,3,4 and 1&2&3&4&, I play drums sometimes. Thanks for the help, I'm sure you guys know punk is mostly down-strokes. I've played a little bit of reggae(police & Thieves is a great song), it's got a similiar feel to ska. I've heard a little bit of The Specials work, I'll check out those bands.
another quick tip on ska: Avoid low E and the A strng if you can. Ska very often has a higher ringing sound and its easy to achieve with moveable forms of A, D and F. In case you didn't know, all three of those chords are movable as long as you only play 3 strings.
