The Prophet!
Bob Marley was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, guitarist, and activist. He is the most widely known performer of reggae music and is regarded by many as a prophet of not just reggae, but also the Rastafarian religion.
Bob’s first album came already in 1965 and contained an early version of One Love. This release had more of an uptempo/ska vibe than what we hear as part of a medley on the Exodus album, twelve years later.
The debut album was released under the name The Wailing Wailers and at the time didn’t have any success beyond his native Jamaica.
Bob’s second album (Soul Rebels) came five years later in 1970. Now the band was called Bob Marley and the Wailers, one significant tune, written by Peter Tosh can be found here in 400 years.
The following year, Soul Revolution part II (even though there is no part 1!) is released and the classic Bob Marley tunes start to appear in Don’t Rock My Boat, Kaya, African Herbsman, and Sun Is Shining.
The same year as Soul Revolution part II is released, another strangely named album comes out, The Best Of The Wailers, strange as it’s not a compilation or greatest hits album. It contained only new tunes although no hits.
Interestingly enough, Go Tell It On The Mountain is found here, which is a traditional song and says something about Bob’s songwriting. His best tunes do sound like traditional songs.
Bob Marley becomes world famous
In 1973 Bob’s first international success came as he was now signed to Island Records. The album, Catch A Fire contained Concrete Jungle, 400 Years (again!), Stir It Up, and Kinky Reggae.
The same year, Bob brings us Burnin’, two of his greatest tunes are found here in I Shot The Sheriff and Get Up, Stand Up.
In 1974, Natty Dread was released, this is the first album without Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. We have Lively Up Yourself, and the immortal No Woman, No Cry on this, in a way, a first solo album from Bob.
In 1976, Bob released Rastaman Vibration. This album has few tunes written by Bob, instead, it’s mainly Rita Marley (his wife) who wrote most of it.
Two tunes became well known. Roots, Rock, Reggae, which was written by Vincent Ford, and War which was based on a Haile Selassie speech.
In 1977, we get Bob Marley’s masterpiece Exodus. This is by many critics considered the best album ever made, not just by Bob Marley, but anyone!
Tunes from Exodus include the title track, Waiting In Vain, Jamming, Three Little Birds, One Love, Natural Mystic, So Much Things To Say, and Turn Your Lights Down Low. That’s 8 world-class tunes on one album, most of them on the B-side.
The following year we got the album Kaya (yes, this was released in 1971 as well). Here we get the title track as well as Easy Skanking, Is This Love, Satisfy My Soul, and Sun Is Shining. All these tunes were on the A-side of the album.
1979 and Bob Marley’s output has slowed down somewhat as his album Survival only has one big tune on it in So Much Trouble In The World.
1980 and the final studio album from Bob when he was still alive, Uprising. Redemption Song and Could You Be Loved are found here.
One more studio album would appear after he died in Confrontation. It contained his last worldwide hit, Buffalo Soldier.
On a final note, the compilation album Legend, which contains the legendary live version of No Woman No Cry (with feedback) was released in 1984. It has spent 1059 weeks in the U.K. top 100 album chart, only beaten by Queen and ABBA’s greatest hits.
These numbers are as of December 2022, and Legend by Bob Marley is still in the top 100!
Bob Marley has sold an estimated 75 million albums.
Bob Marley Tunes | Related Pages
Could You Be Loved
You can learn how to play Could You Be Loved by Bob Marley using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, and the original recording.
| D | Bm | G | D |
Could you be loved, and be loved…
I Shot The Sheriff
You can learn how to play I Shot The Sheriff by Bob Marley using chords, lyrics, TAB, chord analysis, and Spytunes video guitar lessons.
| Gm | Cm (Cm7) | Gm7 (Gm) | Gm7 (Gm) |
I shot the sheriff, but I didn’t shoot no deputy, oh no! Oh…
Is This Love
You can learn how to play Is This Love by Bob Marley using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, TAB, and the original recording.
| F#m7 | D | A E/G# |
I wanna love you, and treat you right…
No Woman, No Cry
You can learn how to play No Woman, No Cry by Bob Marley using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, TAB, and the original recording.
| C G/B | Am7 F | C F C/E Dm C | C (G A B G) |
No, woman, no cry. No, woman, no cry…
One Love
You can learn how to play One Love by Bob Marley using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, TAB, and the original recording.
| Bb | F |
One love, one heart…
Redemption Song
You can learn how to play Redemption Song by Bob Marley using chords, lyrics, TAB, chord analysis, and Spytunes video guitar lessons.
| G | Em | C G/B | Am |
Old pirates yes they rob I, sold I to the merchant ships…
Three Little Birds
You can learn how to play Three Little Birds by Bob Marley using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, TAB, and the original recording.
| A | A | D | A |
Don’t worry, about a thing, ’cause every little thing is gonna be alright…
Bob Marley on the web
Artists & Bands
Behind every single tune you learn, there’s an artist or band with an entire catalogue of music, waiting to be discovered.
Find out more about these great Artists & Bands, and let their tunes guide you to success.
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was an article about Bob Marley tunes, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
