Category : guitar

Funk 2

In the last post I talked about using a combination of scratch rhythm and chords to create accented rhythmic grooves. But I only looked at accenting the first 16^th and the third 16^th notes of a four note group.

 

A reminder of those two:

 

You may be wondering about accenting the second 16^th note and the fourth 16^th note. Perhaps you’ve been playing around with them. If not, here they are.

 

The procedure here is pretty much the same as what we did with the first and third 16ths. It’s just harder.

 

Body rhythms

It’s harder because of the way we use our body when we play. Most of us tap our foot on the beat. This makes it necessary to lift our foot on the offbeat.

 

Here’s what I mean:

So we have a clear movement for the downbeat (the number) and the offbeat (the “and”). But there’s no foot movement that corresponds to 16^th notes. They’re somewhere between your foot going down and coming up.

 

Some people tap their foot on every 16^th. Understandable, but this destroys the sense of the beat. Developing a good sense of rhythm means accenting the downbeat while feeling different rhythms in different parts of the body. Drummers do this every time they play.

 

So our foot “feels” the 8^th notes simply by moving up and down. Our strumming hand “feels” the 16^th notes. In doing so, it goes twice as fast as the foot. This requires body independence that can take a bit of work to attain. Be patient if this is difficult.

 

The new rhythms

As always, play the 16^th notes slowly and count “1 ee and uh, 2 ee and uh, 3 ee and uh, 4 ee and uh”. Just use scratching to start. Keep counting. Now play a chord when you say “ee”. Loop that rhythm until you’re comfortable with it. You should still be playing slowly.

Now speed it up, but not too much. Funk generally falls somewhere between 75 and 90 beats per minute (bpm).

 

Which reminds me…

 

The metronome

Get a metronome if you haven’t got one already. I use this one.

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/metronome-9th/id448155296?mt=8

 

Set it at a tempo slow enough to make the 16^th notes easy to play. When you’re comfortable at that speed gradually increase the tempo. So if you start at 60 bpm, increase the tempo to 65, then 70, etc.

 

Here’s a good article on issues to consider when using a metronome.

http://tomhess.net/PracticingGuitarWithAMetronome.aspx

 

Switch to the other new rhythm. Same procedure as the other one, but play the chord when you say “uh”.

 

Mixing it up

Now create some loops using all four rhythms.

Here’s one. This is an exercise designed to challenge your concentration. No hook or riff is going to change this rapidly.

 

As always, take it slow. Then speed it up.

Create a few of your own by making one of the rhythms the main focus. Then improvise by inserting the other ones wherever it feels right to do so.

Or you can structure this work more by deciding to play one of the rhythms three times in each bar. Then fill in the fourth beat with one of the other three rhythms.

 

16th notes and funk

Back to sixteenths…

A discussion of 16^th notes needs to include funk. Develop your ability to play funk, and you develop feel and groove. This is important for overall development of rhythmic abilities.

 

Funk basics

First step: play nothing but four 16ths to the beat.

 

The ‘x’ noteheads mean that you need to mute the strings while you strum them. This is called scratching.

To get the right feel, do the following:

 

• lay your left hand fingers lightly on the strings
• keep your right arm and wrist loose as you strum
• go through the strings quickly as you strum whether the tempo is slow or fast. Try to make it sound like a percussion instrument

 

Tap your foot on each beat, and count “1 ee and uh, 2 ee and uh, 3 ee and uh, 4 ee and uh.” Be patient. This can feel weird if you’re not used to doing it.

 

Placing accents

 Once you’re comfortable playing the scratch rhythm above, move on to the second step: placing accents on different parts of the beat.

Placing accents on different parts of the beat is really important for funk. It’s also important for developing a strong overall rhythmic feel.

Here are a couple of examples.

1. Accent on the first sixteenth note.

 

2. Accent on the third sixteenth note.

 

Slashes

The slash indicates a chord.  Use scratches for the rest of the 16ths. Pretend your strumming arm is a machine and keep the 16ths even.

This works best if it’s a chord that covers all the strings that you’re playing. Open string chords generally don’t work, since some of the strings will ring when you release the chord.

This one works. A lot do, but this is a classic funk chord. It’s the E7#9 chord.

 

As you’re strumming, release it just enough to keep your fingers lightly on the strings for the scratches.

Try to play just the strings that have your fingers on them. This chord is very forgiving since both the low E and high E strings are part of the chord. It won’t sound that bad if you hit them.

 

Combining rhythms

Mix the two rhythms I provided above, and create some four-beat loops. For instance:

 

 

Come up with as many as you can.

Paradiddles on the guitar

Let’s transfer this paradiddle idea to the guitar.

 

Choose two notes from any scale. One note will represent the left hand from the paradiddle in the last post. The other will represent the right hand.

Here’s the “para” using an E and a G.

 

 

And here’s the diddle.

 

 

The entire paradiddle looks like this.

