Chords for How to play ska guitar
Tempo:
84.125 bpm
Chords used:
G
A
Em
Ab
F
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[F] [C] [Fm] [D] The term [G] Ska actually covers quite a broad range of styles of music.
But as we found with Reggae, once you've learned the basics, the rest easily falls into place
with careful listening.
Here's [Db] the basic Ska beat, the one that's used the most.
[G] The guitar is rarely played on the main beats in Ska, and you can see that in this basic
pattern all the main beats are shown as rests.
And I think the best way to start learning this is to play the main beats on muted downstrokes like this.
One, two, three, [A] four.
Then bring in the sound of the chord on the upstrokes like this.
[Em] Notice that I simply [A] squeeze [Em] the chord on and then [G] instantly relax the fretting hand
to kill the sound, to cut the note off nice and crisply.
[A]
[Db] The strumming hand, the emphasis must be on keeping the hand ultra relaxed [A] and [G] the movement
nice and free flowing.
[A]
[G] This is particularly important with the later waves [Em] of Ska, which, influenced by punk music,
is often played at a frenetic [F] pace.
[Ab] [Bb] [B] [Ab]
[F] [Em] Remember, the way [G] to play faster isn't to tense up and use more effort.
It's to relax more and allow the hand to flow as naturally [C] as possible.
[F] [Ab] [Bb]
[B] [Bb] [E] [F] [Ab] [Bb]
[B] [Ab] Now [G] different guitarists play this basic rhythm in different ways.
I find that the way I've shown you, using the upstrokes to [Em] play the upbeats, is the
simplest way to get into playing the rhythm.
[A]
[G] Once you feel you've got that basic technique up to speed, try playing with the same feel
but with all downstrokes.
And that'll mean alternating from a muted [Ab] [G] bass to a sounded [A] treble.
[G] Less experienced guitarists will find that quite a bit harder, especially at high tempo.
[Db] But one of the things this enables you to do is double up the sounded strokes, like this.
[A]
[G] This is easy enough to maintain at medium tempo, but quite a bit harder to keep going
once the tempo increases, [Em] unless you've got a bass line to bounce [A] off.
[Em] You can supply [G] that bass note yourself of course, but really then you're getting away
from the true ska sound as far as the guitar part goes.
Applying the counting trick that I recommend for anything with [N] this 16 beat feel, helps
solve the problem when you're [Em] first learning this.
This is shown under the stage.
Notice that it's [G] always the and-a beats shown in bold that are sounded.
[A]
So that's one e and-a, two e and-a, three e and [G]-a.
So the way to do this is to start off with nice slow counts [Am] of one [G] e and-a, all on muted
beats to begin with.
And [Dm] just get that down, up, down.
One e and-a, two e and-a, three e and-a, [C] four e and-a.
And then just pressing the chords on the and-a [A] beats.
One e and-a, two e and-a, three e and-a.
This was a squeeze of ands.
[G] This approach also works great for the third variation I'm going to show you.
Something I call a three out of four beat.
Notice that this time the sounded notes all start on an upstroke each time, and always
fall on the e and-a beats.
[A]
[Em] If you struggle with [G] this one, again the trick is to start real slow [C] with nice muted 16 beats.
Drumming, one e and-a, [Em] two e and-a, three e and-a, four e and-a.
[Am] And then just [Em] sound the e and-a beats by pressing the left hand [A] fingers down.
e and-a, e and-a, e and-a.
Well [G] I hope you had some fun with that.
Once you've nailed these three basic rhythms, I suggest checking the online tab sites for
the chords to songs by guys like Laurel Aitken, Jimmy Cliff, Debnam Decker, from the original 1950s Scarwave.
And then maybe look at some of the music of bands like Judge Dredd, Bad Manners, Madness
and The Specials from the British two-tone revival of the 1970s.
This will give you a real firm foundation in the [Em] roots of what I think is one of the
happiest of musical genres.
So do have fun with it.
If you found this little [G] video interesting, please click on the like button if there is
one, or leave a comment, and do feel free to share the video with your friends.
And if you'd like to gain full access to all our guitar teaching materials, please visit
the Secret Guitar Teacher site and take a free look round at what's available there.
