# AI Wiki - Music - Riddims ## What a Riddim Is "Riddim" is the Jamaican pronunciation of "rhythm", and in Jamaican music it means **the instrumental backing of a song**, reused under other songs. In older roots reggae it refers above all to a particular **bass line and drum pattern**; in most current usage it means the whole backing track. A popular riddim "may be used in dozens—or even hundreds—of songs" (Wikipedia), each with a new vocal: a new melody and new lyrics over the same band. That's the opposite of how most Western [[AI Wiki - Music - Pop Music|pop]] thinks about a song, where the backing belongs to one tune. In Jamaica the backing is a shared, named object. Singers and deejays (MCs) "voice" a riddim; producers release whole albums of different artists on one riddim; listeners recognise the riddim in the first bar and know dozens of songs on it. For a musician learning reggae, riddims are ideal practice material: short, looping, built on one or two chords, and each one teaches a bass line, a drum feel and a skank that the whole genre reuses. See [[AI Wiki - Music - Reggae Bass and Drums]] for the patterns they're built from. ## Versions and How the Culture Began Riddim culture grew out of the sound systems. From 1968, Jamaican singles often carried an instrumental **version** of the A-side on the B-side, after Ruddy Redwood's accidental vocal-less dub plate of the Paragons' "On the Beach" was a hit at his dances. Versions gave deejays something to toast over and producers a backing track they could reuse. Many rocksteady backing tracks were later used as the base of reggae records ([[AI Wiki - Music - Ska and Rocksteady]]), and engineers like King Tubby turned versions into an art form of their own ([[AI Wiki - Music - Dub Music]]). Studio One, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's label, became the great reservoir: its 1960s instrumentals by house bands like Sound Dimension were re-recorded, re-licensed and re-voiced for decades. **Naming.** "Many riddims are named after the song that was recorded on that instrumental track for the first time" (Wikipedia). Since the 1980s, producers also build riddims from scratch and give them their own names, then hand them to many artists at once. **In dancehall**, riddims became standard practice. At any given time ten to fifteen riddims dominate, and two or three are the "now ting". Sound-system selectors play medleys of songs on the same riddim back to back ("juggling", in sound-system slang), so the crowd hears the instrumental stay the same while voice after voice changes over it. ## Famous Riddims | Riddim | Origin | Notes | |---|---|---| | **Real Rock** | Sound Dimension, recorded 1967, released 1968 on Studio One (prod. Coxsone Dodd) | Jackie Mittoo's three-note Hammond figure; versioned hundreds of times, including Willi Williams's "Armagideon Time" (later covered by The Clash) | | **Satta Massagana** | named after the Abyssinians' roots song "Satta Massagana" | A roots riddim named, like most, after its first vocal | | **Stalag** | Ansel Collins, "Stalag 17", 1973, Winston Riley's Techniques label | Collins (keys), George "Fully" Fullwood (bass), Santa Davis (drums); used for Sister Nancy's "Bam Bam" (1982) and Tenor Saw's "Ring the Alarm" (mid-1980s); hundreds of versions | | **Sleng Teng** | Wayne Smith, "Under Mi Sleng Teng", 1985, prod. Prince (King) Jammy | Built on a "rock" preset of a Casiotone MT-40 home keyboard; one of Jamaica's first digital productions; Riddim-ID counts 500+ songs on it | | **Dem Bow / Fish Market** | Steely & Clevie | The rhythm reggaeton is largely built on | | **Diwali** | Steven "Lenky" Marsden (early 2000s) | An original riddim with its own name; under Sean Paul's "Get Busy" and Bounty Killer's "Sufferer" | "Sleng Teng" marks a turning point. Jammy said it "computerised the reggae business": after it, most riddims were made electronically by a keyboard player alone instead of a live band, which gave a tougher sound suited to sound systems. The live-band era (Studio One, Channel One, the Wailers) and the digital era (Jammy, Steely & Clevie, Lenky) both run on the same riddim logic. ## Why Riddims Matter for Players - **Arrangement in miniature.** A riddim is a complete arrangement in two or four bars: drum pattern, bass line, skank, bubble, maybe a horn or organ hook. Learning one teaches you how the parts interlock ([[AI Wiki - Music - Arranging Songs]]). - **The bass line is the identity.** Two riddims with the same chords are told apart by their bass lines. That trains you to hear the bass first, a habit many guitarists lack. - **Melody over a fixed backing.** Hearing ten singers over one riddim shows how many melodies one loop supports: a lesson for [[AI Wiki - Music - Songwriting|songwriting]] and for [[AI Wiki - Music - Chord Tones and Improvisation|improvising]] ([[AI Wiki - Music - Melody and Phrasing]]). - **Built-in backing tracks.** Instrumental versions and dub sides are ready-made backing tracks ([[AI Wiki - Music - Playing with Backing Tracks]]). ## How to Learn a Riddim as a Practice Loop 1. **Pick one and collect it.** Find the original instrumental (the "version" or dub side) plus two or three vocal songs on it. Many riddims have whole compilation albums. 2. **Loop four or eight bars.** Use a DAW, a looper app or the A-B repeat of your player. Slow it down 10–25% without changing the pitch if needed. 3. **[[AI Wiki - Music - Finding the Key of a Song|Find the key]].