Searching for a sweet reggae tone is easy if you know what to look for, no matter if you want to sound like the legend Marley or if you’re looking for that new slightly smoother reggae sound there’s a guitar for you out there, and there’s tons of seriously affordable ones to.

Unfortunately, some of the original players of Reggae (The era where it hadn’t even been named Reggae yet, and people when they heard it thought it was just a form of ska……they were sort of right) never put pen to paper on what guitars they had……some however, played on guitars they made themselves like Fred ‘Toots’ Hibbert from Toots and the Maytals.

The Good News? Reggae is able to be played on almost any type of guitar that has a happy, bright sound. If you look at the Guitars most artists play you’ll notice Reggae being played on all sorts of guitars, of course there are some that the Pro’s seem to prefer, and I’ll leave a list of those below.

Fun Fact: Their single “Do The Reggay” was what became a big hit in the states and popularized Reggae music there, the name Reggay was also coined by them, and later came to be spelled Reggae.

 

 

Note:

This article includes guitars from all eras.

If you’re interested in getting a good guitar for modern Reggae style music, you’ll want a guitar with a fat sound.

Like the silverburst Gibson Les Paul that Erich Rachmany from Rebelution plays. (More Details and pricing info on this model at Guitar Center).

Or, Epiphone also has a silverburst Les Paul that sounds fat to. With a much better price tag. (More details and pricing info on this model on Amazon).

 

Here are the (Top 5) most popular Guitars played by Reggae musicians.

 

#1 Stratocaster

If this is not the absolute best guitar for Reggae, I don’t know what is. Countless Reggae musicians play on a strat, including of course the famous Al Anderson (Lead Guitarist for Marley) and Marley himself before he switched over to the Les Paul. Everyone from today’s Reggae artists to artists from years past play on these and why wouldn’t they? They are incredibly versatile, lightweight and easy to play lead or rhythm on. Getting a great Reggae tone out of these is very easy with the right setup. Simply play with any reverb pedal and set the pickup selector to the bridge (You could use any of the pickups on the guitar, but I’ve found the bridge pickup gives the brightest tone) for a nice bright happy tone and you’ll sound like Marley in no time.

Note: There are versions of this guitar that have humbuckers, rather than the single coil pickups that are on the original and produce that bright crisp sound, know that if you choose one with a humbucker, you won’t get as sweet of a reggae tone.

 

I’d also like to mention, Al Anderson did not exclusively play on a Strat.

He also played on a Les Paul as well.

 

#2 Telecaster

This is basically a different version of the stratocaster, slightly less verstatile.

First thing you’ll notice is you have one less pickup, and also no Whammy Bar (Bummer). Out of those two pickups, only the Twisted Tele pickup (Close to the neck) sounds good for Reggae. The bottom pickup is a broadcaster, which has more of a country twang sound.

Second thing you’ll notice is that since this is not designed with a cutaway like the strat, so it is a little harder to reach those high notes.

Now, even though the strat is definitely the better option of the two, (this is also personal preference) countless famous Reggae musicians use the Telecaster as well. Musicians like Stuart Wilson, Stephen Marley, Earl Chinna Smith, and many many more.

 

#3 Gibson Les Paul

These guitars produce a fatter sound, because of the Humbucker pick-ups. So, these don’t produce a very traditional Reggae sound. You’ll find the tones from this guitar in a lot of the newer Reggae groups such as Rebelution, Iration, Tribal seeds, etc.

Wondering why more players don’t play these? I thought about it and came up with a few reasons.

• These Guitars simply aren’t as good as they used to be.

Yes, Gibson players may hate me for saying this, but it’s simply true. People are finding all sorts of problems with their Gibsons nowadays and honestly with the price tag they carry, this simply shouldn’t be the case.

• They are good rhythm guitars for Reggae, but they just aren’t as bright sounding as they should be for the genre.

This of course, should be obvious. Les Pauls have Humbucker pickups on them which make the sound thicker and heavier, whereas a stratocaster cuts right through the mix with a clear bright sound with the single coil pick ups. So if you’re going for a happy, upbeat sound you can still achieve this with a Gibson, just the sound is not as crisp.

• They can get VERY expensive.

A good Les Paul will simply run you into the thousands of dollars for what you can easily get for a few hundred with a strat or a tele, most musicians simply aren’t loaded and are trying to stretch their money a little bit.

#4 PRS Custom 22/24

Another popular option, but PRS actually discontinued the 22 and only sells the 24 now. These have a fatter new Reggae sound like the Gibson, just aren’t as popular. If you’re looking to get that fat new Reggae sound but don’t have the money to shell out on a Gibson, this is probably your best bet.

#5 Ibanez SG series

Traditionally more of a guitar built for metal and alternative rock, the Ibanez SG is great if you plan on mostly playing lead. They’re also really cheap, which is a huge plus.

 Don’t have one of the more popular Reggae Guitar models? Don’t worry about it to much.

Reggae has always been a style of music that has been played on all sorts of guitars, it’s sort of like the blues in the fact that most of the early players played on whatever they could get their hands on. There are famous Reggae players who started out playing on Prs, Ibanez, and off brand hole in the wall guitars. What they say about artists never having much money has always been true (That’s also the theme of our website).

This doesn’t mean that a Strat or Tele won’t make your playing sound better.

Having the right equipment will always help improve your tone, and having a quality instrument is probably the most important step to good tone.