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Jeff's Lesson Notes

"Funky CHUNKY"


 

Main Lesson

This is the first lesson on funk style guitar.  I plan a few more on the site, and a CD/DVD at some point.  For now we'll begin with this simple example.  This is actually a very basic funk piece, using some non-traditional chords. 

The techniques are what they are.  Everyone plays this type of stuff differently.  This is because it's a feel issue.  You have to feel the groove and go with it. 

That being said, we're going to focus on the techniques involved with performing a piece like the example track, and also the chords and scales I used. 

Let's examine what's going on here with this piece.  Be sure to download the video lesson too.

Primary scale in play

F# Dorian:  F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#, E - (minor scale with Major 6th)

E_______________________________2____________
B_________________________2_4_5______________
G__________________1_2_4_____________________
D______________2_4___________________________
A________2_4_6_______________________________
E__2_4_5_____________________________________

Secondary scale in play

F# 10 tone minor scale:  F#, G#, A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E

The Primary and secondary scales are blended to give us the notes that we have to work with when soloing, or making chords.  The Primary scale or Dorian mode, is really the feel this piece has.  The other notes that make up the secondary or 10 tone scale are there as fillers.  I talk a lot about writing down scales and notes, so you know what you're working with.  Making little charts for yourself is a great idea. 

E__________________________________________2_____
B________________________________1_2_3_4_5_______
G________________________1_2_3_4_________________
D________________0_1_2_4_________________________
A________1_2_3_4_________________________________
E__2_4_5_________________________________________

Main chord shapes in play

This style of music slides around chords quite a bit.  But it also uses some crazy sounding chords too.  13ths, minor 13ths, 11ths and several forms of 9th and 7ths are used quite often in this style. 

The shapes and types I used are laid out below for you.  I only used 3 MAIN chord shapes on this track, but they're good ones to know for Funk.  These chords are also broken up into double stops (two note sections) and used for riffing.  Seemingly endless riffs and double stops can come from these 3 really cool chord shapes.

These will appear in the transcription of the example track further down this page, however I'm singling the main shapes out here for a lesson on how to use them, and get your fingers in position on the fret board.

    F#m13       F#m13 again or as I'm using it it's an E Maj7 sus4/F#            F#m11/B       Bm add11

E__2________5_________________________________7_______7__
B__4________4_________________________________7_______7__
G__2________2_________________________________9_______7__
D__2________2_________________________________7_______9__
A__x________x_________________________________7_______7__
E__2________2_________________________________7_______7__

Just a note on the minor 13th chord.  The minor 13th chord is made up of the pitches, F#, A, D#, and E.  The D# is the Major 6th, the A is the minor 3rd and the E is the minor 7th of the F#.  If we made the D# a "D" it would be the minor 6th instead of the Major 6th.  This would change the name of the chord from F#m13 to F#m b13 which would contain the pitches, F#, A, D, and E. 

A couple of the main double stops and riffing sections are below.

       B7 sus4                                                  E Maj7 sus4

E___7_______8-7____5--7_7_____5-4_________________
B___7_______7__________5_____4___________________
G___7-9______________________ 2___________________
D___7________________________2___________________
A___7____________________________________________
E___7____________________________________________

Odd ball example chords from the video lesson

E6 sus4 +5        E6 sus4 +5/C#               C11 b9/E

E__5_________5____________6_______________________
B__5_________5____________6_______________________
G__5_________5____________5_______________________
D__2_________2____________2_______________________
A__4_________4____________4_______________________
E__0______________________0_______________________

A complete transcription of the lesson example track is below.  I will use this as the primary technique lesson on the video.  It's important to see these styles in play, but it's also important to understand that you..."yes you"!! can create Funk tracks of you own all day long, if you have an understanding of the groove and the techniques involved with making it all flow.. 

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