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How to play reggae guitar the authentic way!

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Here are some tips that should help you master the art of reggae guitar playing.

Now there is quite a bit of information as it relates to, how to play reggae guitar authentically. The reggae guitar lesson I am about to give you is going to be taught from a Jamaican perspective. That’s where I am from and that’s the only way I know how to play.  I will go through the basic techniques, that will get you up to speed quickly.   

I assume that you already know how to play the guitar and you are comfortable using bar chords. I will mainly be using bar chords in this lesson. For those who do not know their bar chords, I will show you a technique you can use. I must add though, that its application is very limited. But I will show you if you promise to learn your bar chords. Promise? Good.

Reggae guitar lesson

We will use G-minor. Hold the G-minor bar chord and strum down. Use a nice and easy pace.  Do not pick the strings one after the other. Just strum down. If it’s done properly you should get a bright sustaining sound – doesn’t sound like reggae does it? Don’t worry! We are about to fix that. 

To get that illusive reggae guitar sound, after each strum, swiftly and fractionally raise the strings from off the fret board – only fractionally.  Make sure that your fingers are still on the strings (see image right).  This has to be done right to get the proper reggae sound and feel. Notice when you do this how the sound quickly dies. This dampening of the strings at this point is the hallmark of reggae playing. Get this right and you will be more than half way in mastering the art of how to play reggae guitar. 

You now need to practice this over and over until it becomes easy. You could try counting yourself in and on the second count strum down. Repeat but, do not go pass two counts. To get this tight, squeeze the strings against the fret as you are about to make contact. 

See both videos for more on this

How to do the chop/chuck

If you are really keen on how to play reggae guitar, you must learn this technique. The strumming technique I showed you above is very effective and you could go on stage with that technique alone but, you would be bored to death over time.  This is where the chop or chuck comes in. 

Here’s a quick way of doing it. Repeat the exact technique I showed you above but this time, include a return stroke while the strings are slightly raised. You only need to play the first three or four higher strings for this to work. You should hear a lovely choppy sound. If you can do this successfully over and over, you have mastered this intricate technique. Well done! 

I must admit that this is not the way it is taught by many people but, believe it or not, this is how most reggae guitarist play. It is far more versatile, especially if you want to do some quick lead work or deliberately pick the lower strings while you play. 

See video for more on this

The “Ska slowed down” technique

The other technique is actually ska slowed down. To find out more, have a look at reggae music history. All this technique involves is pronouncing the strum on the up stroke and doing the chop on the down. Start of by strumming up quickly and then down quickly while slightly raising the strings off the fret. Do this over and over for practice. You could even start off with the chop to give variety. This style of playing sounds good but it is not that versatile. If you love it, stick to it while learning the other technique, you might be pleasantly surprised.  

For those who only know open chords

Hold the A-minor open chord. Now strum the chord using the method I showed you earlier. It sounds off! I know. That’s because you are also playing the high E and the low E and A strings. To solve the problem, after you strum the chord, use your strumming hand to quickly mute all the strings. This is done by placing the heel or palm of your hand over the strings.  See acoustic reggae guitar for more.

Reggae Guitar Soloing

This aspect of reggae guitar is not very difficult, given that it's similar to other genres.  The main thing to keep in mind is timing.  Reggae is played on the off beat and those who aspire to master the art of reggae guitar soloing should listen to many reggae guitar solos and practice them. 

It's also important to learn techniques such as hammer-ons, slides, bends, string skipping, pull-offs, double stops and Vibrato.  Also, learn how to play pentatonic scale on guitar, many to reggae guitarist use this guitar scale.  learning these will make your soloing come alive.

That’s it. For practice, try to do it while changing chords. Remember this method can be very hard to get at first and not only that, it can be very limiting.  So learn your bar chords.  

There is much to learn about how to play reggae guitar but, the information here should be enough to get you started. As always nothing in reggae is cast in stone so experiment and see what works best for you. 

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