Bob Marley + Reggae Guitar

[JasO]

I've just finished writing an article about my favorite musician, Bob Marley, covering his life from birth to the release of "Catch a Fire," his first album on Island Records. At more than 7,000 words, this account goes way deep into his upbringing, musical influences, early recordings, the forming of the Wailers, the Jamaican singles, and the Catch a Fire sessions in Jamaica and London.

One of the people who contributed to this account was Cat Coore, guitarist for Third World. I thought some guitar gear fans might find his views on the origin of the reggae guitar sound – and the Jamaicans’ guitar of choice, the Fender Jaguar – to be interesting: “The difference between rock steady and reggae, is there is no upstroke on the guitar strum in rock steady. It’s just a straight cha, cha. But in reggae, it’s cha-cha, cha-cha, down-up, down-up – although sometimes it’s down, down. It’s very rarely just upstokes. You can almost play a reggae guitar riff on top of a rock-steady feel; the two of them can go hand-in-hand. But in rock steady, the bass drum is on two and four in a four-beat bar – one, boop, three, boop. Now we call that standard ‘one-drop’ reggae. What makes up a good reggae guitar part is the feel for the rhythm and the sound of the instrument – that’s very important. It should have a clear top-end, but it should not be too brittle. That Fender Jaguar sound on the two pickups is one of the greatest reggae rhythm sounds. It has a bright top end, but also a nice middle and bottom end. In Jamaica, that was one of the most famous reggae guitars for years. If you didn’t own a Fender Jaguar, you didn’t own a guitar. That was the tradition.” Cat also shined a light on the lesser-known innovators Lyn Taitt and Ernest Ranglin.

Anyway, if you’re into Bob Marley, songwriting, and/or reggae guitar, I’ve posted everything here:
http://jasobrecht.com/bob-marleys-early ... es-london/

[leadguy]

Great to read about Bob and the whole movement.