Reckless Abandon
New member
Using my Valvetronix what amp,effects, etc. would work best. Just wanting something to do.
getting a reggae/carribean type sound
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Reckless Abandon
New member
Re: getting a reggae/carribean type sound
It has a cool auto wah. I was thinking the fender tweed 1x12 and some chorus.
Settings?
It has a cool auto wah. I was thinking the fender tweed 1x12 and some chorus.
Settings?
Reckless Abandon
New member
Re: getting a reggae/carribean type sound
thanks a bunch
thanks a bunch
Re: getting a reggae/carribean type sound
On my TonelabSE, I use the Twin amp model with the filter set as an envelope follower, & use the octave pedal for single note lines.
I set the Twin clean, channel a"A" is set brighter (presence @ 10) than ch. "B", which is set to almost a dark, jazzy tone.
I also use the echo, set for as lo-fi a sound as possible, for 6-8 fast (but not slapback) repeats, for that dub-echo sound.
A phaser is cool too, but I'm not wild about a chorus for a reggae sound. Too new.
On my TonelabSE, I use the Twin amp model with the filter set as an envelope follower, & use the octave pedal for single note lines.
I set the Twin clean, channel a"A" is set brighter (presence @ 10) than ch. "B", which is set to almost a dark, jazzy tone.
I also use the echo, set for as lo-fi a sound as possible, for 6-8 fast (but not slapback) repeats, for that dub-echo sound.
A phaser is cool too, but I'm not wild about a chorus for a reggae sound. Too new.
Reckless Abandon
New member
Re: getting a reggae/carribean type sound
Plenty to mess around with.Big Boy Bob said:On my TonelabSE, I use the Twin amp model with the filter set as an envelope follower, & use the octave pedal for single note lines.
I set the Twin clean, channel a"A" is set brighter (presence @ 10) than ch. "B", which is set to almost a dark, jazzy tone.
I also use the echo, set for as lo-fi a sound as possible, for 6-8 fast (but not slapback) repeats, for that dub-echo sound.
A phaser is cool too, but I'm not wild about a chorus for a reggae sound. Too new.
RevJToad
New member
Re: getting a reggae/carribean type sound
There's a few different styles - I'm assuming you're talking rhythm guitar for reggae (the skank on the off beat, that is).
The main thing is, if you're playing the skank, get everything you know about playing out of your head - your guitar is now essentially a percussion instrument. This means that your skanks have to be quick and percussive with no sustain. For most people it's harder than it sounds. The same thing applies to all instruments in reggae, actually - when I was in a reggae band, we auditioned about 20 drummers. Each one, when asked whether he knew how to drum for reggae, said "yeah, of course!" and each one had no clue. Eventually, the bassist sat one of them down with some Sly and Robbie CDs and explained the beats to him.
Anyways, as I said, there's a few ways to go about it, none of them definitive. In all cases, you want your amp as bright and clean as possible. As others have said, Fenders are your best bet. Eventually you'll want to get into some echo and effects, but you DON'T want a lot of reverb on it, if any - you're a drummer, remember - but that also depends on the application and the song.
First off, your chord voices are the opposite to what you typically think - it's the higher strings, not the lower ones, that you want to hear, so I generally don't even finger the A or E strings. Developed a totally different fingering method for reggae that allows for fast grabs.
The easiest technique is to finger whatever chord you're playing, but don't actually press the string down, just hold the chord as if you were ringing harmonics, and hit it with the pick. Use your bridge pickup and that'll get you that nice "clicky" sound, such as on Bob Marley's Stir It Up.
The other major sound is the less percussive skank such as you hear on "Could You Be Loved," where you hear the chord a little more - I do that with neck or neck/bridge pickups, and just hitting the chord and then very quickly muting the strings with my pick hand, in one motion. There's kind of a flick of the wrist to it, sorta like you're kneading bread. I imagine there's different ways, maybe even a "proper" way, to do this, of which I am unaware. :>
The toughest thing for most people is knowing when to hit it - that off beat is very hard for a lot of guitarists, just like hitting the kick drum on the 3 is tough for drummers at first. But once you find the riddim it's pure bliss. :>
There's a few different styles - I'm assuming you're talking rhythm guitar for reggae (the skank on the off beat, that is).
The main thing is, if you're playing the skank, get everything you know about playing out of your head - your guitar is now essentially a percussion instrument. This means that your skanks have to be quick and percussive with no sustain. For most people it's harder than it sounds. The same thing applies to all instruments in reggae, actually - when I was in a reggae band, we auditioned about 20 drummers. Each one, when asked whether he knew how to drum for reggae, said "yeah, of course!" and each one had no clue. Eventually, the bassist sat one of them down with some Sly and Robbie CDs and explained the beats to him.
