I have a guitar.

Tell me how to learn to play it with a view to being in a ska / reggae band, and playing said music on my own also.

Heston Blumenthal just pulled up outside my flat and went into the building.

Cheers.

Barre chords are prominent in ska music and power chords in punk. Combine the two.

Basically barre chords hurt like hell to start with, but you have to keep doing it untill you can strecth your hand and make the notes sound nice(pluck each string to get rid of bum notes). I'd suggest starting with simple chords and moving between them as practise moving around the guitar and to get your caluses thicker. work on your major and minor scales too. they will help you alot in the begining.

barred A is probably the easiest to start with, it's like an upside down powerchord

as for really easy songs to learn, probably something by green day, hitching a ride. try and learn that as an early song, or smells like teen spirit or something. that'll help you get the hang of power chords.

don't know about easy barred stuff, someone else will be able to tell you an easy one though

date rape by sublime verse chords. you can do it reggae speed and build it up, it' a great speed excercise once you can do it cus it sound good at any speed

you can probably find it on Ultimate Guitar *click* or other tab sites

Thanks for the advice people.

if you're havin a hard time with barres then just find a song with them in that you really really really like and that'll make you learn the bastards!
City of Angels, by the Distillers did it for me lol

Besides chords it's also a matter of how you play them.
The emphasis is mainly on the bottom strings (the thinner ones, G, B, and high E) playing them on with an upstroke on the off beat.
If you're finding barre chords hard just play notes on these 3 strings rather than on every string, atleast until your hands get used to it. I remember when I first started playing I wore layers of skin off my finger tips!

This Video should help.

Thanks a lot Szorn. Focusing on my mandolin for now but that vid looks good, cheers.

When playing Ska you need to learn to play on the off beat with a strong empathises on upstrokes.

Have look at this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P99dj8j1xVM&feature=fvw

Dude you totally stole my post!
Props for posting the exact same vid though!

Szorn wrote:Dude you totally stole my post!
Props for posting the exact same vid though!

I didn't even see that, my God I'm getting old and blind, sorry buddy.

That video is excellent, the guy is very informitive, friendly and confident.

wayneskadude wrote:

Szorn wrote:Dude you totally stole my post!
Props for posting the exact same vid though!

I didn't even see that, my God I'm getting old and blind, sorry buddy.

That video is excellent, the guy is very informitive, friendly and confident.

No worries mate! I thought it was kinda funny. Yeah, I remember finding that vid ages ago and getting my skank on to it. Listen to Bob Marley "Stir it Up", the intro to that is basically the fundamental of Ska/Reggae guitar playing.

I like how reggae is kinda anti rock music. All the attention goes away from the guitars and the solos and shit and it's moved to the bass and drums. (Finally they get some recognition without being ridiculed "How can you tell if a drummer is knocking on your door? etc.)
I dunno whether I'd get bored played guitar in a reggae band, I guess for learning it is really simple and easy to grasp the concept of rhythm. No doubt I'd have to dub it up with delays and spring reverbs just to keep myself entertained, hehe. Anyone wonna start a dub/ska/reggae/rock band?

Szorn wrote:

wayneskadude wrote:

Szorn wrote:Dude you totally stole my post!
Props for posting the exact same vid though!

I didn't even see that, my God I'm getting old and blind, sorry buddy.

That video is excellent, the guy is very informitive, friendly and confident.

No worries mate! I thought it was kinda funny. Yeah, I remember finding that vid ages ago and getting my skank on to it. Listen to Bob Marley "Stir it Up", the intro to that is basically the fundamental of Ska/Reggae guitar playing.

I like how reggae is kinda anti rock music. All the attention goes away from the guitars and the solos and shit and it's moved to the bass and drums. (Finally they get some recognition without being ridiculed "How can you tell if a drummer is knocking on your door? etc.)
I dunno whether I'd get bored played guitar in a reggae band, I guess for learning it is really simple and easy to grasp the concept of rhythm. No doubt I'd have to dub it up with delays and spring reverbs just to keep myself entertained, hehe. Anyone wonna start a dub/ska/reggae/rock band?

If you wasn't so far away I'd call bass.

... I have a car?

pick me up from leicester and i'll call teromberone or bass =P

I'll sing. Let's be famous!

haha! Stranger things have happened!
I mean come on, Kanye West is famous?! Why not us?!

Szorn wrote:I dunno whether I'd get bored played guitar in a reggae band, I guess for learning it is really simple and easy to grasp the concept of rhythm. No doubt I'd have to dub it up with delays and spring reverbs just to keep myself entertained, hehe. Anyone wonna start a dub/ska/reggae/rock band?

Soon enough I will be unemployable, so a survival option will be to just look for bands that need a guitarist you know...and as for it being boring, well Beta-personalities might interpret that as 'easy' also.

Learn as many instruments as possible! It's such a good skill to have! If you play Mandolin you can pretty much get guitar and bass down with practice.
I wouldn't say it's boring to play live. I love being on stage and skanking out and the fact you're just playing chords means you can dance around a bit more and look "cool"