Whatttt?? My Homies ! From my hometown! I used to go to all your shows in Boston and Rhode Island @ Club Babyhead, the Rocket , Axis. You guys introduced me to ska which is certainly one of my favorite genres. Great lesson BTW Paul
I agree that there are many approaches to ska guitar. I only play with downstrokes in my current band, but have played in 2Tone and ska/punk bands as well. "Sloppy" doesn't necessarily mean "poorly-executed"; I'm describing an aesthetic to his playing style. He slurs upstrokes with muted downstrokes, which can form bad habits when first learning. If you develop your own style with certain quirks, that's great, but learning quirks first is not the best introduction. Start by learning the basics!
I liked this video, I always try to describe a ska riff to people who think ska is just punk rock with horns, and without getting into the whole trad, two tone thirdwave thing with them I try to explain the guitar but I don't play and can't really explain it, I see a lot of comments saying in Jamaica its played on the down stroke but this is still pretty good, I've always heard it explained as muting the downstroke and now the upstroke so this is still better than anything I could explain
great explanation. in reggae i always play on the downstroke in almost the same way, so in ska i just need to mute the downstroke instead, never knew lol. im going to try out a ska song next
Hope someone helped you figure this out since you posted this 5 months ago, but he is playing an F chord shape-- barre first two strings on the first fret with the first finger, second finger on the G string on the second fret, and 3d finger on the D string on the 3d fret-- at the fifth fret. If you are playing this at the first fret, it`s an F, if you count up the steps to the fifth fret, it`s an A: F, F sharp G, G sharp A ! Good luck!
I'm learning this and what helps me out is thinking of it as drumming with chords. you're essentially just playing RLRL (swap for lefty ofc) eighth notes between strumming and muting while changing chords as necessary.
You get conflicting theories on whether it should be up or down strokes. Having watched a lot of tutorials and live footage of ska bands, I don't think it matters so much as long as you get the tempo and rhythm and play on the offbeat. Was watching videos of The Slackers and Jay Nugent seems to prefer down strokes to up. He mixes ska and reggae with jazz, soca and calypso, so it's an interesting combination. On slower reggae or rocksteady, I find upstrokes easier to play on but faster ska downstrokes feels more natural for me. By this I mean the stroke you actually play, of course, as you are muting the other. Good video by the way, it's a fun style to learn.
@ iYorKey I agree with you,im mexican but borne in the state's (Long Beach CA.) And just a couple days ago, went to a show and lots of Hispanics every time I go to one, it was in Watts (L.A.)
The down stroke CAN be done but is not always necessary. It is good as a tool to show where the ska chord off-beat falls (and, sure, the muted downstroke is used in lots of songs). But you can go straight to the up stroke on the off beat without doing the downstroke. Your body or brain will fill in the downstroke gap automatically (often a twitch of the fingers either on the neck with the left hand or on the scratch board with the right). The down stroke is implied even though it is not there.
um question here: What is the tuning for your guitar? How did you get the A chord all the way down the middle cause I thought the A chord was played near the top. I am still learning chords just wondering how you did that.....Also how did you get D and E chords so high up on the guitar?
Well I learned guitar to hard-core and metal-core songs and mainly heavy rock and going into this style with my side band is very different and weird to me .-. any more tips?
Yeah! Mighty Mighty Bosstones! I`ve seen them in San Fransisco back In the Day! So, all the folks criticizing his playing style might want to check themselves. I think this guy knows where of he speaks-- and, if Blink 182 is your only reference for Ska, you`re probably really young and ya got some musical history 101 to catch up on!
The down up motion is fine for ska punk, but authentic guitar is played with two down strokes, a muted one and a staccato one. It is much harder to play but gives the chord a bright note as it finishes on the highest string. Respect.
You could go with an ibanez artcore best model is the am73 serise they have the 335 style body ,epiphone dots or any epiphone 335 styles,gretsch the electromatuc pro jet seriae is great an affordable or telecastors
What's your point? That somehow his style isn't sloppy 3rd-wave ska guitar just because he plays with a 3rd-wave ska band? This is a video that instructs how to play Bosstones-style guitar, and shouldn't be considered an "introduction" to ska guitar; it's way too specific to Lawrence's style. His style of playing works great for the Bosstones (not hating on them at all!), but not for most other ska styles (especially Jamaican ska).
is there a name for that style of orchestration where the only notes you play are on the upstroke like this ska guitaring? (surely it's been around as long as classical music and music theory would have a word for it, right?)