 

 

Making it random

Try taking each two-note unit of the paradiddle and mix them randomly.

 

 

 

Of course, you can stretch it out and use more than two notes. If you do, then you’ll need to maintain one of the two pitches that you start with. If you don’t, you’ll lose the paradiddle idea.

 

Paradiddles

I love paradiddles.

 

A paradiddle is a drum rudiment that drummers use to work on coordination, among other things. I’m introducing these as a way for you to experience rhythm in your entire body, instead of just your arms. This will seriously improve your sense of rhythm.

 

We’ll play these by tapping our hands on our thighs. Unless you’ve got a drum kit…

 

Bear with me. We’ll transfer this to the guitar in the next post, but this is one of those ideas that benefits from a bit of work away from the guitar. Most rhythm work is that way.

 

The upper body

The “para” part of paradiddle means alternate hand-tapping starting with either the right hand or the left hand. If all you did was the “para” part you would just tap your thighs starting with either left hand or right hand, and alternate them. Here it is starting with the right hand (R = right hand; L = left hand).

 

 

The “diddle” part means playing twice in a row with either just the left hand or just the right hand.

 

 

A paradiddle starting with a right hand/left hand alternation is followed by right hand/right hand. We’ll abbreviate this to RLRR.

 

Follow that with LRLL You get this pattern: RLRR LRLL. Practice this until you’re comfortable with it. Be patient. It might be frustrating at first. But once you get it, you’ll love it.

The whole body

Once you’re comfortable with this, alternate foot taps while you do it. In other words, tap left foot, right foot. Continue alternating feet while you tap RLRRLRLL on your thighs.

 

Do this really slowly at first. Do it to the point of frustration and stop. This is not giving up. This is slowly introducing a really complex movement into the body.

 

Do it again the next day and it will be a bit better. Ignore the voices in your head telling you that you can’t do this. Continue this for a week, and your body will see it as familiar instead of strange. Then it starts to be fun.

 

The point of this is to use the whole body to experience rhythm. This translates to better rhythmic control on the guitar. The work is worth it. Really.

DADGAD: Three-string open chords

By now you’ll have noticed that not everything you’ve made sounds good. That’s normal. Don’t let it slow you down. Just document the stuff you like.

 

Note on the D string

Let’s add one more string that we can use to add to our collection of possible chords using the dorian scale as a resource.

 

The notes for D dorian on the D string, starting on the 5^th fret are:

 

• Fret 5
• Fret 7
• Fret 9
• Fret 10
• Fret 12
• Fret 14
• Fret 15

 

All of the ideas from the last two posts apply.  Having three strings to deal with just makes it more complex.

 

Possibilities

• You can make chords using only one fret on either the B (tuned to A), G, or D strings. Then you can move from string to string, playing a single fret on each string while strumming.

 

• With five open strings ringing in each chord, it might get a bit monotonous. Even so, it might provide a nice effect. Figure out how you can use it to create a contrasting section in a song you’re working on.

 

• Or strum only 3, 4, or 5 strings while fretting one note

 

• You can anchor one finger and move the other two. Or anchor two fingers and move one.

 

• You can move all three fingers together to create a progression of triads.

 

• You can choose a note on the D string and one on the B string. Leave the G string open.

 

• You can go from a chord where you’re fretting one note, to one where you’re fretting two notes. Follow that with a chord where you’re fretting three notes. Or go from a two-note chord to a three-note chord to a one-note chord.

 

The scale

And you have a three string scale.

 

 

Like the 2-string scale you can make short riffs that complement the chord progressions you’re making.

 

You now have resources to keep you busy for a long time.

DADGAD: Two-string open chords

Adding a second string allows you to make more interesting chords.

 

You know the notes in D dorian on the B string from the last post. Here they are on the G string, starting at the 4^th fret:

 

• Fret 4
• Fret 5
• Fret 7
• Fret 9
• Fret 10
• Fret 12
• Fret 14
• Fret 16

 

Play around with these like you did in the last post (playing the frets in sequence, making chords, etc).

Now play from the G string to the B string. One way to do this is to play the 4th, 5th, and 7th frets on the G string in sequence. Follow this with the 5th, 7th, and 8th frets on the B string (It’s basically a two-string scale). There are a ton of ways to do this…

 

Two strings together

Strum all six strings while fretting notes on the G string and the B string together. There are a few basic ways to do this.

 

1. Anchor a finger on one string and move a finger around on the other string. For example, place your index finger on the G string at the 4^th fret. Now move between the 5^th , 7^th , and 8^th frets with your middle finger (5^th fret) and pinky (7^th and 8^th frets).

 

2. Use the same idea, but anchor a finger on the B string and move fingers on the G string.

 

3. Move two fingers together. For example, play the 7^th fret on the G string and the 5^th fret on the B string. Now move your fingers to the 10^th fret on the G string and the 8^th fret on the B string.

 

There are lots of combinations here. Do some exploring.