How
to get a ska sound? Unlike its father (Reggae, where the bass and drums are the
predominant rhythmic device), one of the driving forces in Ska music is the guitar.
Played with upstrokes on the “and” of two and the “and” of four and with a trademark
sound that has been described as “High and thin”, the guitar acts in concert with
the snare drum. Most Ska guitar players use a Telecaster played through a tube
type amplifier, e.g. a Marshall JCM 900. If you don’t have that kind of budget,
or if you play a guitar with humbuckers, here’s what you can do. You can have
a “Coil Tap” installed that will give you the ability to turn off one of the coils
in your humbucker, effectively turning it into a single coil pickup (like the
pickups on a Tele.) Set your amp up so you get just a little bit of crunch, and
there you go. |
