LeftyBassist.com

played monkey man today

would anyone here consider the clash ska ?

I wouldn't. Reggae was a bigger influence on The Clash than ska, but it's certainly an aspect of their music.

I think the Clash's use of reggae is probably what inspired The Specials and all the other Two-Tone bands to discover ska, at least in part.

True..with an asterisk. This is all according to the book, "The Two Tone Story." (verbatim):

The Specials adventures in ska (particularly founder Jerry Dammers) predated any of the Clash's reggae experiments, since The Specials were formed in 1977 (first as the Automatics, then as The Coventry Automatics, then The Special AKA) and they actually toured as opening act for the Clash on their first tour after Joe Strummer heard their demo and loved it. The Clash's manager even managed them for a while unofficially. They were already doing a punk/reggae hybrid (or hyper ska) at that point, though they supposedly did not go over well as The Clash's opener since their sound was yet to be fully appreciated/understood and weren't straight up punk. Bottom line: they were unrefined and confused audiences. The Clash and Sex Pistols were definitely an influence on The Specials, but the reggae/ska roots were already well-planted.

They returned to Conventry UK after their tour disgruntled and they nearly broke up, but Dammers was determined to polish the act since he believed in their blossoming sound as primitive and unfocused as it was. "We had songs where part of the songs were reggae, then they'd go off into a rock section, then perhaps into reggae", said Jerry (Dammers). "And it would throw people off. So we sat down and looked at the whole thing and put a definite beat in it all the way through, sort of blended together." Bands like The Ruts, The Members, and even The Clash were able to produce a far better punk reggae marriage than The Special AKA, so Dammers made a conscious effort to re-focus and fine tune their sound in the ska style (and not without as few objections).

The book makes the transition to ska sound a bit more cut and dry then it probably was, IMO. I've got some of those early recordings, and while I agree the blend of punk and reggae needed work for better cohesion, the germ of the Specials sound is definitely there as is the ska leanings.

Anyway, the rest, as they say, is history.

okay i know this is a noob /stupid question but how do i do major and minor triads

Google is your friend

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/misc-l ... or-triads/

Hi guys. Long time no see. Just came to this thread and thought I'd chip in.

Back in the day I used to know Horace quite well. He was a good friend of my next door neighbour, and we used to hang out together from time to time.

Once they took off we didn't see too much of him (for obvious reasons), but he did still come by when he could.

I've long since forgotten a lot of the detail, although I do recall the three of us going to watch Frank Zappa at the Birmigham Odeon (can't remember the date but someone here will most likely know) - quite possibly the loudest indoor gig I've ever been to, and with (I think) a very young and callow Steve Vai as a sideman.

If I can make a few observations:

first off, as I recall, he was usually known by his stage name of Sir Horace Gentleman or simply Horace (although his given name is actually Stephen);

secondly, the instrument I most remember him playing in the early days was an Epiphone Rivoli, with Lynval playing a beaten up white Telecaster through a huge Marshall stack that dominated the entire stage and Roddy playing a beautiful Les Paul Black Beauty through an AC30 - I remember the Epiphone mostly because it was such a big instrument and it looked kind of awkward on him because he's such a tiny guy;

although I take the point about the relationship between Ska and Raggae, I'm not too sure Horace's bass lines would have worked nearly as well at typical Reggae tempi - it sounds so obvious when you say it this way, but the speed was a key element in the sound.

Not trying to undermine anything that's been said here, just blurting out some of my recollections from the period.

cool story man horace does amazing bass in Doesn't Make It Alright and i cant figure it for the life of me could any one give it a listen and maybe give me some tips on what he's doing on that song?