Anyways, as I said, there's a few ways to go about it, none of them definitive. In all cases, you want your amp as bright and clean as possible. As others have said, Fenders are your best bet. Eventually you'll want to get into some echo and effects, but you DON'T want a lot of reverb on it, if any - you're a drummer, remember - but that also depends on the application and the song.
First off, your chord voices are the opposite to what you typically think - it's the higher strings, not the lower ones, that you want to hear, so I generally don't even finger the A or E strings. Developed a totally different fingering method for reggae that allows for fast grabs.
The easiest technique is to finger whatever chord you're playing, but don't actually press the string down, just hold the chord as if you were ringing harmonics, and hit it with the pick. Use your bridge pickup and that'll get you that nice "clicky" sound, such as on Bob Marley's Stir It Up.
The other major sound is the less percussive skank such as you hear on "Could You Be Loved," where you hear the chord a little more - I do that with neck or neck/bridge pickups, and just hitting the chord and then very quickly muting the strings with my pick hand, in one motion. There's kind of a flick of the wrist to it, sorta like you're kneading bread. I imagine there's different ways, maybe even a "proper" way, to do this, of which I am unaware. :>
The toughest thing for most people is knowing when to hit it - that off beat is very hard for a lot of guitarists, just like hitting the kick drum on the 3 is tough for drummers at first. But once you find the riddim it's pure bliss. :>
kmcguitars
GuitarArtologist
Re: getting a reggae/carribean type sound
+1 I was in Jamaica for 2 weeks. I got to sit in with a few Reggae bands. Seems the Roland Jazz chorus was the amp of choice down there. For FX one guy had a MXR Envelope Filter & MXR compressor. The playing on the off beat thing was real tricky.:smack: It's a syncopated style totally opposite of anything you learned playing Rock. But I found it pretty easy to develop a melody over this rhythm for soloing (The Natives seemed impressed?) Using mostly Major pentatonic scales.RevJToad said:
Imp
New member
Re: getting a reggae/carribean type sound
try learning some police (as in sting and the..) if you're working on the rhythm..
another thing i found helpful was trying to drum with my hands.. you know the way everyone does 16th's with the right hand starting? try starting on the left and build up indepence between L + R.. try both sides of the body, switching roles of the hands.. it's that indepence and breaking of muscle memory which helps you look at something new like reggae (works for 5/4 and other stuff too!)
tom
try learning some police (as in sting and the..) if you're working on the rhythm..
another thing i found helpful was trying to drum with my hands.. you know the way everyone does 16th's with the right hand starting? try starting on the left and build up indepence between L + R.. try both sides of the body, switching roles of the hands.. it's that indepence and breaking of muscle memory which helps you look at something new like reggae (works for 5/4 and other stuff too!)
tom
RevJToad
New member
Re: getting a reggae/carribean type sound
<I got to sit in with a few Reggae bands. Seems the Roland Jazz chorus was the amp of choice down there.>
Heh... I suspect it probably wasn't so much the amp of choice as the amp that survived. SS amps, no matter what you say about the sound, are dependable as hell. Not to mention that in reggae, good distortion is generally just not an issue (though I can personally attest that Tube Screamers make for sweet leads, under the right circumstances). The JC is an awesome clean amp though - one day I'm gonna get myself one. :>
<But I found it pretty easy to develop a melody over this rhythm for soloing (The Natives seemed impressed?) Using mostly Major pentatonic scales.>
Being that it was born out of Southern American R&B stations that reached that far south, so the lead guitar work is generally bluesy as hell. :>
<I got to sit in with a few Reggae bands. Seems the Roland Jazz chorus was the amp of choice down there.>
Heh... I suspect it probably wasn't so much the amp of choice as the amp that survived. SS amps, no matter what you say about the sound, are dependable as hell. Not to mention that in reggae, good distortion is generally just not an issue (though I can personally attest that Tube Screamers make for sweet leads, under the right circumstances). The JC is an awesome clean amp though - one day I'm gonna get myself one. :>
<But I found it pretty easy to develop a melody over this rhythm for soloing (The Natives seemed impressed?) Using mostly Major pentatonic scales.>
Being that it was born out of Southern American R&B stations that reached that far south, so the lead guitar work is generally bluesy as hell. :>