His style is not sloppy at all. Just because it isn't trad ska style or "Jamaican ska" like the Skatalites or Toots doesn't make it sloppy. There's tons of different ways to play ska guitar, this is just one way. Shit you can even play ska guy with just downstrokes if you really wanted to go towards a more traditional style sound. But to come and bash on someone taking time to show someone how play a certain style, much less someone who is in one of the biggest ska bands out now, is just dumb.
Not really, you can play "ska" guitar with downbeats. Go watch the Snails, Aggrolites, Brunt Of It, or the Specials guitar players. They play with downstrokes.
Just realized this is the guitarist from The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Good stuff.
oh wao D:
Coolest thing ill come across today!
WHAT THE HELL. Thanks for noticing!
Whatttt?? My Homies ! From my hometown! I used to go to all your shows in Boston and Rhode Island @ Club Babyhead, the Rocket , Axis. You guys introduced me to ska which is certainly one of my favorite genres.
Great lesson BTW
Paul
He should have introduced himself that way!
I was trying to teach my friend to play Ska in jazz band (very poorly), then my teacher heard us and emailed us this video. He's a cool dude.
Hey man, I know lots of ska songs now, I'm not good, I just love to play. thanks for sticking up for me dude, peace to you.
I agree that there are many approaches to ska guitar. I only play with downstrokes in my current band, but have played in 2Tone and ska/punk bands as well. "Sloppy" doesn't necessarily mean "poorly-executed"; I'm describing an aesthetic to his playing style. He slurs upstrokes with muted downstrokes, which can form bad habits when first learning. If you develop your own style with certain quirks, that's great, but learning quirks first is not the best introduction. Start by learning the basics!
I liked this video, I always try to describe a ska riff to people who think ska is just punk rock with horns, and without getting into the whole trad, two tone thirdwave thing with them I try to explain the guitar but I don't play and can't really explain it, I see a lot of comments saying in Jamaica its played on the down stroke but this is still pretty good, I've always heard it explained as muting the downstroke and now the upstroke so this is still better than anything I could explain
great explanation. in reggae i always play on the downstroke in almost the same way, so in ska i just need to mute the downstroke instead, never knew lol. im going to try out a ska song next
Hope someone helped you figure this out since you posted this 5 months ago, but he is playing an F chord shape-- barre first two strings on the first fret with the first finger, second finger on the G string on the second fret, and 3d finger on the D string on the 3d fret-- at the fifth fret. If you are playing this at the first fret, it`s an F, if you count up the steps to the fifth fret, it`s an A: F, F sharp G, G sharp A ! Good luck!
My pick always falls out of my hand eventually
Buy one with a grip
@@floating_microwave6783 I make my own grip on a pick by spraying a light coat of 3M glue on them. Works great.
I've played guitar professionally for almost 40 years, and so does mine. That's why we have lots of plectrums stuck on our mic stands.
You ever fix that lazy thumb syndrome?
Chords in example made me go: "Stir it up, little darling. Stir it up, oooohh"
Speed it up or add distortion and you have ska-punk or crack rock steady
+Poison Joe Thank you! Seeing Leftöver Crack next month.
+Brosef saw em last week!
Logan Thompson So good, right?
Brosef they were solid (^__^)
Logan Thompson Did you also see Days n Daze?
Love the Bosstones, this is the kinda Ska guitar lesson I was looking for, but wanna see more
"you don't want to sound like this." me: puts ukulele back in case and finds new hobby.
Nice lesson mate, punk guitarist myself and wanted to learn some basic reggae and ska stuff that influenced b.a.d/ the clash/ the beat/ madness
@anmgar just use neck pickup, a clean channel, low mid, high trebble, and some reverb. hope that helps
@imlatinoguy standard tuning. He played A by 577655
I'm learning this and what helps me out is thinking of it as drumming with chords. you're essentially just playing RLRL (swap for lefty ofc) eighth notes between strumming and muting while changing chords as necessary.
