So I wanna play funk.

[Bullet-Rule]

I'd like to play some funk and form/join a funk-oriented band.

I'm not that accustomed to funk bass, but I do love some Jamiroquai stuff. Can you guys recommend some more funk bands for me? I know Jamiroquai can be regarded as acid jazz back in the day or pop nowadays but whatever

Also, I'd like some tips on what makes a good funk bass player, and advice about bassline construction: what scales do you guys use, etc.

I don't post on here often enough, so thanks in advance

Carl

[alexclaber]

James Brown
P-Funk
The Meters

Remember, if you fake the funk your nose will grow!

Alex

[Russ]

Firstly, get some old Parliament/Funkadelic, Stevie Wonder, James Brown and Sly & The Family Stone records. Listen loud.

As for what to do bass-wise - take your simplest bassline, then remove half the notes. Then remove a few more. Then put those few (or one) remaining notes per bar you have left in the groove - takes more practice than you might think. Unless you're talking jazz-funk, the chord progressions are usually pretty simple, and you won't have to play much more than pentatonic scales to start with. Have your thumb ready for slap duty, but, considing the stereotype of slap only being for funk bass, you don't hear it all that much on the proper funk classics - it's certainly not ubiquitous. Add envelope filter to taste. Then keep practicing until you're playing with that puckered "oooo" face that's essential - then you know you're feeling the groove.

[Hamster]

Funnily enough I was listening to Graham Central Station as I read this post - so listen to Larry as well!

[risingson]

Get listening to Anthony Jackson (Chaka Khan), Louis Johnson (i.e. 'Off the Wall', Michael Jackson), Randy Hope Taylor (Incognito), Paul Jackson (Herbie Hancock), Rocco Prestia (Tower of Power), Meshell Ndegeocello, Prince's bass playing, Stuart Zender and Paul Turner (Jamiroquai), Freddie Washington (Michael Jackson, Patrice Rushen, Steely Dan), Bernard Edwards (Sister Sledge, Chic). They've all got the technique down... also for a more old-skool funk feel, Bernard Odum, Sweets Sherrell, (James Brown), George Porter Jr. (The Meters), Bobby Watson (Rufus).

People think funk is all about the slapping, but it really isn't, it's more of a feel thing and choice of rhythm. It's definitely not something that can be taught, but if you listen to the players that funk really well then you get a better idea of how to really sit in the funk pocket! In the mean while check this out:

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFcpBB4Yy_M"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFcpBB4Yy_M[/url]

[YouMa]

There really is no magic funk pill,if you are not into mainly funk/soul/jazz music it is unlikely you will become a good funk player. I think out of all the genres of music funk comes only second to jazz bass guitar learning curve wise,and the two of them are related anyway. People say it again and again but it is so true,the bass must be allowed to breathe use space and the drums as a weapon in your funk arsenal to propel you along grooves and remember funk is primarily dance music.

[The Funk]

Everything everyone has said above is right. I'll just add some random musings.

Funk musician metaphors:
1. The fingers in a pair of folded hands
2. A flea bouncing on the rump of an elephant walking through the jungle.

There are lots of technical tips and tricks. There's no point knowing any of them if you can't groove hard. Start with just one note per bar - and play it on the 1 while you're at it.

Listen to Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Parliament-Funkadelic, James Brown, Sly & The Family Stone, The Ohio Players etc.

Stay away from The Meters to start with. Most people aren't ready for that behind-the-beat thing.

You're going to need to get used to playing notes of different lengths and at different volumes. If you don't have that, you don't have the funk.

You're also going to have pick your spot. Don't piss all over the place. Pick the beats which are the funkiest. There's a big accent on the 1 and a smaller pair of accents on the 2 and 4. Those are always there, which means you can choose to emphasise them either by playing on one or more of them or by playing around them.

Learn the song in advance if you can. Don't worry about the drums - you'll be in time. Don't worry about the guitar/keys - you'll be in tune. Just be funky. Get into the groove, feel the music and then pick your spot.

On a technical point, get comfortable with both straight feel and swing-funk feel. Swing-funk feel is very, very, very important. [i]Superstition[/i] by Stevie is the prime example of it.

Last piece of advice, stop listening to Jamiroquai.

Ok, no really, last piece of advice. Don't think about scales too much - every scale can be played funky - but try Dorian. It's usually right.

Edited February 26, 2009 by The Funk

[thisnameistaken]

All good advice above. But I especially agree with YouMa - you won't really convince anybody as a funk player if you're not listening to much of it. Fill up your iPod with the suggestions you've been given and have them in your ears as much as you can.