See [B] you again soon.
[Em] [Bb] [E] [B]
But as we found with Reggae, once you've learned the basics, the rest easily falls into place
with careful listening.
Here's [Db] the basic Ska beat, the one that's used the most.
[G] The guitar is rarely played on the main beats in Ska, and you can see that in this basic
pattern all the main beats are shown as rests.
And I think the best way to start learning this is to play the main beats on muted downstrokes like this.
One, two, three, [A] four.
Then bring in the sound of the chord on the upstrokes like this.
[Em] Notice that I simply [A] squeeze [Em] the chord on and then [G] instantly relax the fretting hand
to kill the sound, to cut the note off nice and crisply.
[A]
[Db] The strumming hand, the emphasis must be on keeping the hand ultra relaxed [A] and [G] the movement
nice and free flowing.
[A]
[G] This is particularly important with the later waves [Em] of Ska, which, influenced by punk music,
is often played at a frenetic [F] pace.
[Ab] [Bb] [B] [Ab]
[F] [Em] Remember, the way [G] to play faster isn't to tense up and use more effort.
It's to relax more and allow the hand to flow as naturally [C] as possible.
[F] [Ab] [Bb]
[B] [Bb] [E] [F] [Ab] [Bb]
[B] [Ab] Now [G] different guitarists play this basic rhythm in different ways.
I find that the way I've shown you, using the upstrokes to [Em] play the upbeats, is the
simplest way to get into playing the rhythm.
[A]
[G] Once you feel you've got that basic technique up to speed, try playing with the same feel
but with all downstrokes.
And that'll mean alternating from a muted [Ab] [G] bass to a sounded [A] treble.
[G] Less experienced guitarists will find that quite a bit harder, especially at high tempo.
[Db] But one of the things this enables you to do is double up the sounded strokes, like this.
[A]
[G] This is easy enough to maintain at medium tempo, but quite a bit harder to keep going
once the tempo increases, [Em] unless you've got a bass line to bounce [A] off.
[Em] You can supply [G] that bass note yourself of course, but really then you're getting away
from the true ska sound as far as the guitar part goes.
Applying the counting trick that I recommend for anything with [N] this 16 beat feel, helps
solve the problem when you're [Em] first learning this.
This is shown under the stage.
Notice that it's [G] always the and-a beats shown in bold that are sounded.
[A]
So that's one e and-a, two e and-a, three e and [G]-a.
So the way to do this is to start off with nice slow counts [Am] of one [G] e and-a, all on muted
beats to begin with.
And [Dm] just get that down, up, down.
One e and-a, two e and-a, three e and-a, [C] four e and-a.
And then just pressing the chords on the and-a [A] beats.
One e and-a, two e and-a, three e and-a.
This was a squeeze of ands.
[G] This approach also works great for the third variation I'm going to show you.
Something I call a three out of four beat.
Notice that this time the sounded notes all start on an upstroke each time, and always
fall on the e and-a beats.
[A]
[Em] If you struggle with [G] this one, again the trick is to start real slow [C] with nice muted 16 beats.
Drumming, one e and-a, [Em] two e and-a, three e and-a, four e and-a.
[Am] And then just [Em] sound the e and-a beats by pressing the left hand [A] fingers down.
e and-a, e and-a, e and-a.
Well [G] I hope you had some fun with that.
Once you've nailed these three basic rhythms, I suggest checking the online tab sites for
the chords to songs by guys like Laurel Aitken, Jimmy Cliff, Debnam Decker, from the original 1950s Scarwave.
And then maybe look at some of the music of bands like Judge Dredd, Bad Manners, Madness
and The Specials from the British two-tone revival of the 1970s.
This will give you a real firm foundation in the [Em] roots of what I think is one of the
happiest of musical genres.
So do have fun with it.
If you found this little [G] video interesting, please click on the like button if there is
one, or leave a comment, and do feel free to share the video with your friends.
And if you'd like to gain full access to all our guitar teaching materials, please visit
the Secret Guitar Teacher site and take a free look round at what's available there.
See [B] you again soon.
[Em] [Bb] [E] [B]
Key:
G
A
Em
Ab
F
G
A
Em
[F] _ [C] _ [Fm] _ [D] _ The term [G] Ska actually covers quite a broad range of styles of music.
