All styles

Caribbean

Ska on guitar: chords and rhythm.

Jamaican ska, reggae's ancestor, plays fast and in major, often I – vi – IV – V (C, A minor, F, G). The guitar only plays the offbeat: a short upstroke on every "and", while the bass walks on the beats.

I – vi – IV – VLevel · Beginner

The progression

Pick a key: the charts change right below. "Listen" plays the progression with its rhythm; a click on a chord plays it alone, the arrow opens its page.

Key

In C major · 152 BPM
  • C
    C major×321
  • Am
    A minor×231
  • F
    F major1342
  • G
    G major213

The rhythm

One bar of the strumming hand, beat by beat. While it plays, the stroke being played lights up.

1
·
2
·
3
·
4
·
  • up, cut short

From the same world

Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and the French Antilles: simple chords played on the offbeat, over the clave or the tresillo.