Listen to hours and hours of good old funk records, then pick up your bass and jam along to some of the one-chord classics. You won't have to worry about hitting any changes because there won't be any, you can just concentrate on the groove and finding a place where you feel locked-in with it.

Ultimately though, funk bands stand or fall on the strength of the drummer, not the bass player. If you don't have a creative drummer who's really feeling it, it won't work.

[Kiwi]

Like many forms of music, funk is mostly about attitude. The more laid back you can play without falling out of 'the pocket' (ie. the timing gap around the beat you can play within and still be considered as playing in time) then the funkier it sounds. However you need a drummer who can pin things down for you and play in the same pocket. Funk is as much about the relationship between bass and drums as it is about just the bass.

Ideally you need to understand the difference btween playing in front and behind the beat and the further behind the drummer you can play, the better. Its not something you can think about because the timing is so minute. Thats why its about feel.

Play like you're stoned.

[thedontcarebear]

Lettuce!

[Kirky]

Like TheFunk says, the most important thing is "the one". I'd say knowing where it is, rather than playing on it, per se.

And listen to James Brown, particularly early stuff, to learn where that is. And don't play much. Funk is all about timing, and not really about notes. Which sounds very ethereal, but its true.

[dlloyd]

[quote name='Bullet-Rule' post='419725' date='Feb 25 2009, 11:39 PM']I'd like to play some funk and form/join a funk-oriented band.

I'm not that accustomed to funk bass, but I do love some Jamiroquai stuff. Can you guys recommend some more funk bands for me? I know Jamiroquai can be regarded as acid jazz back in the day or pop nowadays but whatever

Also, I'd like some tips on what makes a good funk bass player, and advice about bassline construction: what scales do you guys use, etc.[/quote]

Transcribe transcribe transcribe.

Learn other people's basslines and play along with the records, try to figure out how the bass fits round the drums and how the beat is being subdivided.

Take 'He's the Greatest Dancer' by Sister Sledge... listen to how the emphasis is not always on the downbeat, and hits various sixteenth note subdivisions.

[Eight]

You're going to need a beard, a big hat and some glitter.

[51m0n]

Listen to the stuff. All the time. Real funk, uncut funt, the Bomb. Nothing later than 1980 counts if you want to understand real funk IMO. (Meshell is a real exception to this 'rule' IMO)

The one is everything.

I took a decision to really get into the funk in the biggest way I could around 97. I literally listened to the stuff all the time. Allow youself to walk down the street like Travolta whilst listening to PFunk's "P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)". The gait you will walk with is the swing of laid back funk.

The one is everything.

Unless you want to get as technical as Rocco (Tower of Power) then space is your friend. Very few people really do pull off the TOP Rocco 16th note groove in a funky way - thats why hes so good. Stick to Bootsy style one-ness for months, whilst trying to get your fingers so fast they can play those sixteenth note grooves swung super hard and still sound relaxed.

The one is everything.

Dont slap at all until you have dispelled all 80's slapathonic nonsense from your system. Larry Graham Louise Johnson Bootsy. They are righteously funky when they slap. Mark King and even Flea aren't IMO, they may sound cool but they aint funky as a rule (and I am guilty or more so than the next man for copping their stuff).

This thread:-

[url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=314342&highlight=Funk+101"]http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.p...hlight=Funk+101[/url]

Is gold dust.......

Oh, did I say, the one is everything.

Edited February 26, 2009 by 51m0n

[Kiwi]

[quote name='51m0n' post='419970' date='Feb 26 2009, 11:35 AM']Oh, did I say, the one is everything.[/quote]
Funk's moved on a bit since Bootsy and James Brown, thankfully.

[xilddx]

"Funk" originally meant the smell of sex. All sorts of music can be funky. If you are going to "funk" you need to play sexy. Approach it like you are making love to the drummer who should be equally sexy. In terms of playing in a band, funk is much more about what you leave out than what you put in. In the words of many very funky people, the funk is a lifestyle. It's not easy, that's for sure!

Edited February 26, 2009 by silddx

[51m0n]

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='419981' date='Feb 26 2009, 11:45 AM']Funk's moved on a bit since Bootsy and James Brown, thankfully.[/quote]

True its moved on, but thats the beginning of it, and if you want to really get into it thats where you should be starting IMO. I wouldnt have put the thnkfully on the end of that sentence though, that early stuff is raw as hell, nothing like the sacharine smooth 'funk' you hear now. Which is bulls p155 IMO.

