Reggae bass and the one drop

Space on the one

In the one-drop groove, the drums skip beat 1 and hit beat 3. The bass often leaves beat 1 empty too and enters just after, which gives reggae its floating, laid-back feel. One Drop rests on beat 1, then walks A, C, E, D, C over A minor and G, B, D, C, B over G.

Melody in the low end

Reggae bass lines are songs in themselves: short melodic phrases, repeated for the whole tune, mostly from the minor pentatonic. Dub Steps climbs E, G, A, B, then answers itself on the way down. Play with the fingers near the neck, softly, and let the notes sustain.

The habanera rhythm

Dotted eighth, sixteenth, two eighths: the habanera rhythm travelled from Cuba around the world and sits under tangos, Spanish-flavoured classical music and much Latin pop. The Habanera bass plays it on D and A, as in Bizet's Carmen; the montuno that goes over it is in the Latin piano lesson.

The dub sound

In the 1970s, Jamaican producers turned reggae tracks into dub: they muted the vocals, pushed the bass and drums to the front and added deep echoes and reverb. The bass became the centre of the record, heavy and warm, felt as much as heard. You do not need special gear to play in that spirit: play softly, near the neck, let each note last its full length and leave space for the drums. Repeat the same line for minutes without rushing; reggae bass lines are hypnotic because they do not change. The patience is the style.

Count slowly and feel the empty first beat before each phrase: it is the hardest part of the style for beginners, who tend to rush in. Loop One Drop at 75 percent speed with a metronome on beat 3 only, as in the drum groove, until the entry after the first beat feels natural. Then play Dub Steps the same way.