Funk and R&B Basslines
In this course we will look at a series of funk grooves. Funk might seem an unlikely style of music to play with a plectrum, but as bassists such as Carol Kaye, Anthony Jackson and Bobby Vega have proved, it’s actually a style that’s extremely well suited to the technique.
Many of the exercises in this chapter are built on a continuous sixteenth note feel. This is a great feel to play, but accurate timing is essential to making the lines groove. Once you have the necessary fingerings and position shifts for each exercise covered, you should ensure that you practice with either a metronome, a drum machine or the backing track. Looping the track in software such as Transcribe! is another great way to practice these grooves.
Don't forget to hit the Download Resources button above to receive the PDF that accompanies these lessons! (available to subscribers only) This course contains the following videos, each of which can be selected from the video player above:
1. Exercise #1
This first exercise is built on a melodic pattern that is commonly used in funk (and other styles of course): the root drops to the third of the chord (F#) then ascends chromatically to the fifth (A), which leads neatly back to the root for the second bar. The second and fourth bars of this exercise are less busy and provide a brief respite from the continuous sixteenth note picking pattern.
2. Exercise #2
This is a busier exercise that builds on the same melodic idea from the previous exercise. You’ll notice that both major (F#) and minor (F) thirds are used in this line, which might seem odd. Although the implied harmony is that of a major chord (a dominant chord in fact), minor thirds sound good as well. You can always use minor thirds over major chords, but you cannot do the reverse, i.e. major thirds over minor chords.
3. Exercise #3
This exercise has a turnaround figure in the fourth bar that is heavily syncopated, requiring a lot of upstrokes.
4. Exercise #4
This exercise features the use of a double stop - a two-note chord. The notes from this chord are C and F#, the seventh and third of the implied D7 chord. These notes are preceded by the B and F a half-step below, which then slide into the chord tones. This particular double stop is very common in funk music.
5. Exercise #5
Here’s another busy groove which features the same double stop.
6. Exercise #6
This exercise is built on a challenging root-octave pattern. Your picking arm will need to be perfectly relaxed in order to pull this off accurately.
7. Exercise #7
The first and third bars of this exercise will have you skipping across the strings using chord tones from the D7 chord (root, fifth, seventh, octave), then descending using the blues scale. The second and fourth bars are turnaround figures similar to those you will have encountered in previous exercises.
8. Exercise #8
This is a very busy groove - every space is filled with ghost notes.
9. Exercise #9
This is a James Brown-inspired funk groove. Although the line is built on an Eb7 chord, you’ll see open D-strings being played as parts of the fills in the second and fourth bars. Although these notes conflict with the chord tones (a seventh of the chord is Db), they work well as they are only heard briefly. This technique of using open strings in this way was popularised by legendary Motown bassist James Jamerson.
10. Exercise #10
This line features an unusual chord movement - up a half-step in the second bar, then back down. It’s also very heavy on ghost notes.
11. Exercise #11
This line was inspired by Anthony Jackson’s legendary picked part on The O’Jays’ ‘For the Love of Money’. This groove is based on a C7 sound and relies heavily on a root-sixth-seventh figure which is common in funk music. Watch out for the big jump from the G-string back to the E-string in the fourth bar.
12. Exercise #12
The minor pentatonic scale is heavily used here.
13. Exercise #13
This groove is built on an F7 sound and relies heavily on chord tones, with ghost notes filling in the gaps in the line.
14. Exercise #14
This is a groove based around a G7 tonality. The blues scale is used for the fill in the second bar, creating a conventional fill for the line. The fill in the fourth bar however uses the half step-whole step diminished scale, which as you will hear, creates a very different sound. Because this scale is symmetrical, the same figure can be repeated at minor third intervals, and this is what happens on each beat of this bar.
15. Exercise #15
Here’s a slightly more conventional funk line.
16. Exercise #16
This longer exercise was influenced by legendary bassists such as James Jamerson, Jaco Pastorius and Rocco Prestia, all of whom are known for their mastery of busy, syncopated funk grooves.
17. Exercise #17
This exercise is played with a swing funk feel. This makes for a great groove but can be tough to execute accurately with a pick. The majority of the line is based around an F7 sound, but there are some unusual harmonic movements in the sixth and seventh bars, culminating in a descending F minor pentatonic run.
18. Exercise #18
This is a slow funk groove that is reminiscent of some of the grooves played by legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius.
19. Exercise #19
This funk groove makes used of the ‘shake’, a decoration that is similar to a trill.
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