The Steel Guitar Forum

Let me first say - I know very little about reggae music...I even had to look up how to spell it! I am going to be visiting with some folks back East that play reggae, and was wondering if there were any specific tunings that would fit in for me to play along. I normally play Hawaiian and country in C6th. Maybe I could play my polished steel-bodied NS Ricky, it would probably look cool with the steel drum. Any info appreciated.

I've loved reggae for many years, but I can't think of a single authentic reggae track with any form of steel on it.
The only sensible advice I could give is to use a tuning that allows minor chords- C6 for example, and practice your skank! This will be easier if you play standing up, because you can stomp around in a groovy kind of way and play the offbeat against stepping on the downbeat.
Watch any of the greats, and they all dance with the guitar!
You will be bringing a new sound to the genre. Go for it!
Cheers
Dave

I would lay money on you not getting a straight forward answer to that one here. Not a reggae rich forum. I've played reggae, it's more about the feel than the harmony. harmonically speaking it is largely pop chord based. It's not jazz by any means. however, in theory tuning SHOULD work. Even a standard triad based tuning like GBDGBD or Low G or D or E could work but, if you want minor chords stick with a 6th tuning. Ultimately, a tuning should eb picked by what chords you want to play IF that's what you're looking at. melodic single line stuff, it's irrelevant what tuning you use.


eer dance around..funny lol

Your Rick will need a ganja-leaf sticker on it...

There are lots of different styles of reggae. I personally prefer dubb reggae to the more poppy Bob Marley style that you hear everywhere. My advice would be to let the Reggae musicians worry about the rhythm and you just play what you would usually play in C6. It should sound interesting and well worth hearing if you get to record it. I'm sure UK steelers B.J.Cole and Mike Cooper have been involved in reggae projects.
Get skanking,
Bill

Reggae tunes used to come up a lot when I was playing a G6 tuned dobro. It worked fine. Having the minor triad was very important.

I tuned it (low to high) B D E G B D. I used regular dobro string sets and dropped the low G and added a single for the E.

Fred

and remember, the emphasis is on beat 2 and 4.

I play a bit of reggae, and it's my second favorite style on lap steel. I lift the bar a lot when I'm playing rhythm parts, using the pad of my bar hand to mute. I also use a pick(!) if I don't have any leads on a tune. You get a better chop and it cuts better. For some reason I don't play many sustained notes while doing single note lines, it seems to articulate better.

I played steel in a band that was all over the map as far as styles-- we did some reggae. I had a lot of fun with it. Let the rhythm section & vocals carry the song...leave space...if they want you to play more, you'll know! Doing fills with harmonics once in a while can sound really cool. Also doubling on a riff an octave higher...just play a soulful steel an they love you mon!

What has been said about minor chords is right on-- you should be fine in your C6 tuning, but it'll probably help you to be able to think about it as your Am7 tuning.

Many thanks to all of you for your help. It sounds like the C6th tuning is as good as anything, which is reassuring since that is basically all I know. I really appreciate the feedback, and this is another good example of how great this forum is. Now all I need is a ganja leaf sticker and to figure out what skanking means mon!
Steve

As a general observation,I find that if I'm asked to play steel for someone outside of the usual country/Hawaiian field I approach it by listening to their music. I'll think of horn lines I can imitate, steel drum sounds I can make, maybe some distorted swooping noises, something that will fit in and maybe be a bit "different" and will stretch me. What usually happens is I'll turn up and they'll say "this tracks got a bit of a country feel - can you play some of those country licks on it?"

Bill

A great album I found in a second hand store is Peter Rowan's 'REGGAEBILLY!' with Jerry Douglas playing Dobro and Lapsteel on a few reggae/Dub sounding tracks that you may enjoy.

It isn't non-pedal but there is steel guitar and dobro all over Willie Nelson's Countryman CD. Very well played stuff, too.

I have recorded two cds that were both reggae,Abdel Wright -interscope records, and Della Manley,can,t remember the label,and also some singles,Nobody Told me thered Be days like these on th save Darfur album which loaded with dobro and Nice Time by Alana Davis which has a dobro lead in the middle.I use the standard G dobro tuning and think of it as a G or an E minor 7th and seem to get some good stuff going.Its around on the internet here and there.I also got some pedal steel on some reggae stuff.You just have to be careful what and when you play.