@JimmyBshaw It's the top half of a bar chord...you can just do a bar chord shape and not play the bottom 2 strings(A and low E that is).
You get conflicting theories on whether it should be up or down strokes. Having watched a lot of tutorials and live footage of ska bands, I don't think it matters so much as long as you get the tempo and rhythm and play on the offbeat. Was watching videos of The Slackers and Jay Nugent seems to prefer down strokes to up. He mixes ska and reggae with jazz, soca and calypso, so it's an interesting combination. On slower reggae or rocksteady, I find upstrokes easier to play on but faster ska downstrokes feels more natural for me. By this I mean the stroke you actually play, of course, as you are muting the other. Good video by the way, it's a fun style to learn.
@imlatinoguy barre chords. any open chord can be played as a barre chord, and thus the shapes you see in the video
@ iYorKey I agree with you,im mexican but borne in the state's (Long Beach CA.) And just a couple days ago, went to a show and lots of Hispanics every time I go to one, it was in Watts (L.A.)
writing a ska song right now thanks to you!
Very good!
The down stroke CAN be done but is not always necessary. It is good as a tool to show where the ska chord off-beat falls (and, sure, the muted downstroke is used in lots of songs). But you can go straight to the up stroke on the off beat without doing the downstroke. Your body or brain will fill in the downstroke gap automatically (often a twitch of the fingers either on the neck with the left hand or on the scratch board with the right). The down stroke is implied even though it is not there.
@KaoJTAps Presionas las cuerdas cuando vas para arriba y las sueltas un poco cuando lo haces para abajo. Ya esta.
Thats a Hamer SATGT if I'm not mistaken. Arched top Gold top.
you play only three strings at the a accord? if not, how would you mute the other strings? i dont get it :/
Excellent. Thanks for sharing
MORE SKA!!!! Skankin' my life away!!!! WOOOOOOOO!
um question here: What is the tuning for your guitar? How did you get the A chord all the way down the middle cause I thought the A chord was played near the top. I am still learning chords just wondering how you did that.....Also how did you get D and E chords so high up on the guitar?
I second this
@@x9draven9x He’s just playing different chord shapes. The A is an F shape moved up four frets and the other two are barre chords, or power chords
Brill! thanks for the upload, you make it look so easy but I'm still struggling with it!
:-)
So when changing chords it's really hard to keep the strings muted and I'm hitting some open chords during transitions, any tips for this?
@Minekmusica agree !
but the clash have some song that sound like ska (wrong em boyo)
After 25 yrs of playing Trumpet, 2 with trombone...I just picked up guitar. WHAT IS THIS BLACK MAGIC VOODOO!?
Can u help me Sr,how i want to get setting lvl vol,bass,middle and trible to amp clean sound like ska... Tq
good lesson! nice guitar, double cut Les Paul???
Those are the chords for Stir It Up by Bob Marley.
@bass420man1
Yes! Somebody agrees with me! Thank You!
i keep either loudly nat-harmonicing the 5th fret or i stop muting the 5th string
@johnny45irish nice, you are probably correct, but this video is about playing guitar, it is not a history class
Great! Thank you. 😊
Kinda glossed over what this "A shaped" chord is. It's hard to tell from how he's holding his hand. Diagrams would be nice here.
That's a beautiful guitar.
I still struggle with ska guitar. I just can’t do it with my fret hand for some reason
Great lesson.
se parece a una cancion de big Javi y los tenampa se llama se va
Do you mute open strings too?
I like the beat at full tempo it whould have been a cool chill ska song
Well I learned guitar to hard-core and metal-core songs and mainly heavy rock and going into this style with my side band is very different and weird to me .-. any more tips?
Hi, What pedal you used to make that sound ska?
+JUAN MANUEL TORRES OBANDO I'm guessing none, maybe a liiittle reverb
Ska does not use distortion, almost never (unless it's third-wave).
