My future ska/reggea band is disputing this matter, and im interested to see what everyone has to say. Note that dropping sax isnt an option (mainly cuz sax is pretty amazing and we have an amazing sax player lined up to play for us) write ins are strongly encouraged. sorry its posted in guitars/bassses. didnt know where else to really put it.
Poll For Ska/Reggea Band
- Thread starter CalebMcC
- Start date
VomitHatSteve
Hat STYLE. Not contents.
You're a ska band. It's important to have as many members as possible. Just make sure that each one either sounds good or looks cool on stage.
Exactly! 1 sax, 1 trombone, 1 trumpet just isn't enough. Need to double up at least 2 of those instruments, dual guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, and at least 2 vocalists, it's even better if those vocalists don't do anything else.
... ok, but seriously, it doesn't matter what instruments you have and how many if they sound good. If you've already got a couple members in the band that are good at writing songs I suggest you try to do that first. If you find yourself writing songs that can use all of those instruments that's fine, if not it lose one or two of them.
I know this isn't an option, but my personal opinion would be drop the sax, keep the trumpet and definitely the trombone ... but that's only because I play trumpet, but the trombone is important, it adds a bit more bass to counter the sax and guitars.
legionserial
New member
None of it matters if you're not wearing pie hats, shades, and 2-tone suits. The rest is secondary.
I'd say keep all 3. Then add 2 more trumpets, another trombone, and a french horn.
I'd say keep all 3. Then add 2 more trumpets, another trombone, and a french horn.
tc4b
Yeah I been drinkin, SO!?
(insert obligatory make-fun-of-ska-bands here) Ha ha! Ya know what I mean?
Anyhow, I agree that it's more important that each horn player be good, and if you've only got one good one then you should only have one horn. However, if you can get em, I think three is great. I love a horn section with some nice harmonies, whether it's just tooting away at some generic triad ostinato (sp?) or something more melodic, that third voice adds a lot. With only two, you're probably signing on for an awful lot of unison/octaves. Just my 2 cents.
Just saw Jason Mraz last week (go ahead, make fun, it was a gift for the wife) and he had a phenomenal horn section (three pcs). Not being a fan of the man, his having a great band really helped me enjoy the show.