70s Funk Blast - Group Lesson


Don Mock: Hi everyone John: What is the lesson tonite? Don Mock: funk guitar from the 70s Don Mock: Check out the sound clip, it has many of the lines we will be learning later. Don Mock: Our focus tonight will be on some classic rhythm funk guitar movements. I also have a few contemporary patterns that I'm sure you'll like. Don Mock: Although guitar players can serve several rolls in funk including playing melody lines and soloing, it's the funky rhythmic background parts that often defines the style. AScriabin: 9th chords galore fergy: so true Don Mock: Funk playing doesn't have to be complicated or difficult to play to sound hip. Don Mock: In many cases, the parts are very simple and range from single notes to complete chords Don Mock: When it comes to guitar chords used in funk music, the dominant 9th chord comes to mind for many players. Don Mock: Everyone remembers many of James Brown's hits which feature the funky use of the 9th. Don Mock: Let's go over a few of the classic voicings. Most players know a few based off of the roots on the 5th and 6th strings. Don Mock: Here's C9 with the root on the 5th string. Don't play the low E string by muting it with the tip of your 2nd finger. C9 Chord (first) Don Mock: In fact, muting strings is a HUGE deal in good funk playing. Don Mock: You'll be playing a lot of two or three note voicings and will need to mute or 'deaden' the others Don Mock: This is important because you will want to strum all six strings a lot of the time to give you that 'fat' attack and won't want the other strings ringing out. Don Mock: Here is another form for C9. C9 (second) Don Mock: We won't play the root on the 6th string. You can play this chord a few ways; with or without the top E string, or only the top four strings. C9 (third) Don Mock: here's one more cool C9 chord to work with C9 (fourth) Don Mock: Before we learn some funk examples, we need to talk a bit about rhythm. Don Mock: Funk IS rhythm and for guitar players it's all about the right hand (left if you're a southpaw). Don Mock: Many funk patterns are based in 16th notes. Don Mock: Funk patterns are usually combinations (syncopation) of 16th notes. Don Mock: Learn to play with your picking hand all four combinations of 16th notes. Don Mock: The following graphic shows the count and the up and down strokes. Count 16th's like this; 'One', 'e', '&', 'a', 'Two', 'e', '&', 'a' , etc. Don Mock: Mute all the strings with your left hand and do this. Don Mock: Strum steady 16th's (4 attacks every beat) by strumming the 'One' with a down-stroke, 'e' with an up-stroke, '&' with a down-stroke, and 'a' with another up-stroke. Don Mock: Count out loud and keep the tempo steady. Don Mock: Now play an E9 on the 8th fret. Don Mock: Sound the chord only on the 'One' Don Mock: On the other three accents, relax the left hand pressure to mute the strings. The sound you should make is: 'Chord, chick, chick chick'. etc. Don Mock: Practice this in time over and over working on these two very important techniques; picking and muting. Don Mock: To continue this exercise, accent the chord on the 'e' this time. Don Mock: 'chick, Chord, chick, chick' etc. Then accent on the '&', 'chick, chick, Chord, chick'. Don Mock: And finally, accent the 'a', 'chick, chick, chick, Chord'. Don Mock: As you get comfortable with these accents you can invent combinations. Don Mock: Change the pattern from bar to bar. You might find it helpful to write down the patterns. Don Mock: Here is a jam track to practice these techniques against: Don Mock: This track is a 'funk' E7 groove. fergy: do you need to set up your strings fairly high to get a good mute sound? Don Mock: muting isn't about the height of strings. fergy: i know...but i almost get harmonics instead of the chick Don Mock: muting is done with the fingers on the left hand Don Mock: and sometimes the right hand palm Don Mock: hold the strings more firmly with the left hand scott: What is a common chord progression for funk? I, IV, V? Don Mock: funk tunes are like any other song, they can be lots of different progressions Don Mock: What makes them funk is the rhythm Josh: i always mute with my palm John: Basically you hold you left hand like your playing a chord but you don't press down all the way. Correct? Don Mock: right on John Don Mock: OK guys, let's move on to some funk examples. Don Mock: This first example uses the C9 voicing we just learned. Don Mock: It also features another higher C9 voicing along with a classic dominant 7th chord hammer-on lick every guitar player should know. C9 Funk pattern Ken: Any tip to applying a classical technique for the right hand to this? Don Mock: Classical technique does have a place in funk music for a guitar player Don Mock: but more in the role of a keyboard player might do Don Mock: guitar funk parts are notorious for having lots of scratches coming from the right-hand picking Don Mock: I have a different jam track to go along with the C7 funk pattern: Don Mock: The only problem you might have with this example is with the C7 chord in the second bar. Don Mock: Many players do what I do which is to use the left thumb on the C root 6th string. Ken: To play the chords as arpegios? As scratches it really calls for a pick,right? Don Mock: It can also be played with a 1st finger barr, or with the 2nd and 3rd fingers. Don Mock: Either way, be sure to get a clean hammer-on on the 3rd string (Eb to E). Don Mock: Here is the C7 pattern in music notation, so that you can see the rhythms: Don Mock: Example #2 is two-bar E7 funk move that uses 3rds and more 9th chords. E7 funk pattern Don Mock: and here is the music notation also: Don Mock: It begins with some major 3rd intervals leading up to an E9 with an added 13th on top which is released. Don Mock: Next is a common technique of sliding into a chord from 1/2 step below. Don Mock: (Eb9 to E9) Don Mock: The second bar is simply our two 9th voicings for E9. Don Mock: A good thing to do to keep parts like this funky and in time is to keep your picking hand moving up and down in 16th notes continually. Don Mock: Either mute and 'chick' the blank places or intentionally miss the strings with the pick. Don Mock: Play it over this Jam Track in E7: Don Mock: For the last example you would play the three 3rds with downstrokes because they are on the 'one' , '&' , 'Two'. Don Mock: The E13 is on beat 'Three' and gets a downstroke while the B note is on the 'e' and played with an upstroke. Don Mock: The Eb9 is on the 'e' of the fourth beat and is played with an upstroke followed by a downstroke for the last E9('&' of beat four). Don Mock: The second bar is pretty obvious. Don Mock: We have one more cool example Don Mock: Example #3 demonstrates a single-note funk line with a few chord accents at the end. Don Mock: It's reminiscent of the trend in the late 70's towards single-note phrases often played with a wah wah of phase shifter. E7 funk pattern #2 Don Mock: The notes are all from the E7 scale (A major) and should also be alternate picked following our up/down stroke method we used earlier. Don Mock: This example can be played with full up/down stroke hitting all strings. Don Mock: Only the melody notes should be allowed to sound, while all others are muted. Don Mock: This creates a huge sound! This take some practice figuring out how to get enough fingers and thumbs on the errant strings. Don Mock: There is one more jam track for the last pattern Don Mock: it's a little faster... Don Mock: that's about all the material for today Don Mock: The main thing to get out of this lesson is understanding the 16th note feel with your right hand Don Mock: Ok, bye for now	<< load notation from left
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