Rockschool Grade 2 - NIGHTBUS Part two

Night Bus is Rockschool’s answer to ska, a fuel driven rhythmically enhanced music originating in 1960’s Jamaica, later popularized by ‘Madness’ and their songs ‘Our House’ and ‘It must be Love’. It uses key elements such as accented off-beat rhythms, punchy guitar chords and smooth jazz-like riffs to create a fun and interesting piece.

You’ll require accurate rhythm playing and defined barre chords. For a solid barre you want to create a clamp like effect between 1st finger and thumb. Achieve this by keeping the guitar solid against the body, the neck angled upwards, placing your first finger flat across the top three strings at the 6th fret, (Bbm). Play each string individually to make sure they sound. If they do, practice slowly moving between the first three chords in bars 3-4, speeding up as you gain confidence. Use down strokes throughout to create an aggressive Ska sound, remembering to pivot on the base of the bridge to mute unwanted strings.

If you’ve mastered this, try practicing an off-beat rhythm such as the one in bars 13 – 15. Pick one chord, repeating it over and over on beats 2 & 4 until you have the feel. Make sure there’s a rest between the chords or the effect will seem pointless. Now add the staccato by releasing pressure on the fretted finger after striking the chord. Don’t remove the finger completely from the strings. This will cause the strings to mute and create a crisp catchy sound. If you can do this then you should find no difficulty playing the chord sections in the piece. Just remember the details.