# AI Wiki - Music - Reggae Keyboards ## Two Jobs: Skank and Bubble A classic reggae band often has two keyboard parts, frequently played by one person on piano and organ: - **The piano skank**: short chords on beats 2 and 4 that double the [[AI Wiki - Music - Reggae Rhythm Guitar|guitar skank]]. - **The organ bubble** (also called the shuffle): a rolling, low, percussive pattern on the offbeats in between, "felt more than heard" in the words of Berklee's Matt Jenson. Wikipedia calls the reggae organ shuffle "unique to reggae". Together, guitar, piano and organ make a single offbeat machine on top of the [[AI Wiki - Music - Reggae Bass and Drums|bass and drums]]. Neither keyboard part plays the bass register's job: the bass player owns the low end. ## Where It Came From In [[AI Wiki - Music - Ska and Rocksteady|ska]] the piano doubled the guitar's chop on every "&", and the upbeats were heavily accented. When reggae slowed the tempo down, the guitar and right-hand piano moved to beats 2 and 4, and the leftover upbeats went to the organ's left hand as a quieter, supporting layer. That's Jenson's account of the bubble: the ska upbeats, kept as a subordinate part. As rocksteady became reggae around 1968, the electric organ largely took over from the piano, and the bubble helped tell early reggae apart from rocksteady. Jackie Mittoo (Skatalites, then Studio One's musical director) is the name most often linked to it, though the bubble is hard to attribute to one player. His three-note Hammond figure on Sound Dimension's "Real [[AI Wiki - Music - Rock Music|Rock]]" (recorded 1967) became one of the most re-used [[AI Wiki - Music - Riddims|riddims]] in Jamaican music. Hammond B3 and M3, Vox Continental and Farfisa organs are the typical instruments. ## The Piano Skank The right hand plays short close-position [[AI Wiki - Music - Triads|triads]] in the middle of the keyboard, on beats 2 and 4, together with the guitar. Short means really short: lift the hand right after the attack, like a staccato in [[AI Wiki - Music - Reading Standard Notation|notation]]. No [[AI Wiki - Music - Sustain Pedal|sustain pedal]]. Choose inversions that keep the hand in one place ([[AI Wiki - Music - Piano Chord Inversions]]). For an Am–Dm–Em–G song, these all sit between B3 and A4: ```chord instrument: piano columns: 4 --- symbol: Am pitches: C4 E4 A4 fingering: 1-2-5 title: Am/C (RH skank) --- symbol: Dm pitches: D4 F4 A4 fingering: 1-3-5 title: Dm (RH skank) --- symbol: Em pitches: B3 E4 G4 fingering: 1-3-5 title: Em/B (RH skank) --- symbol: G pitches: B3 D4 G4 fingering: 1-2-5 title: G/B (RH skank) ``` A is the top note of Am and Dm, and E is shared by Am and Em: [[AI Wiki - Music - Piano Voicings|common tones]] keep the skank smooth and stop it from jumping around. ## The Organ Bubble **The basic bubble**, as Berklee teaches it: - **Left hand**: a short chord (or a single note) on every upbeat, the "&" of each beat, in the low-middle register. On piano the left hand attacks all the upbeats. - **Right hand**: the chop on beats 2 and 4, doubling the guitar. - **Organ registration**: often only the 8' drawbar (the third from the left on a Hammond), so the bubble is a soft, round pulse rather than a bright chord. ``` Count: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & RH (skank): . . X . . . X . with the guitar LH (bubble): . X . X . X . X every "&", short, low Guitar: . . X . . . X . Kick + rim: . . . . X . . . one drop on 3 ``` The two hands alternate: left on the "&"s, right on 2 and 4. Put together they make a steady eighth-note pulse in which every hand has gaps, which is why the bubble sounds like "bub-bub-bub" rather than a block chord. Practising this is a pure [[AI Wiki - Music - Hand Independence|hand independence]] exercise: start with hands separately, then together, slowly. **Fuller bubbles.** Players add [[AI Wiki - Music - Sixteenth-Note Rhythms|sixteenth notes]] around the left-hand "&"s, one tutorial puts it as adding "the 16th before and after" the beat, so the organ rolls continuously. Exactly which sixteenths each hand plays varies by player and record; learn it from records (see Open Questions). **Register.** Keep the left hand roughly between F2 and A3 so it's neither muddy nor thin, using inversions to stay there. Bubble voicings for the same Am–Dm–Em–G song: ```chord instrument: piano columns: 4 --- symbol: Am pitches: A2 C3 E3 fingering: 5-3-1 title: Am (LH bubble) --- symbol: Dm pitches: A2 D3 F3 fingering: 5-2-1 title: Dm/A (LH bubble) --- symbol: Em pitches: G2 B2 E3 fingering: 5-3-1 title: Em/G (LH bubble) --- symbol: G pitches: G2 B2 D3 fingering: 5-3-1 title: G (LH bubble) ``` Both hands together, for Am: the left-hand bubble chord low, the right-hand skank in the middle, and a gap in between that keeps them apart. ```keyboard notes: A2 C3 E3 C4 E4 A4 range: C2-B4 title: Am split: LH bubble (A2 C3 E3), RH skank (C4 E4 A4) ``` **Feel.** Jenson notes that the bubble helps decide whether a tune is in straight eighths or a swung, shuffle feel ([[AI Wiki - Music - Swing and Shuffle Feel]]). Listen to the hi-hat and match it. ## How Keyboard and Guitar Interlock - **Same rhythm, different register.