"It made me see the light down the tunnel." -Jon MI
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How To Make Up A Reggae Song On The Guitar

Making up reggae songs on the guitar is pretty easy once you know the basics.

This web page builds on what you learned on these web pages (listed on the left): The Secret and Tired of Playing The Same Old Songs? Make Up Songs. If you're a complete beginner you might want to check out Guitar Basics.

The Secret is in Your Strumming
Playing reggae is all about the way you strum the strings and your strumming pattern.

You only need to know two things:

1. Don’t let the chords ring out, dampen them.
Keep each chord from ringing out by muting the strings with the palm of your strumming hand. This makes that “chk” sound you hear in reggae songs.

2. Strum on the off-beats, 2 and 4.
Tap your foot 1, 2, 3, 4 and only strum on beats 2 and 4. Notice that there are only strumming strokes on beats 2 and 4 in the sample song.

The following sample song uses chords from the key of G below.

Guitar chords in the Key of G



Here is a sample reggae song in the key of G:


Make up a reggae chord progression


  • In the example above be sure to play Chord 5 for two measures.
  • When I play reggae I usually strum using upstrokes, but you can use either up or downstrokes.

Not enough information?

If you want to know more stuff you can download a free guitar e-book and subscribe to my free song making guitar lessons by clicking here.

If the guitar is a little fuzzy to you this will give you a clearer picture:


Understand
Guitar On the Spot
Understanding the Code
$29.95
$14.95
click here
to buy

Guitar music created
using the code

Guitar On the Spot Understanding the Code

Do you have the ambition to play the guitar, but you can't quite piece it all together?

In Understanding the Code you’ll discover the simple code that is the foundation of the guitar.

You'll use it to make up your own songs, solos and riffs up and down the guitar neck, jam with other people and figure out how to play simple songs, solos and riffs by ear.

You don’t need to read notes
You don’t need to read tab
You don’t need any experience
I never thought I could make sense of the guitar. I spent months trying to teach myself. Then my friend told me to check out this book and I finally "got it".

-Mike B., Santa Barbara, CA

"When I saw the book I thought ohhhh it’s just another book. You know I've looked at a lot of books and they basically remind me that I need to practice various chord patterns and shapes and notes, it’s all about practice, but with Jesse’s book, it allowed me to practice in a more effective way that really benefited my guitar playing."

"It brought all those things that I thought were vastly beyond my abilities down to my level of understanding so that I could apply them and improve my skills."

"I think it’s a great way to start if you’ve never played because you can just use this whole formula that he’s developed to enhance you’re playing and to learn"

-Jon B., MI

I give you an 8 week complete money back guarantee. So if you decide it's not what you're looking for I'll give you your money back.

If you've been reading a bunch of books trying to “figure it out” (that’s what I did, it took me years) and you're still confused, just check out the code and see if it clears anything up for you.


Copyright 2005 On the Spot Publishing. All Rights Reserved.