@Minecandin They look like P-90 pickups
The Skalalitabs actually prefer to use full bar chords in their ska groove. Makes for a nice gutsy sound!
Can someone tell me how to do that D chord? Total guitar noob here, I know its barred on the 5th fret but thats about it
What make and size plectrum are you using. Many thanks.
Yeah! Mighty Mighty Bosstones! I`ve seen them in San Fransisco back In the Day!
So, all the folks criticizing his playing style might want to check themselves. I think this guy knows where of he speaks-- and, if Blink 182 is your only reference for Ska, you`re probably really young and ya got some musical history 101 to catch up on!
i also can play wonderwall........it was the second song i learned
Would be better if you left out the first beat chug... more emphasis on the 3rd beat then, chug with the snare.
What kind of guitar does he have?
Dude what's that guitar!? it sounds amazing. Nice vid.
A double cut PRS with P-90s
tide is high?
@Theskafan You're right, Sellout is a good song.
The down up motion is fine for ska punk, but authentic guitar is played with two down strokes, a muted one and a staccato one. It is much harder to play but gives the chord a bright note as it finishes on the highest string. Respect.
i agreee with JBoucks. Sublime all the way!!!
thumbs up for Op Ivy!!!
Really confused where to put my left hand thats what messes me up
Great instructionnal video i love it thanks
Is he only muting with the left hand ?
good vid, great music, mucho like.
Cool! what guitar i need to play ska??
I Think a telecaster would be awesome
You could go with an ibanez artcore best model is the am73 serise they have the 335 style body ,epiphone dots or any epiphone 335 styles,gretsch the electromatuc pro jet seriae is great an affordable or telecastors
Telecaster
@UKPete007 same here...its like my two hands dont coordinate together correctly
@TehSeig3 Or Streetlight Manifesto.
@mrseanster yes, just yes
Can i have the backing track for this?
p-90 pick ups am I right?
i cant put my thumb around my neck like that, its starts to hurt. Any suggestions?
just mute with first finger by not pressing down just lay fingr on top of string u wanna mute.
Stand up while playing
@kingxskippy
Sublime dude Op ivey is clutch and Leftover one dead coooo oooooooopppppp lol
Cane someone post tabs for the chords he used?
amplifier onfiguration?
What tuning are you in for this? E standard? I'm E flat and im out of tune with you.
exelenet my friend
What effects do you use in the video? clean or distortion?
What's your point? That somehow his style isn't sloppy 3rd-wave ska guitar just because he plays with a 3rd-wave ska band? This is a video that instructs how to play Bosstones-style guitar, and shouldn't be considered an "introduction" to ska guitar; it's way too specific to Lawrence's style. His style of playing works great for the Bosstones (not hating on them at all!), but not for most other ska styles (especially Jamaican ska).
Yeah this guy is the new guitar player for t
is there a name for that style of orchestration where the only notes you play are on the upstroke like this ska guitaring? (surely it's been around as long as classical music and music theory would have a word for it, right?)
The walking bass line ;)
ManifoldVicissitudes Syncopation
His style is not sloppy at all. Just because it isn't trad ska style or "Jamaican ska" like the Skatalites or Toots doesn't make it sloppy. There's tons of different ways to play ska guitar, this is just one way. Shit you can even play ska guy with just downstrokes if you really wanted to go towards a more traditional style sound. But to come and bash on someone taking time to show someone how play a certain style, much less someone who is in one of the biggest ska bands out now, is just dumb.
Sounds like the specials
did you mean down tempo?
Waow... Thx 😳
Reggae came out of SKA which originated from Calypso....
good !
What chord is he doing on the "a" shape, i know its an A but im not sure how to play that.
A D E
There seems to be a lot of debate going on in the comments. Some say upstrokes, some say down. Discuss...
What tuning is this?
Really wish he would've played Unity.
what are the chords?
i think this is a special guitar for reggae style isnt it?
What about one of the BIGGEST ska bands... Sublime???
a message to you rudy
Not really, you can play "ska" guitar with downbeats. Go watch the Snails, Aggrolites, Brunt Of It, or the Specials guitar players. They play with downstrokes.
I’m really into crack rock steady and the cord progression he shows is basically born to die