# What is that ska beat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 27, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857 "2005-11-27T00:46:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/1 "2005-11-27T00:46:10Z")
Sorry for being so vague, but today I busted out a bunch of CD’s I haven’t heard in an long time… One of them was the Mighty Mighty Bosstones… it got me thinking… is there a name for that “ska” sound? I’d be more descriptive, but I dunno how to put it into words. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/2 "2005-11-27T00:48:23Z")
> [@Squee](#): > > …is there a name for that “ska” sound? I’d be more descriptive, but I dunno how to put it into words. Most people call it “ska.” ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/3 "2005-11-27T00:48:14Z")
I guess I should clarify… it’s not necessarily the horns or other stuff, mostly just the guitar/bass riffs. ---
**Author:** ![deevee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/4 "2005-11-27T00:49:37Z")
Doesn’t ska say it all? My mind immediately gets that Specials/Madness/Bosstones groove at the mere mention of ska. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/5 "2005-11-27T01:07:37Z")
Do you mean that reggaesque emphasis on the off-beats? That’s what makes ska sound ska to me. I’d just call it a ska beat. Have I say the word “ska” enough in this post? Its’ a fun word to say. Ska! ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/6 "2005-11-27T01:13:15Z")
Reggae backbeat, at about double speed. Although the definitions of both reggae and ska were a bit different at their inceptions in Jamaica in the '60’s. ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/7 "2005-11-27T01:16:25Z")
Perhaps “raggae backbeat” is a good name… thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/8 "2005-11-27T01:35:58Z")
> [@Squee](#): > > Perhaps “raggae backbeat” is a good name… thank you. If you just say, “reggae backbeat,” people will imagine a sound like the Wailers at their apex. (And not the early Wailers, when they actually did ska.) The important thing is how much more energetic it is. ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/9 "2005-11-27T01:44:58Z")
Ska-talicious! (Make sure you use the long a sound if you adopt that one though.) ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/10 "2005-11-27T04:26:54Z")
In ska (a musical genre near and dear to my heart), the guitar plays on the upbeats, so that steady “cha / cha / cha” is all quick, staccato, upstrokes. Since most popular music is in 4/4 time, you can tap your foot listening to any song and count 1-2-3-4. Depending on the tempo, you can actually count 1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and, with the number on the downbeat and the “and” on the upbeat. The upstrokes of ska guitar simply play on the “and.” ---
**Author:** ![deevee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/11 "2005-11-27T04:37:35Z")
Lip up fatty! ---
**Author:** ![ms.deanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@ms.deanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ms.deanna)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/12 "2005-11-27T05:16:37Z")
Yeah man!, Big Bad VooDoo Lou knows a thing or two about a thing or two. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/13 "2005-11-27T05:42:45Z")
> [@ms.deanna](#): > > Yeah man!, Big Bad VooDoo Lou knows a thing or two about a thing or two. I played in a ska-punk band for three years, back in college, and I miss it like crazy. Even though ska isn’t popular anymore like it was in the late '90s, all I need to do is hear that upstroke guitar and I’m happy again. It was the best time of my life, being in a band, being part of an honest-to-goodness music scene. ---
**Author:** ![ms.deanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@ms.deanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ms.deanna)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/14 "2005-11-28T05:00:34Z")
Ooh! He’s got skills too! Do you still play music in your spare time? ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/15 "2005-11-28T05:04:54Z")
Ahh, ska. _looks through older CDs to find something suitable_ _skanks_ ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/16 "2005-11-28T13:13:38Z")
That guitar hitting on the upstroke is called the skank, or skanking. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/17 "2005-11-28T13:20:09Z")
> [@deevee](#): > > Lip up fatty! And now give it up for Fatty’s Big Chance. ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/18 "2005-11-28T13:47:55Z")
I remember seeing several fairly inept ska bands as opening acts in the 90s whose personnel were made up of white middle-class college kids, and it seemed like they were one accordion away from being polka bands. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/19 "2005-11-28T16:23:12Z")
> [@picker](#): > > That guitar hitting on the upstroke is called the skank, or skanking. In my time in the ska scene, I never heard that, but I guess it might be a regional thing. We just called it “upstroke guitar.” Skanking usually refers to the type of dancing people do to ska music, which to the untrained eye looks like a combination of flailing limbs, running in place, and doing “the robot.” ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857/20 "2005-11-28T16:52:27Z")
Thanks for the additional replies… Now I have Skankin’ Pickle in… I haven’t heard this stuff since college. I used to see them live quite a bit at Cal Poly SLO… even met Mr Clean a few times. Good times, good times. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-ska-beat/332857.md?page=2)