** Hum the lowest bass note that feels like "home"; find it on the low E or A string. Most riddims sit on one or two chords; see [[AI Wiki - Music - Transcription and Playing by Ear]]. 4. **Learn the bass line first,** on the low strings of the guitar. Sing it, then play it. Count where the rests are. 5. **Add the skank** on 2 and 4 with three-string [[AI Wiki - Music - Triads|triads]] ([[AI Wiki - Music - Reggae Rhythm Guitar]]); on piano, the skank plus the bubble ([[AI Wiki - Music - Reggae Keyboards]]). 6. **Play over the vocal versions.** The riddim stays the same; check that your part still fits under each singer. 7. **Record your own version.** Once you can play it, record the bass and skank over a one-drop loop, and use it as your own backing track. Then try a dub mix of it. 8. **Track it.** In the Music Practice plugin, a riddim is a natural "piece" note: log the tempo you can loop it at cleanly, and let spaced review bring it back before it goes Rusty ([[AI Wiki - Music - Memorization and Spaced Repetition]]). A practice riddim to start with: an original two-chord loop in A minor (not a transcription of any record), with the bass line from [[AI Wiki - Music - Reggae Bass and Drums]] and the skank on strings 4–2. ```chords {title: Practice riddim in A minor (original)} {time: 4/4} {tempo: 72} {start_of_verse: Chords (one drop, 8-bar loop = play twice)} | [Am] / / / | [Am] / / / | [G] / / / | [G] / / / | {end_of_verse} {comment: Guitar skank on 2 and 4: Am (x-x-7-5-5-x), G (x-x-5-4-3-x). Release after each stroke.} {start_of_tab} e|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------| B|-----5-------5---|-----5-------5---|-----3-------3---|-----3-------3---| G|-----5-------5---|-----5-------5---|-----4-------4---|-----4-------4---| D|-----7-------7---|-----7-------7---|-----5-------5---|-----5-------5---| A|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------| E|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------| 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & {end_of_tab} {comment: Bass line (bass tab, or guitar's low strings): rests on 1 and 3. Am bars: A C D, E D C. G bars: G B D, G D B.} {start_of_tab} G|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------| D|-----------------|-----------------|-----------5-----|-----------------| A|-----3-5---7-5-3-|-----3-5---------|-----2-5-----5-2-|-----2-5---------| E|---5-------------|---5-------------|---3-------------|---3-------------| 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & {end_of_tab} ``` The skank shapes, for reference: ```chord symbol: Am frets: x-x-7-5-5-x fingers: x-x-3-1-1-x title: Am (strings 4-2) --- symbol: G frets: x-x-5-4-3-x fingers: x-x-3-2-1-x title: G (strings 4-2) ``` Variation drills on the same loop: switch the drums from one drop to steppers; play the bass as root–fifth–octave instead; move the skank to the top three strings; transpose the whole loop to E minor (Em–D) or D minor (Dm–C) with the same shapes moved up or down the neck ([[AI Wiki - Music - Capo and Transposition]]). ## Key Points - A riddim is the instrumental backing of a song, reused for many songs; in roots reggae, mainly its bass line and drum pattern. - It grew from B-side "versions" (from 1968) and the sound systems; Studio One's instrumentals became the great reservoir. - Riddims are named after the first song voiced on them, or (since the 1980s) given original names. - Classics: Real [[AI Wiki - Music - Rock Music|Rock]] (1967), Stalag (1973), Sleng Teng (1985, the first big digital riddim), Diwali (early 2000s). - For practice, loop a riddim, learn the bass first, add the skank, play over several vocal versions, then record your own. ## Open Questions - Which riddims are the most versioned of all? Real Rock and Stalag are both claimed; database counts (Riddim-ID, Riddimguide) differ. - What exactly do the Real Rock and Stalag bass lines play? Worth transcribing as practice pieces. - How do riddim producers today share and license riddims with dozens of artists at once? ## References - Wikipedia, "Riddim": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riddim - Wikipedia, "Real Rock": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Rock - Wikipedia, "Stalag riddim": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_riddim - Wikipedia, "Under Mi Sleng Teng": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Mi_Sleng_Teng - Wikipedia, "Dub music": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dub_music - Wikipedia, "Reggae": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggae ## Related - [[AI Wiki - Music - Reggae Music]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Reggae Bass and Drums]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Dub Music]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Ska and Rocksteady]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Reggae Rhythm Guitar]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Reggae Keyboards]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Playing with Backing Tracks]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Transcription and Playing by Ear]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Arranging Songs]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Songwriting]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Melody and Phrasing]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Memorization and Spaced Repetition]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Capo and Transposition]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Modal Harmony]]