About Reggae, Funk, and kinda "spacey" tones...

[LukeGilmour]

well, besides amps and settings and effects and all...

what kind of chords (and or progressions if you like) do you advice for these 3 separate styles?

cause with most chords i know you can only get blues and rock sounds... and i cant seem to get out of that box
not that i dont like it, just that i feel kind of limited

ps: i love the funky tone in the guitars on queen - another one bites the dust, i tried to find a tab but none reflect the actual chords.... any ideas?

 

[nepalnt21]

Re: About Reggae, Funk, and kinda "spacey" tones...

for funk, a lot of minor sevenths and diminished 5ths. also, using the highest 3 or 4 strings only on chords, and a lot of double stops with funky rhythms. its a lot simpler than you might think.

reggae, also use the higher strings on chords. palm muting and muting with the fretting hand is what its all about with reggae. also used a lot in funk guitar. but i use more basic major and minor chords with reggae-ish stuff.

for spacey stuff, i think more original is better. maybe drones, and single line melodies played slow. also major seventh chords instead of minor sevenths. also minor 6ths. and maybe try arpeggiating the chords instead of striking them.

i think brian may just uses mainly fifths and fourths, and variates a lot on "another one bites the dust"

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: About Reggae, Funk, and kinda "spacey" tones...

Funk and reggae are all about the rhythm . . . the chords that you use don't matter as much as when you hit them.

For funk get used to playing 16th note rhythms and hemiolas (a 3/4 feel on a 4/4 piece). Use lots of muted strings to keep the rhythm driving. You get plenty of 9ths, dom 7ths, and major/minor chords in funk.

For reggae, get used to playing very sparsely. Don't let chords ring out, choke them back as soon as you hit them. Use primarily the G, B, and e strings and get used to playing on the off beat. The bulk of reggae uses simple chords: Major, Minor, maybe a dom 7th now and again.

The best advice that I'd give you is listen to great artists from each genre and analyze their songs that you like. Then you can figure out exactly how they do what they do. Some suggestions:

Reggae:
Bob Marley
Peter Tosh
Burning Spear
Equalizer
Ziggy Marley
Bedouin Soundclash
The Skatelites

Funk:
Wild Cherry
Prince
Curtis Mayfield
Sly and the Family Stone
Funkadelic
Booker T and the MGs (Maybe more soul than funk)

Spacey:
Pink Floyd
Radiohead
Sigur Ros
Broken Social Scene
Stars

 

[nepalnt21]

Re: About Reggae, Funk, and kinda "spacey" tones...

+1 to everything he said.

some more mainstream bands use a lot of reggae-ish guitar, especially pop- ska bands like no doubt, less than jake, stuff like that. brad from sublime has a pretty good reggae technique in the more reggae-ish songs.

also, red hot chili peppers use a LOT of funk style (in their old stuff at least)

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: About Reggae, Funk, and kinda "spacey" tones...

Bedouin Soundclash

:smack:

+1 to everything else.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: About Reggae, Funk, and kinda "spacey" tones...

:smack:

+1 to everything else.

I was trying to give a mix of newer and older reggae bands . . . they're the only roots reggaeish band that I can think of who I've heard in the last 4 years.