How to play reggae guitar like... Stevie Wonder?

An audio lesson with free tab

Guitar Techniques/ACM (Jon Bishop), Fri 23 Oct 2009, 10:52 am UTC

Example: Stevie Wonder-style reggae

[Intro - Bars 1-4] The drums play an unaccompanied four-bar intro.

[Verse - Bars 5-12] This is the rake arpeggio part. Palm-mute the strings then sweep the pick downwards across the strings to get a quick arpeggio. You can then finish the movement off with an upstroke on the first string. The picking pattern is the same for all of the chords, so if you spend some time getting the first one right the rest should slot into place.

[Chorus - Bars 13-17] In this section the rake arpeggios are embellished by playing back up the shape in a swung quaver rhythm. There is also a pentatonic melody to play at the end of each four-bar section. Make sure you include the slides and articulations for an authentic feel.

[Unison Riff - Bars 21-24] This pentatonic riff has some tricky transitions, so the tab has some suggested fingerings to make life easier. All the notes are picked, so start slowly and work up to tempo.