Chords for Reggae Bass Lesson - #6 Rock Steady - Andrew Ford

_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Okay, after the early Skyfield came Rocksteady.
Rocksteady was a slower tempo groove, more R&B influenced.
You actually, with the bass players, it changed because you evolved from the walking bass line to a more rhythmic, sparse, melodic kind of approach.
Jackie Jackson was one of the famous bass players, the legendary bass players out of that Rocksteady era.
Let me give you an example of Rocksteady. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [F] _ [Bb] _
So as you see here, this is over a 1-4 progression in F.
Just a simple 1 chord to F chord that goes to the Bb chord. _
[F] But you'll see, you'll notice that this is slowly evolving to the reggae bass feel.
From the Sky to now, we're playing a little more melodic, a little more rhythmic.
We're using different notes maybe than just 1-5 or 1-3-5, the triad.
Starting to incorporate the 6, do some different things.
So let's check this one out.
So at the beginning I'm just playing the 2-8 notes. _
So it's not, [A] _ _ _ _ [F] as you might hear in a Sky type groove.
But leaving [G] some space in there, then walking up to the G, which is the 2, [A] to the 3, [C] A. _
_ [F] _ [G] _ _ [C] See, right [Bb] away it's becoming more melodic, more rhythmic.
Then when we get to the Bb, _ [B] _
then we have a [G] slur from the 5 to the 6. _
_ _ [D] _ [E] So we're doing more melodic, sparse, we're putting different rhythms in there.
_ So that was the basis of Rocksteady.
And like I said, it was on its way to becoming full out reggae.
But we're not quite there yet.
The bass players were able to experiment with different rhythms.
Play a little more broken up type rhythms on the bass instead of the straight type groove.
So when you slowed it down and made it a little more R&B, _