Sep 24 2008
How to play ska chords, play like Bob Marley
Every hear those funky high pitched guitar chords mocking the organs in ska and reggae music? It is a guitar chord method first popularized by the reggae music of the 90s, utilized by musicians like Bob Marley. Bands like Sublime NOFX and Less than Jake use these ska chords all the time. They consist of playing the bottom three strings and muting them with your fret hand instead of palm muting.
Muting - To get the sound just right, strum upwards and mute the strings by reducing the amount of pressure you are putting on the guitar strings after you you strum them.
Get the beat - To keep time while you are playing ska chords, block the strings by resting your hand over the strings and strum downward between chord strikes, so you are strumming Down, Up, Down. i.e. Down(x), Up(A), Down(x). The following example uses an A chord strummed ska style.
D U D D U D
E----x--5--x----x--5--x--
B----x--6--x----x--6--x--
G----x--7--x----x--7--x--
D----x-----x----x-----x--
A----x-----x----x-----x--
E----x-----x----x-----x--
Moving it further - To take it a step further, try incorporating a wah wah pedal. You don’t actually want to do full sweeps of the pedal. The way reggae and ska guitar players use the wah pedal is by pumping their foot to the rhythm of the song while they are playing. Simply count the beats in your head 1-2-3-4 pumping for each beat. The muted upstrokes will take care of themselves and the blocked downstrokes will take on the resonance of the wah pedal.
More on ska guitar -
