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Funk Rhythm Guitar Lesson

1,776 views · Published 21 October 2015 · 8:10 · Indexed 24 October 2026
Channel: New Secret Guitar Teacher · 2015 · Music
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Here is the video transcript:
Following on from the last couple of Sound Bites and sticking with the funk theme for a bit longer, this lesson looks at another aspect of playing funk guitar from the point of view of a rhythm guitarist.

Funk music is typically built up from several layers of repeated rhythmic ideas, each interwoven with the other, but all conforming to an underlying sixteen beat feel.

I have made a multitrack recording of the 12 bar funk tune I showed you the main riff for in the last lesson.

Let's start by listening to the basic drum and bass guitar tracks...and you should be able to pick out the sixteen beat feel by counting like this to it : 1e&a .....etc...

Now one of the things that crops up very often in this style, is a fairly thin chord voicing played high on the fret board, on the top strings of the guitar like this...
 
So my thinking on this is, that I'm playing over an Am7th thinking of the shape I might normally play here at the 5th fret  but taking it right up here to play it an octave higher at fret 17  and really just homing in on the top two or three strings...
 
...so really I'm playing a first inversion Am triad - the notes C E and A  and I'm going to very deliberately place that on the join between the third and fourth main beats on each alternate bar like this 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 ///...

Closer analysis tells you that the sound falls on the & a 4 beats that come after the 3rd main beat. So in slow motion I could count 1e&a 2 e&a 3 e and then play on the &a 4 like this.  

In practice, I simply count 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 ///  notice how I keep my hand moving and mute the guitar if necessary to help me sustain the momentum, and keep right on time 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 /// etc...

Notice I keep playing the same three notes, even though the underlying chord changes. This works okay as the three notes I'm playing  C E and A, still relate to the other underlying chords.
  
For example the Dm7 already has the notes A and C in and adding the note E simply turns it into a Dm9 chord which is a simple substitute for the Dm7

Over the Em7 adding the note A turns it into an Em11, but the C natural gives us a #5 which provides a bit of tension that resolves nicely as the underlying chord changes back to Am7

I've made a few versions of backing tracks for this tune for you, and there should be a link to these below the video screen. For example here is a version with the main riff included, but the high Am inversion left off so that you can practice it remember to keep counting 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 ///  I'll leave this running for you to have a go now.
 
In the next sound bite we'll look at adding another layer of rhythm guitar to this same tune.
Funk Rhythm Guitar Lesson

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