Menu
Several great surf tunes have a ska-like rhythm guitar going instead of the
usual "boooch-boooch" thang...I haven't made a concerted effort to figure
this out yet. Any pointers for playing this style? All upstrokes? What beats
are accented? Etc.
What are your favorite tunes featuring this style?
Thanks!
BN
--- In , "Brian Neal" <bneal@i...> wrote:
> Several great surf tunes have a ska-like rhythm guitar going
instead of the
> usual "boooch-boooch" thang...I haven't made a concerted effort to
figure
> this out yet. Any pointers for playing this style? All upstrokes?
What beats
> are accented? Etc.
>
> What are your favorite tunes featuring this style?
>
> Thanks!
>
> BN
If it's fast ska, here's a guide:
e:| X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 |
B:| X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 |
G:| X 6 X 6 X 6 X 6 X 6 X 6 X 6 X 6 |
D:| X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 |
stroke: D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U
The dead notes fall on the beats, and the unmuted ones fall on the -
ands. Generally it works best with full barres. Hope this helps.
-Warren
Oh yeah, the favorites thing:
Fender IV - "Everybody Up"
Fender IV - "Malibu Run"
Eddie & the Showmen - "Squad Car"
Surf Coasters - "Guts"
The Ventures - "Paper Airplane," "Mod East" and a bunch of songs off
of Live in Japan '65.
Hi All,
O.K. here is another ska alike rythem. It also bears some resemblance to
reggea chords, but also very usefull for surf.
e:| X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 |
B:| X 6 X 6 X 6 X 6 X 6 X 6 X 6 X 6 |
G:| X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 |
D:| X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 |
stroke: D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U
This is another variation I like to use to break the typical surf rythem
beat:
e:| - - - - - - - 5
B:| - - - -6 (6) -X
G:| - 7 (7) - - - X
D:| 7 - - - - - - X
D U
It's best to play this chord a bit muffled and also add dead not upward
strokes to it.
It is played in the same fashion as the first rythem but with double
notes on the G and B string.
You can also play the chord without the double notes, but always add a
dead note upstroke.
The rythem can be played fast or slow. It took me quiet a while to get
it right, but it sounds nice.
Also it's best to start the upstroke at the high e note.
Jerry S. (giving it a shot)
you can also double the surf drum and do the first one double.
count one-uh-mu-ke two-ah-mu-ke etc and play X-x-mu-ke-X-x-mu-x, th
big X's being a dummy stroke, the small x's not being played at all.
the real treat is in a high-hat afterbeat rythm as in the Penatrators
50 bucks a midget... (my favorite 'reggea' surf tune) ... and check
out the O'hara's!
--- In , "Jerry" <jerry.soetewey@b...>
wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> O.K. here is another ska alike rythem. It also bears some
resemblance to
> reggea chords, but also very usefull for surf.
>
> e:| X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 |
> B:| X 6 X 6 X 6 X 6 X 6 X 6 X 6 X 6 |
> G:| X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 |
> D:| X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 |
> stroke: D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U
>
>
> This is another variation I like to use to break the typical surf
rythem
> beat:
>
>
> e:| - - - - - - - 5
> B:| - - - -6 (6) -X
> G:| - 7 (7) - - - X
> D:| 7 - - - - - - X
> D U
>
> It's best to play this chord a bit muffled and also add dead not
upward
> strokes to it.
> It is played in the same fashion as the first rythem but with double
> notes on the G and B string.
> You can also play the chord without the double notes, but always
add a
> dead note upstroke.
> The rythem can be played fast or slow. It took me quiet a while to
get
> it right, but it sounds nice.
> Also it's best to start the upstroke at the high e note.
>
> Jerry S. (giving it a shot)
Hey Brian, as a ska fan i can help you out allitle on your problem.
The technique i use the most is a mute down stroke with an up stroke, of
course that way is only effective with barre style cords, you can also use
your palms and just have a staccato upstroke depending on the sound/speed
your looking for. Im sure your familiar with some of these but ska bands
that i would model after would be -operation ivy, buck-0-nine, the
skatalites, the The mighty mighty bosstones, and even certain nofx albums
have ska style guitar on them. Hope this helps.
_________________________________________________________________
Concerned that messages may bounce because your Hotmail account has exceeded
its 2MB storage limit? Get Hotmail Extra Storage!