But as we found with Reggae, once you've learned the basics, the rest easily falls into place
with careful listening.
Here's [Db] the basic Ska beat, the one that's used the most.
_ [G] The guitar is rarely played on the main beats in Ska, and you can see that in this basic
pattern all the main beats are shown as rests. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ And I think the best way to start learning this is to play the main beats on muted downstrokes like this.
One, two, three, [A] four. _ _ _
_ _ Then bring in the sound of the chord on the upstrokes like this. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Em] Notice that I simply [A] squeeze [Em] the chord on and then [G] instantly relax the fretting hand
to kill the sound, to cut the note off nice and crisply.
[A] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Db] The strumming hand, the emphasis must be on keeping the hand ultra relaxed [A] and _ [G] the movement
nice and free flowing.
[A] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] This is particularly important with the later waves [Em] of Ska, which, influenced by punk music,
is often played at a frenetic [F] pace.
_ _ [Ab] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [B] _ [Ab] _
[F] _ [Em] Remember, the way [G] to play faster isn't to tense up and use more effort.
It's to relax more and allow the hand to flow as naturally [C] as possible. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [F] _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Bb] _ _
[B] _ [Bb] _ [E] _ [F] _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Bb] _
_ [B] _ [Ab] Now [G] different guitarists play this basic rhythm in different ways.
I find that the way I've shown you, using the upstrokes to [Em] play the upbeats, is the
simplest way to get into playing the rhythm.
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] Once you feel you've got that basic technique up to speed, try playing with the same feel
but with all downstrokes.
And that'll mean alternating from a muted [Ab] [G] bass to a sounded [A] treble. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] Less experienced guitarists will find that quite a bit harder, especially at high tempo. _
_ _ _ [Db] But one of the things this enables you to do is double up the sounded strokes, like this. _ _
_ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] This is easy enough to maintain at medium tempo, but quite a bit harder to keep going
once the tempo increases, [Em] unless you've got a bass line to bounce [A] off. _ _ _ _ _ _
[Em] You can supply [G] that bass note yourself of course, but really then you're getting away
from the true ska sound as far as the guitar part goes. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Applying the counting trick that I recommend for anything with [N] this 16 beat feel, helps
solve the problem when you're [Em] first learning this.
This is shown under the stage.
Notice that it's [G] always the and-a beats shown in bold that are sounded.
_ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
_ So that's one e and-a, two e and-a, three e and [G]-a.
So the way to do this is to start off with nice _ slow counts [Am] of one [G] e and-a, all on muted
beats to begin with.
And [Dm] just get that down, up, down.
One e and-a, two e and-a, three e and-a, [C] four e and-a.
And then just pressing the chords on the and-a [A] beats.
One e and-a, two e and-a, three e and-a.
This was a squeeze of ands. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] This approach also works great for the third variation I'm going to show you.
Something I call a three out of four beat. _
_ _ Notice that this time the sounded notes all start on an upstroke each time, and always
fall on the e and-a beats. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Em] If you struggle with [G] this one, again the trick is to start real slow [C] with nice muted 16 beats.
Drumming, one e and-a, [Em] two e and-a, three e and-a, four e and-a.
[Am] And then just _ _ [Em] sound the e and-a beats by pressing the left hand [A] fingers down.
e and-a, e and-a, e and-a. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Well [G] I hope you had some fun with that.
Once you've nailed these three basic rhythms, I suggest checking the online tab sites for
the chords to songs by guys like Laurel Aitken, Jimmy Cliff, Debnam Decker, from the original 1950s Scarwave.
And then maybe look at some of the music of bands like Judge Dredd, Bad Manners, Madness
and The Specials from the British two-tone revival of the 1970s.
This will give you a real firm foundation in the [Em] roots of what I think is one of the
happiest of musical genres.
So do have fun with it.
If you found this little [G] video interesting, please click on the like button if there is
one, or leave a comment, and do feel free to share the video with your friends.
And if you'd like to gain full access to all our guitar teaching materials, please visit
the Secret Guitar Teacher site and take a free look round at what's available there.
See [B] you again soon.
