70s Funk Blast - Group Lesson


Don Mock: Hi everyone. This is Don Mock and tonight we're going to take a closer look into the ingredients of a good funk guitar rhythm pattern Don Mock: Let's start with chords Don Mock: Funk tunes are really no different from pop and rhythm & blues songs when it come to their chords. However, the dominant 9th was popularized in the '70's by many famous funk tunes Don Mock: We've gone over a few of the common 9th voicings in the last few lessons Don Mock: You might as well learn the rest of the voicings used by good players Don Mock: Here's a cool 9th chord funk riff/exercise that uses nearly every good 9th voicing you'll ever need 9th Example Don Mock: here's me playing the sample Don Mock: The first four chords are all C9's basically in the same position around the 8th fret root C Don Mock: You should memorize these together, They will be very useful Don Mock: On the 4th one, just slide down 1/2 step and back up to create that "horn part" sound Don Mock: The next chord is C9 with the top note 1/2 step higher (C9sus) Don Mock: Then bring the top note down 1/2 step for the next C9 Don Mock: I know a few of these chords will be pretty challenging at first, Take your time and play them nice and slow until you get them down Don Mock: I'm sure you know the last part, just four whacks on the common C9 up high on the 14th fret Don Mock: I promise that these will probably be the only 9ths you'll ever have to learn Don Mock: Remember to mute or not pick the unused strings Don Mock: All, except the last one, are four-note chords Don Mock: a cool thing about this example Don Mock: is that each C9 chord has a different top melody note Don Mock: so you basically have a C7 (Fmaj) scale in C9 chords Don Mock: this is great for creating melodies with chords Don Mock: you should figure out which degree of the scale each chord has on top Don Mock: I'll tell you the first one.... Don Mock: C9 with the 3rd on top Don Mock: any questions so far? Don Mock: here's a jam track Adam: so 3rd means the 3rd of Cmaj7 scale? Don Mock: Adam it means the 3rd of the C dominant scale Don Mock: which is an F major scale, starting on "C" Don Mock: C Mixolydian for you mode freaks Don Mock: Here is a C9 Jam Track for you to practice to. It will probably feel pretty fast at first Don Mock: Work on small sections at first like the first 3 chords etc Don Mock: Let's change to minor for a few examples Don Mock: Coming up is a nice minor chord move from G/A to Am7 Don Mock: It works over any Am type vamp Don Mock: any questions before we move on to the next sample? Don Mock: Here's me playing it and the tab A min comp example Don Mock: Hammer-on the 2nd chord by laying down your 4th (little) finger hard on the strings Don Mock: Only strum on the first chord (G/A and hammer to the Am7) Don Mock: All the rest of the chords are strummed Don Mock: Here is a good Am groove to play it to Don Mock: Now let's move it up an octave to a very common position at the 12th fret Don Mock: This version is exactly the same except we'll add in the high E note (12th fret) Am Comp No. 2 Don Mock: Also, the hammer-on's are on the 2nd and 4th strings this time Don Mock: It's still G/A to Am7 Don Mock: Play it to the same Am jam track you already have loaded AScriabin: reminds me of the band Chicago Don Mock: yeah, I can see that, they use some of these patterns Skedman: Gap band Don Mock: This next example is actually a little funk/R&B tune with a hint of the "Beachboys" thrown in Don Mock: It features a "blues-ish" double-stop riff that is real useful to know R & B Funk Don Mock: The main theme of the tune starts out in C7 for three and a half bar before moving down to A7 Don Mock: The same riff and chords accents are again played (this time in A7) before a bar of F9 Don Mock: The final bar is E7#9 followed by G9 taking us back to the top Don Mock: The main theme is a series of double stops and chords Don Mock: I use my left thumb on the bass notes of the C7, Bb7 and A7 chords Don Mock: If that's too weird for you, play the bass notes with your first finger (barr) or just leave them out Don Mock: They're not that important to the tune... especially with the rest of the band Skedman: What kind of drum machine do you use Don? Don Mock: it's a Alesis SR16 and I have various Roland synths Don Mock: The hammer-on's are real important to the sound so try to play them strong and clean Don Mock: In fact, a cool thing you can add to this main riff (as I did on the demo) is to "trill" with your 2nd finger on the G string after the C7 and A7(end of bar 2 and bar 6) Don Mock: "Trill" means to rapidly hammer and pull-off continually between two notes Don Mock: Trill while the chord is still ringing out. You'll recognize the effect Don Mock: Here's a Jam Track of the tune to practice to Don Mock: If you haven't got the double stop lick down yet, work on the chord punches towards the end surfBrat: I'm new whats a double stop Don Mock: it's 2 notes being played at the same time larryWjazz: It's a country thang Don Mock: in some circles "double stop" means 2 notes played with one finger Don Mock: we found a bit of trouble with one section of the interactive tab.... Don Mock: check out the graphic if you want to catch the missing section Don Mock: That's it for tonight. I hope you have been able to check out the "Licks of the Day" this last week Don Mock: I tried to include some very useful lines and techniques Don Mock: There's more coming up this week so be sure to learn them Don Mock: I really want to thank all of you for hanging out with me tonight and for the past month Don Mock: I've actually learned a lot digging into my 1970's funk memory bank playing this stuff Don Mock: I really have a new respect for the great funk and R&B guitarists who pioneered this music Don Mock: great seeing everybody	<< load notation from left
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