CyberBass Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 I’ve always played in originals bands, primarily punk or Electro Rock. Mainly either pick or finger style. A good friend of mine who writes and produces ska music has written two albums and has a lot of requests to play live, so he’s putting a live band together. He is insisting I play bass for him. Although I like ska music, I’ve never played it personally. So my first question is, what tips and references would you recommend so I can get into the groove in order to play. my current set up is the new orange terror bass head and 2 x obc 112’s and my main bass being a fender mustang jmj bass. Any recommendations on settings to get a good tone for the music style. thanks in advance for your advice 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 6 minutes ago, CyberBass said: Any recommendations on settings to get a good tone for the music style. A good two tone perhaps? (It's the punk in me, sorry.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 Classic ska/reggae is all about the bass. Your gear should be ideal for the job; roll off the old tone pot a bit and get a big phat warm tone. Having said that, there really aren't any hard and fast rules. Just do what works best for your mate's songs. I tend to keep a bit of snap in my tone for some songs as I like the way it cuts through (Nite Klub, for example). 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 The Specials fused old school ska lines with disco fills, if your mate wants Two Tone style I'd listen to their first album. Otherwise try some classic ska - the Trojan Ska box set would be a good place to start. If you're after the new more thrashy ska stuff I'm not sure what to recommend other than play Specials stuff faster! 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky 4000 Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 Saw this in the cinema when it came out. Amazed the full thing is on YT: 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spencer.b Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 Pick one song ( how about Pressure Drop, Toots and the Maytals) and play it over and over , harmonically it's simple , just major triads but the magic is in the articulation , really try to mimic the note length and rythmic placement feeling how the bass relates to the drums and guitar Tone down volume up 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 5 hours ago, spencer.b said: Pick one song ( how about Pressure Drop, Toots and the Maytals) and play it over and over , harmonically it's simple , just major triads but the magic is in the articulation , really try to mimic the note length and rythmic placement feeling how the bass relates to the drums and guitar Tone down volume up Very very sound advice 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 With the gear as described by the op I’d stick the Terror on flat eq, volume & tone on bass in full and go from there. The OTB has a wonderfully warm tone which should lend itself nicely to ska. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taunton-hobbit Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 (edited) ;Pressure Drop' would be a great start - just learn one or two numbers properly and get the feel of how it's done .......... musically it's simple enough but different. If you can get hold of a copy, Club Ska 67 is a good value album to practice with - Whine and Grine Club Ska 67 is the same + one track extra - Amazon have one for £3.25 😎 Edited February 23, 2019 by taunton-hobbit 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 8 hours ago, spencer.b said: Pick one song ( how about Pressure Drop, Toots and the Maytals) and play it over and over , harmonically it's simple , just major triads but the magic is in the articulation , really try to mimic the note length and rythmic placement feeling how the bass relates to the drums and guitar Tone down volume up Absolutely this. I know it sounds clichéd but it really is about the feel. You can play all the right notes in the right order at the right time, but unless you're really feeling it it doesn't sound authentic. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubsonicSimpleton Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 If you want to sound authentic it never hurts to spend a lot of time listening to authentic recordings, whatever the genre in question - the main question I would be asking in this instance is what sort of sound is he trying to create, or this or something in between from Brit two tone era Different folks have somewhat different terms of reference depending usually on how old they are... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimothey Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 Or how about this for a more thrashy/new ska feel? Personally I prefer this version to the original? I really like Reel Big Fish so I might be a bit biased?? 😀 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest subaudio Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 I'd recommend learning a few ska songs. The lines are surprisingly clever, lots of Nuance and clever passing notes. It's lots of chord arpeggios and mirroring the horns/vocal melody. Learn 10 Ska hits and you'll know exactly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tthiggins Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 (edited) I would recommend the original classic ska ... if you can get the feel for this kind of stuff then the other stuff will come easy Edited February 24, 2019 by tthiggins 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 Some favourites 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 If you’re going to play a ska set , this is a must ,it’s not too difficult and a great rhythm 🙂 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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