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hey i have been really getting into some ska lately sublime the specials the selecter along those lines and wanted to know how to go about playing ska i just love the bass in ska music more then any other gerne so if anyone has any tips on where i should should start plase tell me also i dont really know to much music theroy so the more simple you could make your tips the better thanks!

Reggae is derived from ska, just a slowed down version. Try playing along to reggae records to get your feel, note choice, etc. down and then start working into ska's increased tempo.


i personally like the more rootsy ska like the Specials vs. the more new school hyper paced ska like the Suicide Machines.

Yeah man... pick your favorite ska tunes with your favorite basslines and just start learning them.

Once you have a ton of cool tunes down, you can start to make them your own and you'll eventually pick up the style.

I used to play in a Ska band. You don't really need much theory for that. You just need to play really fast with your fingers which means play with a lighter touch if you want to finish your gig alive. Practice with your favorite records.
Regardless you should still learn how to play Major/Minor triads in any directions starting with the root, third, 5th and the Pentatonic scale, it'll make your life easier.

BIG time second wave ska fan here. My first band was a ska band, and I've opened for a few great ska bands over the years. I still dream of joining another one for fun. The Specials, Madness, English Beat, Bad Manners, The Selecter, etc. It's all great.

Tonally, however, depending on whether you're more interested in classic ska/second wave or the newer stuff, your tone could end up being vastly different. Generally speaking, you want fat round tones typical of reggae as well, though I'm hearing more and more slapping/crisper tones in ska with the newer bands. Weapons of choice: Precisions and Jazzes, though I've seen just about any bass used for it, and the newer guys seem to favor active basses like Stingrays.

A small part of my love for P-basses is because of Sir Horace Panter.

Damn right i hear alot about learning triads anything else you guys might recomend

Big +1. My all-time favorite and a prime reason I play bass today as well. The Specials appearance of SNL changed my life. I had never seen that kind of energy from a band packed into a live 3 minute performance on TV. 7 guys crammed into, what looks like a 10x10' space and making the most of it. Not the greatest mix (typical SNL), but the energy, the look, the attitude (and the sale tag still hanging from Horace's Tele bass, LOL). Amazing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP-0MIs_Jjk

Side note: Horace is playing a T-Bird these days as his main bass.

man i really cant seem get the hang of it i tried playing to some specials and i get few notes and just get lost

It's an awesome performance indeed!

its all about the up beats, put a strong point on those

Lost how?

Me too. I never realized just how much they influenced my band aesthetic until I saw their reunion tour last year. We were screaming like teenage Beatlemaniacs at Shea for their first song. It was a gig none of us ever expected to see.

like dont have any idea what to do.

If you mean you can't tell what notes to play then look up some tabs to get you started. If you mean the playing is faster than you can keep up with then try practicing some reggae to get used to the type of lines and then slowly work up your tempo until you're comfortable with how fast the lines are.

You'll get it, just be patient and persevere.

Try starting with "Little Bitch" by the Specials.

The bassline is pretty straight and simple in that song but it'll give you practice with feel and tempo and it's a lot of fun to play.

When I face a situation where I don't know "where to start" on a song I usually look it up on Youtube adding the word "bass". You usually find a couple of guys playing along the song, and can help you figure out what the bass is doing and hopefully mimicing it.
So just choose a song and search it.
For instance, here's Gangsters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xuh492AdaS0

Good tip Belinmad.

any good sites for specials/sublime bass tabs you recomend

I just use google