[Em] _ [Bb] _ _ [E] _ [B] _
But as we found with Reggae, once you've learned the basics, the rest easily falls into place
with careful listening.
Here's [Db] the basic Ska beat, the one that's used the most.
_ [G] The guitar is rarely played on the main beats in Ska, and you can see that in this basic
pattern all the main beats are shown as rests. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ And I think the best way to start learning this is to play the main beats on muted downstrokes like this.
One, two, three, [A] four. _ _ _
_ _ Then bring in the sound of the chord on the upstrokes like this. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Em] Notice that I simply [A] squeeze [Em] the chord on and then [G] instantly relax the fretting hand
to kill the sound, to cut the note off nice and crisply.
[A] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Db] The strumming hand, the emphasis must be on keeping the hand ultra relaxed [A] and _ [G] the movement
nice and free flowing.
[A] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] This is particularly important with the later waves [Em] of Ska, which, influenced by punk music,
is often played at a frenetic [F] pace.
_ _ [Ab] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [B] _ [Ab] _
[F] _ [Em] Remember, the way [G] to play faster isn't to tense up and use more effort.
It's to relax more and allow the hand to flow as naturally [C] as possible. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [F] _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Bb] _ _
[B] _ [Bb] _ [E] _ [F] _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Bb] _
_ [B] _ [Ab] Now [G] different guitarists play this basic rhythm in different ways.
I find that the way I've shown you, using the upstrokes to [Em] play the upbeats, is the
simplest way to get into playing the rhythm.
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] Once you feel you've got that basic technique up to speed, try playing with the same feel
but with all downstrokes.
And that'll mean alternating from a muted [Ab] [G] bass to a sounded [A] treble. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] Less experienced guitarists will find that quite a bit harder, especially at high tempo. _
_ _ _ [Db] But one of the things this enables you to do is double up the sounded strokes, like this. _ _
_ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] This is easy enough to maintain at medium tempo, but quite a bit harder to keep going
once the tempo increases, [Em] unless you've got a bass line to bounce [A] off. _ _ _ _ _ _
[Em] You can supply [G] that bass note yourself of course, but really then you're getting away
from the true ska sound as far as the guitar part goes. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Applying the counting trick that I recommend for anything with [N] this 16 beat feel, helps
solve the problem when you're [Em] first learning this.
This is shown under the stage.
Notice that it's [G] always the and-a beats shown in bold that are sounded.
_ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
_ So that's one e and-a, two e and-a, three e and [G]-a.
So the way to do this is to start off with nice _ slow counts [Am] of one [G] e and-a, all on muted
beats to begin with.
And [Dm] just get that down, up, down.
One e and-a, two e and-a, three e and-a, [C] four e and-a.
And then just pressing the chords on the and-a [A] beats.
One e and-a, two e and-a, three e and-a.
This was a squeeze of ands. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] This approach also works great for the third variation I'm going to show you.
Something I call a three out of four beat. _
_ _ Notice that this time the sounded notes all start on an upstroke each time, and always
fall on the e and-a beats. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Em] If you struggle with [G] this one, again the trick is to start real slow [C] with nice muted 16 beats.
Drumming, one e and-a, [Em] two e and-a, three e and-a, four e and-a.
[Am] And then just _ _ [Em] sound the e and-a beats by pressing the left hand [A] fingers down.
e and-a, e and-a, e and-a. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Well [G] I hope you had some fun with that.
Once you've nailed these three basic rhythms, I suggest checking the online tab sites for
the chords to songs by guys like Laurel Aitken, Jimmy Cliff, Debnam Decker, from the original 1950s Scarwave.
And then maybe look at some of the music of bands like Judge Dredd, Bad Manners, Madness
and The Specials from the British two-tone revival of the 1970s.
This will give you a real firm foundation in the [Em] roots of what I think is one of the
happiest of musical genres.
So do have fun with it.
If you found this little [G] video interesting, please click on the like button if there is
one, or leave a comment, and do feel free to share the video with your friends.
And if you'd like to gain full access to all our guitar teaching materials, please visit
the Secret Guitar Teacher site and take a free look round at what's available there.
See [B] you again soon.
[Em] _ [Bb] _ _ [E] _ [B] _