School me on Funk chords soul brother

[clayville]

'Hoping to flush pc (or anyone else with great funk chops) out of the woodwork to improve my Funk comping a wee bit.

I don't have much trouble with the rhythm, or plugging in a wah and getting the whacka-whacka thing going... but when I want to use more than just sliding 13ths or little 7th triads on the high strings (with added pinky stabs up a couple frets for the ocassional thrill) I get a stumped.

And is there a sort of standard-ish lead scale used in much funk?

What's the secret Oh Great Funkmeisters?

[Jonnda]

"Open up your funky mind and you can fly
Free your mind and your ass will follow"

-=Funkadelic

[Wilko]

From what I can gather, it's all the same blues scales and chords. Very basic stuff. Patterns are good. repetition is good.

Funk is all attitude.

[Offshore Angler]

Hammered internals make it funky and hammered extensions take it uptown.

[pc]

I guess the secret to my funk comping is that I'm pretty much always playing 16th notes, but then ghosting many of the strokes. Chord-wise, the basic dominant-9 chord is a mainstay.

I.e., an E9 chord played just on the top four strings, spelled (low to high, D-string to E-string) G# (6th fret), D (7th fret), F# (7th fret), B (7th fret). But then I like to connect other inversions of this chord by moving up and down the fretboard.

Chuck is also right about internal movement of notes. I'm forever hammering on and pulling off chord extensions as I comp to create a little extra flavor, although that would be considered overkill for a lot of basic James Brown flavored funk. It's nice to occasionally add that 13th on top of things if you already have the 9th in there, and for straight dominant chords, I'll inevitably go back and forth between the regular dominant and the "sus" chord, i.e., raise the third to the fourth, then lower it again.

Lead-wise, it's pretty much the same stuff as Blues, or whatever you like to use to solo over mostly dominant chords.

One of my older originals has some good examples of this stuff. "Tell Me"

This is my old band doing some James Brown for a demo: "Get Up"

[Offshore Angler]

Yep. The basic funk move is play an E7 at the 5th fret, but leave the D string open. Strum the chord and hammer down on the G#. Think in 16th notes and it will funk right out. Strum on the first 16th and hammer on the second.

Once you get that going on the third beat start laying your ring finger over onto the A note on the D string, keeping the tip on the E root on the A string.

When that gets happening, start laying in some E9's on the 7th fret, adding in the C# on the High E string every third beat.

But you always need to remember in funk that the guitar is strictly an embellishment. The funk really comes from the bass and drums. If you try to drive it instead of ride on top of the groove, it just becomes crappy sounding rock.

What the hammer-ons do is give you the feeling of laying off the beat a 16th which builds tension and releases it with the hammer on. Funk is all about the tease.

[djinn1973]

Funk guitar playing is all about timing, squeezing the most out of accenting one or two chords (usually from a 9th to a 13th and back) on beats one and three.
Sex Machine
Freak Out
FlashLight

The thing to remember (like Offshore has said) when playing funk is the guitar is there to augment what the bass, drums and horns are doing, and not much more. Of course there are exceptions
What is hip?
Freddys Dead

[clayville]

Thanks much for all that good stuff. Just gotta get on my good foot!

(dang... I'd forgotten all about Fishbone... thanks for that too!)

ps: pc "Tell Me" kicks arse, and I lost three pounds listening to your run at Mr. Brown.

[frank thomson]

From what I can gather, it's all the same blues scales and chords. Very basic stuff. Patterns are good. repetition is good.

Funk is all attitude.

[AlienQuiksilver]

Buy this CD - "The Meters" - Rejuvination. The opening riff to the song "people say" is one of my personal favs.

For funk, I feel that it's not "what" you play ... but how you play it. The art of the percussive.

When I feel stuck in a rut, i'll scratch on straight 16ths against a metronome (drum machine, or whatever you may have) and just see what happens. Matter of fact, i'm gonna do that right now.

I basically stick with dominant 9, 13 and m7 chords. Those alone provide a bottomless well of options. Mixolydian for soloing of course.

Also, adding chromatic notes/passing chords and using the bebop mixolydian scale over top of it ... (insert drool smiley here, not available on edit function)

[refin]

The ninth chord rules!

[GearHeadFred]

I played blues for 20 years.. Joined a funk band recently.. The solos are no problem - just the blues with a little different attitude.

Funky rhythm guitar can be an art in itself. Listen to the RG in "Cut the cake" by Average White Band. Amazing stuff.

[hudpucker]

Slammin' Funk rhythm?

Try Al McKay of EWF.

[crazy fingers]

Listen to lots of Leo Nocentelli.

[stratelecaster]

Foolish mortals,
It's been proven time and time again that Fonk kain't be taught...especially in some thread! You're either Fonky or you ain't. Simply listen to some of the Funk masters and pick up on their vibe, letting your ears your soul and your ass be the teachers.
*The desired effect is what you get when you improve your interplanetary Funksmanship* George Clinton

[Wilko]

Thankfully most here (and the thread title) aren't trying to teach funk.. Just the scales and chords one might employ in such a pursuit.

Many have posted the truth. Funk is all attitude. And no, it can't be taught. It can only be learned.

[Wilko]

oh yeah. That learning process is probably a life long nature/nuture sort of thing. You'd first need at least a predisposition. Then some proclivity, a little aptitude...

[clayville]

Screw it. I'm switching to reggae!

[frank thomson]

can u dance?

[Wilko]

can u dance?

Hell no.

I can't play funk either.

[frank thomson]

well that's why, baby

[clayville]

can u dance?

Ya know... that's what it boils down to, it'd it?

All this talk about "it's either in you or it isn't" and "you can't teach it, but you can learn it" had me consulting zen masters on the side.

But I can dance! And now that I've got those 9th chords going me and my bad self are fly.



I think.

[frank thomson]

you-now-flyman

soar flyman

[hippiebob01]

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?...elated&search=

bootsy has it.

[melody]

Bootsy is a bad mo fo wit dat booger nose funk. Ya gotta be so funky you can smell it..

[natobasso]

Listen to James Brown, The Brothers Johnson, The Gap Band, early Commodores and Earth Wind and Fire. That should give you some ideas. ;)