Like I said Meshell really gets it, I think a lot of supposedly funky acts these days dont really. I saw one recently supporting Dr John, they really thought they were funky as could be, they had the right gear, all the right poses and posturing but they just did not have a funky groove in the set. Not one. Lot of notes, lot of slapping, lot of chocka-wocka guitar and zero funk.

Dr John came on and the funk was all there, tons of it.

And you right nothing like Bootsy & James either, but damn funky nevertheless.

[xilddx]

Well said mate.

Prince is damn funky too.

[spike]

[quote name='thedontcarebear' post='419804' date='Feb 26 2009, 08:13 AM']Lettuce![/quote]

Excellent band, modern raw funk

Also worth checking out are Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings or pretty much anything on Dap-Tone records.

Has someone mentioned that it's all about the One?

[Kiwi]

[quote name='51m0n' post='419992' date='Feb 26 2009, 12:05 PM']And you right nothing like Bootsy & James either, but damn funky nevertheless.[/quote]

The real innovation that James Brown brought in more or less, grounding funk as an accepted musical style initiated by Little Richard, was transforming every instrument in his band into a rhythm instrument. The rest of it was mostly his attitude, which more or less carried a lot of the arrangements that he created as a band leader. There's a really strong and interesting relationship between funk and black social history too.

In more recent times its fair to say the black consciousness baton has been picked up musically in Hip Hop (NWA, De La Soul etc.).

[bundacious]

I'd make a shout for Betty Davis, her first couple of albums are superb. Larry Graham on bass duties and theres a lot of solid, repeated, simple(ish) bass grooves going on there. A lot of the time with Sly/Graham Central Station I feel he's a bit uber but he cuts it back with Betty.

Also, its some of the filthiest music around. Delicious!

[xilddx]

Did she have an album called Nasty Gal? I remember seeing it in the Album Cover Album at school, and liking that cover rather too much

[51m0n]

[quote name='silddx' post='420034' date='Feb 26 2009, 12:59 PM']Did she have an album called Nasty Gal? I remember seeing it in the Album Cover Album at school, and liking that cover rather too much [/quote]

[url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nasty-Gal-Betty-Davis/dp/B000059Z41"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nasty-Gal-Betty-Davis/dp/B000059Z41[/url]

Dont know what you're taking about mate

Some other crackers (this list ventures into some pretty soul stuff, some gets pretty disco- sue me!) include:-

Slave: Seperated
Jimmy Castor Bunch: A Groove Will Make You Move (funky as f...!)
100% Pure Poison: Windy C
Aaron Neville: Hercules
Brothers Johnson: Get the funk out ma face
24 carat black: Ghetto Misfortunes Wealth, The 24 Carat Black
Charles Wright: Express Yourself (bit more soul this one)
chuck brown & the soul searchers: bustin' loose
Dennis Coffey: Getting It On
Dyke And the Blazers: Let a Woman Be a Woman
Quazar: Funk With A Capital G
Gil Scott-Heron: The Television Will Not Be Televised
Hamilton Bohannon: Lets Star
Ike Turner's Kings Of Rhythm: Funky Mule
Positive Force: We've Got The Funk (Bernard Edwards on bass here I think)

There you go, find em (youtube should help), they are not so often on the tip of people's tongues, I deliberately avoided PFunk, JB, The Meters etc since they've been mentioned ad nauseum...

Damn, nearly forgot:-

Patrice Rushen: Forget Me Nots (for when you want to hear really really classy slapping)

Edited February 26, 2009 by 51m0n

[spike]

[quote name='51m0n' post='420062' date='Feb 26 2009, 01:36 PM'][Gil Scott-Heron: The Television Will Not Be Televised[/quote]

Shouldn't that be The Television Will Not Be Revolutionised?

[alexclaber]

[quote name='spike' post='420100' date='Feb 26 2009, 02:34 PM']Shouldn't that be The Television Will Not Be Revolutionised? [/quote]

Mandate my ass.

I think if you really want to get funk then you need to listen to the lyrics. As you may have noticed I ain't so black but I am totally into the attitude and message that drove the funk revolution - "I don't want nobody to get me nothing", "They call it the White House but that's a temporary condition", "But since John Wayne was no longer available, they settled for Ronald Reagan".

Almost nothing annoys me more than cheesy whiteboy lameass funk covers bands. Where is the dirt, where is the grease, where is the message? This might sound like party music but it is protest music!

"You don't need the bullet when you got the ballot."

Alex

P.S. Dig your inner afro.