- Ska was introduced in Jamaica in the 1950s, and peaked in popularity in the 1960s as a style of dance music combining R&B, jazz, mento and calypso with a walking bass rhythm and horn section. The second wave of ska hit Britain in the 1970s, combining aggressive punk rock melodies with a ska rhythm to create a new ska subgenre: two-tone. In the 1980s and 1990s, a third ska wave, ska-punk, hit America. Ska-punk is marked by fast tempos, guitar distortion and a modern punk guitar style with intermittent, upstroked rhythms.
- Most styles of ska guitar rely on using barre chords. Barre chords are formed by using your left index finger to press multiple strings against the fretboard while your other fingers help form major, minor, 7th and minor 7th chords -- chords commonly used in ska music. Often, only the top three strings used in the chord are played. Power chords, consisting of a root note and its fifth and played on the top two strings, are also commonly used in two-tone and ska-punk styles.
- In order to play guitar in the ska style, you must learn how to mute the guitar strings with your left hand. To mute the strings, lift your fingers up from the fretboard immediately after you have strummed a chord. This will stop the strings from vibrating and will produce a silent gap between the chords you are strumming.
- Upstroke strumming is the most common strumming style used in ska music. To upstroke, hold a guitar pick in your right hand and strum the guitar strings from bottom to top, rather than from top to bottom. Strum the strings very quickly, and after you have strummed, mute the strings by lifting your left hand fingers from the fretboard. Always strum on the upbeat; count the beats "1 (and) 2 (and) 3 (and) 4 (and)." Always strum on the "and."
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