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The Reggae Thread


Reggaebass

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For 1 year of playing, you have done a good job there Caz. Family Man plays buy the neck, Robbie Shakespeare plays back by the bridge pickup. Where you're playing is fine, you'll find your sound with time. A lot of your sound will come from the combination between left and right hand. Keep doing what your doing and listen to the detail in the note length and you'll be fine.

Edited by donstrumental
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22 hours ago, Caz said:

Hey folks, I must have skipped over this thread somehow. There's loads of great stuff here!! I've recently been learning a few Bob Marley & The Wailers tunes.. so far Could You Be Loved, Is This Love, Redemption Song, Three Little Birds and Waiting In Vain. I've been checking out some videos and documentaries to see how Aston Barrett plays.. so far advice I've got has been play with the right hand up by the fretboard and roll back the tone to get  a fatter sound. Are there any other tips from folks in the know please? I posted this a few days ago on the Show Us Your Playing thread.. hope it's ok to post again here, it just shows where I'm at so far with the technique and sound. I've been playing bass for just over a year and a half now, still getting the basics together so appreciate any advice.

Thanks,

Caroline

 

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guess i should of put this here.

For 1 year of playing, you have done a good job there Caz. Family Man plays buy the neck, Robbie Shakespeare plays back by the bridge pickup. Where you're playing is fine, you'll find your sound with time. A lot of your sound will come from the combination between left and right hand. Keep doing what your doing and listen to the detail in the note length and you'll be fine.

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Can't remember which Basschatter put me on to Khruangbin, but I was listening, spellbound, the other day. I got to thinking; what is it this band I like? On the surface not my thing really. All that guitar noodling ought to be the last thing I like. 

Then I realised. Listen to her bass. With only a very slight change of emphasis I could be listening to dub reggae. She has that same ability to pick out a phrase, with a great melodic hook, and sit with it, locked in with the drummer letting the lead instrument ramble and play over the top. 

Anyone else hear what I'm hearing, or is this the rambling of a deranged mind? 

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16 hours ago, Mykesbass said:

Here you go Caz - the idea was just one song per artist but it wasn't a hard and fast rule, just a good place to get some ideas. Turned into a fairly substantial playlist!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/59RhYT5dLPwboS9u3njL4S?si=lVSyQRB2QXS_y7rlFfRCMA

Wow - thanks very much for sending this on, what a list!!

Am I understanding right that you mean he puts the bottom 4 strings of a 5 string set on a 4 string bass? So they're fatter strings.. why would that make a higher string tension though? Or is it just a tuning thing, to get thicker strings up to standard tuning they need tightened more? I've only got one bass and one set of strings.. so far

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On 27/01/2021 at 11:35, Caz said:

 I posted this a few days ago on the Show Us Your Playing thread.. hope it's ok to post again here, it just shows where I'm at so far with the technique and sound. I've been playing bass for just over a year and a half now, still getting the basics together so appreciate any advice.

Sounding great! Two of my favourite albums to play along with are Forces of Victory and Bass Culture by Linton Kwesi Johnson. I remember (years ago now) listening to them and thinking it would be easy to play... duh, so wrong. I love the bass playing on both albums, really gets you into the reggae mindset. Family Man Barrett is a truly great bass player, along with his brother one of the best rhythm sections ever! Anyway...

...and, just because @Reggaebass and I will use any excuse to post a bit of Samasara (great bass)...

 

Edited by Frank Blank
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I skipped over a lot of this thread, some good links in it

ive always listened to reggae, always have a few reggae lines in my head, have recorded a few but more recently decided to work out getting the drums right for recording in logic

i followed some really good tutorials on youtube by Dancetech, started with a one drop beat that I’ve edited a bit and saved as a template for future use and then created a few others with different variations 

what was good was getting into using the dotted eight delays on aux sends for separate tracks such as the snare or guitar to create a nice dub effect, it took some time to get  the automation right to get the right effect with muting tracks once the delay is triggered, but all fairly easy 

it’s worked really well for me and I ended listening to a whole load of dub tracks with a far better understanding of how it is all put together! 
can highly recommend Dancetech if you are looking at recording reggae ad want to create the right sounds and Rhythms 

Tony

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2 hours ago, stewblack said:

Can't remember which Basschatter put me on to Khruangbin, but I was listening, spellbound, the other day. I got to thinking; what is it this band I like? On the surface not my thing really. All that guitar noodling ought to be the last thing I like. 

