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Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
I use an 'aggressive clean'.. so when I play strong there's just a hint of breakup in the highs..
in isolation it may not sound quite clean enough <mine just about clean enough>..
in the mix it'll be sparkly clean with a bit of girth..
I use more than only the 1st thru 3rd strings..
some of the grooves I play are on the 2nd thru 4th strings too
you don't have to make a sound on every 1/16th note [sounding chord and grace notes <the neck hand muted "clicks">]
this can consume space with the drummer playing 1/16th on the hats..
I always treat funk guitar like tuned percussion.. so I think more about timing and phrasing, and my interaction with the drums and bass, than I do about notes..
play from the wrist so your anchor is the forearm close to the elbow on the top of the guitar body
always play through the strings with speed and power.. so you whip though the target strings
it's quite an aggressive / physical performance style
here's an extract from a song on a funk album I played on a few years ago
there's a nice 'drop' moment in there where the guitar is really exposed and easy to hear in detail..
guitar choice: Morgan V6 middle pup selection [neck and bridge together]
amps: JCM800 to the left <bright and aggressive> / Hiwatt to the right <thick and full bodied>
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
https://goo.gl/images/RQBL7b
Of course, Nile Rodgers is always a good place to start as is stuff featuring Ray Parker Jr (yep, of Ghostbusters' fame - he was a very busy session guy back in the day).
Bolton knew his stuff and played and taught funk at pretty high levels so the long tutorials by him on YouTube are worth seeking out.
We do seem to have an almost weekly Discussion asking how to play funk. I don't know if there's just a general revival of interest ( ten years ago you might have been laughed off a guitar forum for mentioning Nile Rodgers but now we all love him) or it's seen as the new minor pentatonic giving 'instant results.'
Not that I'd make any claims for my funk playing although there is an almost instant transition of the basics into other styles like blues and reggae.
Anyway, this has reminded me that I was listening to some James Brown the other day and the guitar work was so minimal and yet so right. In some ways easy but there's a discipline there you don't often see, the art of playing next to nothing is greatly under rated. And a different approach to funk than Nile Rodgers or Leo Nocentelli. Like all genres that have been around a bit there isn't necessarily only one approach.
Another player to listen to is Corey Wong from Vulfpeck but you can ease yourself into rhythm, feel and groove by listening to James Brown stuff and Steve Cropper stuff before getting onto the frantic stuff that Corey's showing here. Oh, and compression helps and you can hear it in abundance here
: )
thanks matey....
interesting that no one has mentioned my rather unusual amp choice for funk...
As well as the Ross Bolton videos, TrueFire have a great course by Oz Noy - Essentials: Funk Rhythm Guitar. He breaks down the technique really well and the tracks are basically versions James Brown, Earth WInd & Fire, Prince tracks etc. You can get a 30 day free trial for access to it.
when most folks talk about funk tone, as you'd expect they'll real off lists of all kinds of clean amps..
the JCM800 couldn't be further from their minds..
in truth though.. the settings I had on it were probably a bit unlikely to work live through the real amp..
I guess that's the beauty of something like the Axe-FX.. it enables you to experiment with 'the stupid' and get surprising results
a real amp though that is awesome for funk that really surprises folk is the Diezel VH4 [channels 1 and 2 are both great]
when I go to the Guitar Show in Brum.. I always go get my Diezel fix.. bang out some funk grooves on the VH4..
Doug always cranks the amp and we end up getting a yellow card by the volume ref.. lmao
Em7 using the Am7 fingering barred up on the 7th fret
Em7 using the Em7 fingering barred up on the 12th fret
you'll tend to want to focus your strumming on the 1st through 4th strings
other useful chords are:
Em9 [x,7, 5, 7, 7, 7]
Gmaj7 [x10, 12, 11, 12, 10] <-- uses the Amaj7 fingering barred at the 10th fret
note: playing Gmaj7 over a bass line in Em will result in Em9