The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    So strumming chords is not my strongest side, I have discovered after the last pages on Modern Method volume 1. You’re supposed to strum a Latin beat. I just wondered, how did you develop a great right hand control for strumming? I have always admired how funk people use their right hand. Emily Remler for example reminded me a little of a “mini” funk version when she strummed in both up and down movements. If anyone have any exercises or methods to recommend, they are very welcome.

    By the way, it’s no problem when I comp, cause I comp with downwards movement. On the other hand, I once learned Michael Hedges all along the watchtower, so I don’t know why my down/up strumming has weakened.


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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    "strumming" really doesn't describe funk playing, it's more like "snapping" the pick across the strings, halfway between single-note and multi-note playing. Like jazz comping, funk generally only uses 3 or 4 strings, and sometimes only 1 or 2. It's a more controlled technique than strumming, in general. Look up Nile Rogers on youtube, I think there are some good examples of one of the very best funk players ever.

  4. #3

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    work with this!




  5. #4

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    The best way to play in a band, preferably a groovy one. That's how learned, anyway. Funk, rock, ska, blues- doesn't matter, the first thing I do is locking in with the rhythm section. Play tight and percussive.

    Funk guitar in particular is weird to practice by itself, it's always a complimentary role, like a part of the engine that doesn't make much sense on its own but perfect in the big picture.

    Left hand is equally important btw, knowing when to mute, etc. The main feel is 16th notes, could be swung, or straight.

    Anyway, it's fun! Much more fun for me than bebop 'comping', where too much emphasis on voicings and not percussiveness.

  6. #5

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    I've used copying percussion beats with my right hand, it dumped many limitations.

  7. #6

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    Yea... don't look to white guys for funk lessons... unless your after rock funk. Play some R&B.

  8. #7

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    Any listening suggestions reg?

  9. #8

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    Hey Ty... sure

    The old days...
    I always dug...Tony Maiden... Rufus, Chaka etc..
    Jimmy Nolen... James Brown
    Al Mcay....Ike and Tina, Smokey, Gladys...Earth Wind...
    Sly Stones brother... Freddie

    Obviously... early Benson, not many reach his level of feels...
    I use to always dig Hiram Bullock... David Sanborn bands.

    I still like Bobby Broom, met him when he was a kid at Berklee
    Some of the others...Eric Gale, Russell Malone... even old Grant Green, after the Big Band shit.

  10. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by Reg
    Hey Ty... sure

    The old days...
    I always dug...Tony Maiden... Rufus, Chaka etc..
    Jimmy Nolen... James Brown
    Al Mcay....Ike and Tina, Smokey, Gladys...Earth Wind...
    Sly Stones brother... Freddie

    Obviously... early Benson, not many reach his level of feels...
    I use to always dig Hiram Bullock... David Sanborn bands.

    I still like Bobby Broom, met him when he was a kid at Berklee
    Some of the others...Eric Gale, Russell Malone... even old Grant Green, after the Big Band shit.
    Man, you named most of my all time favorite funksters!!

    Here's another cat that gets very little notice. Check out Buzz Feitin with the Young Rascals.

    Funkatropolis: "Jungle Walk" By The Rascals

    Rascals - Jungle Walk 45rpm - YouTube

  11. #10

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    Ray Parker Jr?

    Get your upstrokes together

    I honestly feel a lot of the funkiness is in the snap of the upstroke and the upstroke gives you those all important upbeats.

    Maybe I’m wrong... but I think it improves the feel.

    Above all, play with records and practice. If practice rhythm guitar you will get more gigs than if you practice lead I guarantee lol

  12. #11

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    The Meters. Leo Nocentelli is a legend.

    Most "non-funk" guitar players that want to learn funk tend to over play. Countless classic funk riffs have a ton of space, great big holes for the other instruments and vocals to ride in. Practicing with a metronome is important, but we often then tend to fill in all those holes.

    Funk is also about repetition. Sit on one little part and play it for five minutes without varying it in the slightest. It's not about jamming or improv.

    Have fun.

  13. #12

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    Yea Ray and Buzz are cool... gotta love um. Leo. can be really rocky, but that's just my personal thing

    Christian is in the right direction... rhythmic feels are not just upbeats.... it gets into to push and pull of rhythmic phrasing.
    I can get into the subdivision thing and Harmonic Rhythm groove.... that perception of repeat... but most don't really care, they generally just thing... man we are all over it tonight.

  14. #13

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    Cool thanks, I’ll check them out for sure

  15. #14

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    Yeah please can you get into the subdivision, creating grooves thing. I’m sure there are plenty of others who would be interested in this. Surely...?

  16. #15

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    I guess Cory Wong would be your guy?

  17. #16

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    Cory is the Wong man for the job.

  18. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo
    Cory is the Wong man for the job.


    Nile rodgers that.

  19. #18

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    I played in a funk band for a few years, great guys and musicians, nine of us, only I needed sunscreen when we performed outside...