Hi,
Thanks for the comment. I would like to add the following bands,
Prince Buster
The Specials
And ofcourse "Madness"
I always felt that these ska bands bear close resemblence to first wave
surf band set ups (sax, guitar Bass, drums, and organ)
And indeed that crazy "El Hefe" of NOFX plays some nasty Ska rythems
from time to time....So do the Bosstones...
Jerry S. (who use to go to see every NOFX gig in Belgium....Until he got
hit by the big surf ;)
-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Ancelin [mailto:]
Sent: dinsdag 28 oktober 2003 23:23
To:
Subject: Re: [SurfGuitar101] What's the deal with SKA?
Hey Brian, as a ska fan i can help you out allitle on your problem.
The technique i use the most is a mute down stroke with an up stroke, of
course that way is only effective with barre style cords, you can also
use
your palms and just have a staccato upstroke depending on the
sound/speed
your looking for. Im sure your familiar with some of these but ska
bands
that i would model after would be -operation ivy, buck-0-nine, the
skatalites, the The mighty mighty bosstones, and even certain nofx
albums
have ska style guitar on them. Hope this helps.
_________________________________________________________________
Concerned that messages may bounce because your Hotmail account has
exceeded
its 2MB storage limit? Get Hotmail Extra Storage!
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:.
Visit for archived messages,
bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
For good ska guitar I would also definitely add MU330
and Mustard Plug to the list. Two of the best.
Richard
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears
Thanks for all the tips, please keep them coming.
I've always been interested in this style but have never tried to
play it. Malibu Run is an obvious choice here. A recent listen to
The Penetrators cover of "Unknown" by the Vy-Dels got me interested
in this topic again. I think Jon & The Nightriders also covered this
song, but I can't remember if they had the ska guitar on their
version or not. I'll have to go dig that up right now and see.
Is that first Halibuts album available on CD?
Thanks again,
BN
If you wanna spice things up a little and play more than barre
chords, try these.
ex----
Bx----
G-x---
D-----
A-----
E-----
ex----
Bx----
Gx----
D-----
A-----
E-----
ex----
B-x---
Gx----
D-----
A-----
E-----
ex----
Bx----
G---x-
D-----
A-----
E-----
Just to pop in my 2 cents worth, I can't really help you with techniques,
but The Ziggens' song
"Surfin' Buena Park" i think is a good example of what you're talking about.
Great band
all around too.
>From: "Brian Neal" <>
>Reply-To:
>To:
>Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Re: What's the deal with SKA?
>Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 01:16:52 -0000
>
>Thanks for all the tips, please keep them coming.
>
>I've always been interested in this style but have never tried to
>play it. Malibu Run is an obvious choice here. A recent listen to
>The Penetrators cover of "Unknown" by the Vy-Dels got me interested
>in this topic again. I think Jon & The Nightriders also covered this
>song, but I can't remember if they had the ska guitar on their
>version or not. I'll have to go dig that up right now and see.
>
>Is that first Halibuts album available on CD?
>
>Thanks again,
>BN
>
>
>
>To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>.
>Visit for archived messages,
>bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
>
>
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
>
>
_________________________________________________________________
Send instant messages to anyone on your contact list with MSN Messenger
6.0. Try it now FREE!
The first 3 halibut albums have never been released on CD, though Chris
Ashford who produced the first 2 "talks" about releasing them. We
remastered the 3rd one (our own production) for re-release but never
actually did it.
Only the Upstart ones were ever released on CD. There wasn't much SKA
influenced stuff on those CDs.
Rick
Halibuts/Deoras
--- Brian Neal <> wrote:
> Thanks for all the tips, please keep them coming.
>
> I've always been interested in this style but have never tried to
> play it. Malibu Run is an obvious choice here. A recent listen to
> The Penetrators cover of "Unknown" by the Vy-Dels got me interested
> in this topic again. I think Jon & The Nightriders also covered this
> song, but I can't remember if they had the ska guitar on their
> version or not. I'll have to go dig that up right now and see.
>
> Is that first Halibuts album available on CD?
>
> Thanks again,
> BN
>
>
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears
We've found that a lot of surf/instro tunes work well as ska tunes.
The Ventures especially lend themselves to be ska-ified.
Mike