** The piano skank sits at or just below the guitar triad; the guitar's thinner sound and the piano's attack blend into one "chk". - **Different voicings.** If the guitar plays A with E on top, the piano can put A or C♯ on top. Same chord, different top note: wider sound, no clash. - **The bubble fills the gaps** between the skanks, so between them the band has an offbeat on every "&" plus the backbeat on 2 and 4. - **Nobody plays the root low.** The [[AI Wiki - Music - Reggae Bass and Drums|bass]] has the roots. The left hand stays above about F2. - **Fills are rare.** Organ swells, short melodic answers and melodica lines (Augustus Pablo) appear between vocal phrases, not over them. - **In a dub mix** the keyboards are among the parts dropped out and brought back, since dub foregrounds the drums and bass ([[AI Wiki - Music - Dub Music]]). ## Typical Progressions ```chords {title: Keyboard loops} {time: 4/4} {start_of_verse: i–iv in A minor} | [Am] / / / | [Am] / / / | [Dm] / / / | [Dm] / / / | {end_of_verse} {start_of_verse: i–iv–v–bVII} | [Am] / / / | [Dm] / / / | [Em] / / / | [G] / / / | {end_of_verse} {start_of_verse: I–IV–V in A} | [A] / / / | [D] / / / | [E] / / / | [D] / / / | {end_of_verse} {comment: RH skank on 2 and 4; LH bubble on every "&". Change chord on beat 1, where both hands are silent.} ``` For the I–IV–V in A, the right hand can use the close voicings shown on the hub [[AI Wiki - Music - Reggae Music]] (A/C♯, D, E/B). Harmony is simple on purpose; see [[AI Wiki - Music - Diatonic Chords and Roman Numerals]] for the numerals and [[AI Wiki - Music - Common Chord Progressions]] for where these loops show up elsewhere. ## Sounds - **Piano**: acoustic or electric, bright, short. - **Organ**: Hammond (or a Vox or Farfisa combo organ), with a soft setting for the bubble (8' alone, per Berklee). Settings for chops and fills vary by player; on a home keyboard, any soft organ patch with a quick attack and no long release will do to start. - **Digital keyboards**: from the mid-1980s the Casio and synth sound of digital dancehall replaced much of this (see [[AI Wiki - Music - Riddims]] on "Sleng Teng"). ## How to Practise 1. **RH alone.** [[AI Wiki - Music - Metronome and Speed Building|Metronome]] as beats 2 and 4, right-hand triads only, short as possible. Then the Am–Dm–Em–G voicings above, eyes off the keys. 2. **LH alone.** Every "&" with the left-hand voicings, counting "1 AND 2 AND" aloud. 3. **Together, slowly.** 60 BPM. If it falls apart, go back to one bar of Am until it's automatic ([[AI Wiki - Music - Left-Hand Accompaniment Patterns]] has the same build-up for other styles). 4. **Over a record.** [[AI Wiki - Music - Playing with Backing Tracks|Play along]] with "Real Rock"-based tracks or any Marley song in a minor key; turn your part down until you can't tell it from the record. 5. **Track it.** In Music Practice, log "reggae bubble" as an exercise with a target tempo and let the speed trainer step it up. Slow, even and short beats fast and uneven. ## Key Points - Two parts: the piano skank on 2 and 4 (doubling the guitar) and the organ bubble on the "&"s. - Basic bubble: left hand on every upbeat, low and soft (often 8' drawbar only); right hand chops 2 and 4. - The bubble is the ska upbeat moved into a supporting role; Jackie Mittoo is its best-known early player. - Keep the left hand above roughly F2 and leave the roots to the bass; choose close inversions for a still right hand. - Guitar and piano share the rhythm but not the top note; the bubble fills the gaps. ## Open Questions - The exact sixteenth-note bubble: which subdivisions does each hand play on classic records (Mittoo, Winston Wright, Tyrone Downie)? Needs transcriptions; the most detailed source found (Bass Culture) is paywalled. - Typical drawbar settings for the skank part on organ (vs the 8'-only bubble). - How common is the piano skank on 1970s roots records, vs organ only? ## References - Matt Jenson, "The Woodshed: Bubblin'", Berklee Today (Spring 2015): https://www.berklee.edu/berklee-today/spring-2015/The-Woodshed-Bubblin - Wikipedia, "Reggae": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggae - Wikipedia, "Rocksteady": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocksteady - Wikipedia, "Real Rock": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Rock - Bass Culture, "The History of the Organ Bubble in Reggae" (introduction only): https://bassculture.substack.com/p/the-history-of-the-organ-bubble-in ## Related - [[AI Wiki - Music - Reggae Music]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Reggae Rhythm Guitar]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Reggae Bass and Drums]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Ska and Rocksteady]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Riddims]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Piano Chord Inversions]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Piano Voicings]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Hand Independence]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Left-Hand Accompaniment Patterns]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Swing and Shuffle Feel]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Diatonic Chords and Roman Numerals]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Dub Music]]