    After first meeting they gave me some CDs of songs to learn and after practicing them at home my initial feeling was, "Oh, I got this...". First song we rehearsed had a pretty continuous guitar line that went kind of doink-doinky doink... well, it didn't go "kind of" like that, it went a very specific way, and after the first couple of doinks the keyboard player stopped me to get it right, really right. Turned out that first doink was a pick up that started on the last 16th of the bar, and it needed to be right there every time; took about five minutes of going back and forth for me to finally nail just that thing. Virtually all the funk tunes had things like this that made me realize that my general focus with playing had always been about hearing the harmonies, but not having encountered the intricacies of these difficult rhythms, so all these tunes I thought I had grasped I had to woodshed and rediscover this whole 'nother dimension.

    Funk guitar is dynamic in the sense that you can't just "play" it; you do have to snap and slap the instrument, and you have to do this "ballistically", meaning throwing you hand "in advance" to overcome its inertia, and likewise pulling the hand "in advance" to change direction, all the while maintaining precision of output, with a high speed combination of moving the right hand over the strings "high" or "low" to either miss or hit them while coordinating left hand fretting and muting.

    It is the only music where it really helps to place your amp as close into the drum kit as possible in order that the sounds of both are coming from the same place at the same time, in order to dead synch your stab chords etc. with the snare and hi-hat taps. Funk is an extremely group coherent kind of music with a high level of interdependance among the players... you have to be fully confident in your playing; any hesitation kills the funk.

    Funk shares a thing with jazz where you play something "simple" a couple of times to set up for something complex and amazing (like Kenny Burrell - he plays a couple of simple lines and then surprises you with "magic" chords or lines that makes your heart skip). Chord voicing is often unusual - a lot of triads such that you may only use three fingerings to harmonize over six chords because the same triads are serving as extensions and inversions of multiple chords, which allows for very fast playing... many other things.

    Best way to get there is to find some people playing it and learn, and there is a lot to learn.

  20. #19

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    You gotta learn to play drums. Learn some rudiments, basics. If you can't drum 16th on a hi hat- fuhgeddaboudit, you can't play the guitar.

  21. #20

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    Not sure what you mean by "Leo can be rocky", but I can't think of a funk guitar heavyweight who doesn't love him. And anyone who played with Zig for that long has to be worth paying my attention to.

    Cory Wong is a solid player, for sure. And Niles as well!

    Check out Prince.

    To get started,
    Just practice 16ths, that constant strumming motion in the right hand, on something like a standard E9 chord, only hitting one of each group of four. Used metronome. And as you get comfortable with it, choose a different beat of the sixteenths.

    Old James Brown stuff is ideal. Those are classic funk patterns to practice.

    Cheers

  22. #21

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    Yeah ....Prince was an incredible funk guitar player
    check him out on that Tele copy ... Baad Maan !

    (Great funky bass player too)

  23. #22

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    This is a great book:
    https://www.amazon.com/Funkmasters-G.../dp/1576234436

    I agree with others that it helps to know all the parts, at least the concepts of what the drummer and bass player are gonna do. If you really wanna get into it, I think Stanton Moore's book, Groove Alchemy, is the best there is. It's an in-depth analysis of the drum styles of all James Brown's drummers, Zigaboo Modeliste of the meters, James Gadson, and subsequent masters that have built off their work.

    honestly I think it's easy to overplay on guitar in this style, there are a few players that scratch 16th notes steadily, but this is not as common on the classic james brown recordings. A lot of funk is about what you don't play.

  24. #23

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    I have played a lot of funk and was around that style a lot growing up. Got back into it recently. One of the things I have figured out that helped me get a good funk sound was to try and copy what I heard Niles Rodgers doing, like on 'She's up all night to get lucky', which is the same sound as 'Awww Freak Out!' - Get your strat setup with heavy strings and high action and play on the neck pickup.

    You can hit the strings hard with a heavy pick, and the strings wont hit the frets. You can't play these funk sounds with thin strings and low action you get sort of a pinched off sound when the strings hit the frets.

    So I have an American Strat setup this way and I pull it out when I want that funk rythm sound.

    You need to work on your swing rythm feel too and learn how to play with varying amount of swing. That is part of the funk groove.

  25. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by DC-Choppah
    I have played a lot of funk and was around that style a lot growing up. Got back into it recently. One of the things I have figured out that helped me get a good funk sound was to try and copy what I heard Niles Rodgers doing, like on 'She's up all night to get lucky', which is the same sound as 'Awww Freak Out!' - Get your strat setup with heavy strings and high action and play on the neck pickup.

    You can hit the strings hard with a heavy pick, and the strings wont hit the frets. You can't play these funk sounds with thin strings and low action you get sort of a pinched off sound when the strings hit the frets.

    So I have an American Strat setup this way and I pull it out when I want that funk rythm sound.

    You need to work on your swing rythm feel too and learn how to play with varying amount of swing. That is part of the funk groove.
    Excellent points, DC.

  26. #25

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    honestly I think it's easy to overplay on guitar in this style, there are a few players that scratch 16th notes steadily, but this is not as common on the classic james brown recordings. A lot of funk is about what you don't play.
    Agree completely .. but that constant pulse of 16ths not has to be felt, and the only way to do that is keep the hand motion going, whether hitting chords, scratching, or not. For someone starting out, just learning to feel that is critical, and requires a LOT of time strumming and strumming and strumming .. no chord change, nothing but just feeling that up down motion, and hitting on select beats, even if it's just the downbeat to start with.

    Worrying about varying amounts of swing and the push/pull of the time isn't where I'd recommend anyone start out.