Structure

Structure

The main music style of Jamaican music and probably the most known, is Reggae. Reggae may sound and feel like a simple style of music due to the fact tat it has a fairly slow tempo and rhythm to it but it contains a large variety of different instruments and different roles that each instrument takes.

The main instruments used in Reggae are similar to that of a rock band:

Drum Kit (hi hat, rim shot, bass drum)
The drums in Reggae really give the rhythm of the music and brings the whole piece together. The hi hat usually acts in syncopation accentuating the second and fourth beat of one bar of 4/4.

Electric Bass Guitar
The electric bass in Reggae usually sticks to one specific rhythm and changes the notes in that rhythm throughout the whole piece of music. Sometimes however, the rhythm of the bass changes but just slightly. The bass is used as a rhythm instrument and not as a melody instrument in Reggae.

Rhythm Guitar
Is used as a percussion instrument by muting the strings with the left hand and strumming two quavers on the second and fourth beats (syncopation). The rhythm guitar is usually an electric guitar. However, the electric guitar is sometimes used to do short clean licks with no distortion.

Organ
Can be used as an accompaniment instrument or it can sometimes do lead things. The organ adds to the overall feel of the piece and is usually a repeated phrase that comes in and out of the song.

Vocals
The vocals sing the melody of the song. To emphasize this, harmony is used a lot in Reggae. Harmony is usually accomplished by adding two more voices to the main voice. These two new voices have different pitches that the main vocal part. Also, harmony is not used in one whole vocal line, it is normally used in the last four or five words of a line. The vocals always give out the message of the song.


Here are some examples of Reggae songs:

Sources: http://rhetoricofreggaer.blogspot.com.ar/2011/01/reggae-music-structure.html