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Suede·Social·Issue No. 20
Tone recipes·2026 · JUL
Reggae1975easy to fake

01Bob Marley & The Wailers (Chinna Smith on rhythm)

No Woman, No Cry (Live at the Lyceum)

The textbook reggae skank tone. Stratocaster bridge pickup through a Fender Twin set entirely clean, with the tone control rolled back on the guitar to about 6. Right-hand attack is muted and percussive — the chord plays for an eighth-note and is immediately damped. Tone is dark and short, almost no sustain. The 'effect' is the rhythm placement: chord lands on the off-beat ('two' and 'four'), never on the downbeat.

02Signal chain

Guitar to amp, 0 pedals between.

  1. In
    Guitar

    Fender Stratocaster, bridge pickup, tone rolled back

  2. Out
    Amp

    Fender Twin Reverb, clean

03Field note

The secret sauce

The chord exists for only a single eighth-note before the right palm mutes it. Held chords kill the entire feel. Reggae skank lives in the gap between chord stabs.