Then I realised. Listen to her bass. With only a very slight change of emphasis I could be listening to dub reggae. She has that same ability to pick out a phrase, with a great melodic hook, and sit with it, locked in with the drummer letting the lead instrument ramble and play over the top. 

Anyone else hear what I'm hearing, or is this the rambling of a deranged mind? 

Getting off-topic, but I've gotta give a shoutout to Warpaint. Been watching quite of bit recently. Would make a nice twin bill with Khruangbin.

 

Edited by TheMaartian
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2 hours ago, Caz said:

Wow - thanks very much for sending this on, what a list!!

Am I understanding right that you mean he puts the bottom 4 strings of a 5 string set on a 4 string bass? So they're fatter strings.. why would that make a higher string tension though? 

Was a bit of a mad task to take on, glad you appreciated it!

I know this wasn't directed at me, but yes, BEAD on a four string. Quite a few players do this. The tension will actually be lower (ever seen the amount of tension in a mandolin string?!). You will possibly need to tweak the set up - larger slots in the nut, may need to raise the action slightly, and adjust the truss rod. 

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50 minutes ago, oakforest5961 said:

If you're into chilled out instrumental reggae/jazz fusion, I've just stumbled across the fact that Ireland's Avatar released a new album last September:

https://avatar3.bandcamp.com/album/ancient-echoes

 

Nice groove oakforest , thanks for that ☝️

Edited by Reggaebass
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On 28/01/2021 at 12:19, Caz said:

Am I understanding right that you mean he puts the bottom 4 strings of a 5 string set on a 4 string bass? So they're fatter strings.. why would that make a higher string tension though? Or is it just a tuning thing, to get thicker strings up to standard tuning they need to be tightened more?

If that's meant for me - Yes... if Mr Barrett does tune them up to EADG - They're gonna be tighter / higher tension.

That might be the key to a great reggae bass sound you know...

 

Edited by Ricky 4000
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On 28/01/2021 at 12:22, stewblack said:

Can't remember which Basschatter put me on to Khruangbin, but I was listening, spellbound, the other day. I got to thinking; what is it this band I like? On the surface not my thing really. All that guitar noodling ought to be the last thing I like. 

Then I realised. Listen to her bass. With only a very slight change of emphasis I could be listening to dub reggae. She has that same ability to pick out a phrase, with a great melodic hook, and sit with it, locked in with the drummer letting the lead instrument ramble and play over the top. 

Anyone else hear what I'm hearing, or is this the rambling of a deranged mind? 

Nope, you are spot on. Laura Lee has said in interviews that she learned to play bass by jamming along to dub reggae albums.

One of Khruangbin’s albums was given the dub treatment by Scientist no less, and it’s probably my favourite of theirs as the guitar noodling is kept to a minimum and the bass and kick drum are pushed upfront. Check out “A La Sala” - it’s dubby but it also has an early 80s underground vibe to it, it would next to ESG or Liquid Liquid or even some of the more stripped down early Talking Heads tunes easy.

 

 

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While I’m still awake and can’t sleep, let’s have a tune from Pachyman in the studio. He really does have the roots vibe nailed down, and he plays all the instruments as well - respect! I’m not actually sure what his main instrument is but his drumming and Hammond organ playing are totally spot on.

Bonus points for him using a 1970s Fender Musicmaster bass as well, and making it work for dub reggae. Most reggae players wouldn’t touch a Musicmaster, let alone use one as their main bass. Good stuff!

 

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That’s a couple of crackers there @meterman, I like a lot of scientists work, this is a great track which I’m pretty sure he mixed 

and I’m not sure if you’ve seen any covers by wobass, she lives in France (maybe near you) and does some transcribing for me, when I’m too lazy to do it myself 😁, check out some of her videos 

 

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1 hour ago, Reggaebass said:

...and I’m not sure if you’ve seen any covers by wobass, she lives in France (maybe near you) ...

50 kms south of Paris (Fontainebleau...), so a faire trot, but Skype is an option, it seems. Good solid stuff. B|

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10 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

That’s a couple of crackers there @meterman, I like a lot of scientists work, this is a great track which I’m pretty sure he mixed 

and I’m not sure if you’ve seen any covers by wobass, she lives in France (maybe near you) and does some transcribing for me, when I’m too lazy to do it myself 😁, check out some of her videos 

 

I don’t think we’re exactly neighbours 😂 But I tell you what, she’s got the vibe nailed hasn’t she? Tres bon, super bon 👍

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