Ska — Electric guitar

On the electric guitar a chord progression tends to sound best when you keep the shapes compact and let the amplified sustain hold them, trusting the band to cover the low notes. Straight out of Jamaica, ska is bright and upbeat, with its trademark offbeat accent — that is, the emphasis lands between the strong beats, creating that bouncing feel. Here are the style's strumming patterns, the rhythms that produce that skipping groove.

Grooves

My Chords & Scales — Build the genre's repertoire — save and organize in the Notebook · see it in Chord & Fret

Updated July 9, 2026