Feeling the funk

[HolmeBass]

Yeah, that's something that I had to learn (and am still learning). I remember going to hear a "soul" band at a local venue, a pretty well-established group, but the bassist just didn't get this. BAHM BAHM BAHM from the bass and it wasn't funky at all.


No, it was a guy named Chip Shearin. He was only 17 at the time, and had to keep up that line continuously - they didn't loop it or anything. TC Electronic | Artists | Artist | Chip Shearin.

Very useful update - Chip Shearin helped change music forever!

 

[Derek Kay]

IMO the downbeat on the one is the most important part of the feel.

In the case of Good Times try playing the 3 notes without the lines and fills until it feels absolutely solid Perhaps start with a metronome/click on beats 1 & 3 like the bass drum, and then shift it to beats 2 & 4 like the snare. It changes and refines your feel.

 

[Drop1]

I got it. I was playing part of it too fast. It sounds faster at times than it really is.

It wasn't helping I put brand new hi beams on roght before starting to learn it. Talk about wrong tone lol.

Rolling off some tone and shoving some foam under the strings near the bridge helped a ton to pin everything down.

 

[Dust2Dust]

"Good Times" is the Mount Everest of funk bass lines. It's the feel! I've never gotten it quite right. That 2nd to 3rd measure transition is critical! Bernard was a genius.

Thanks for posting that! Now I don't feel so bad

 

[Groove Doctor]

you can't 'slot in' if you don't know the 'slot' you are aiming for.

 

[mambo4]

Accidentally putting your underwear on inside out and wearing it all day? Funky.

In that case I have definitely been known to get funky.

On Topic, No one has suggested yet:
To internalize the feel in time: put the bass down
Sing the bass line, clap your hands on the snare hits
Don't pick up the bass until you can do it with feel.
Then you ears will know, and you can train your body to follow

I forget who it was said: don't play faster than you can hear

 

[DWBass]

I have read here on TB that it was a very young Doug Wimbish. I can’t verify the authenticity of that claim.

You are having trouble where the line hits the 2nd and then the 4th 16th notes of a beat. Super funky, not easy.

Keep at it, repetition is your friend. But also some metronome work at a much slower tempo might let you work on perfecting hitting those “e” and “a” notes, the offbeats of the offbeats, if you will.

I find War’s “This Funky Music Makes You Feel Good” even more challenging, nailing that 4th sixteenth note of beat 4 every time and keeping the energy up is always a challenge for me.

Other posters have noted that focusing on the snare will help, I agree it’s back in the pocket and it will help you feel the slight swing.

Rapper's Delight was NOT played by Doug Wimbish. It was Chip Shearin. Doug played on most of the rest of the music on the Sugar Hill Records. Chip also played the bassline slightly different than the original.

 

[Drop1]

For anyone struggling with the timing of this song, throwing in ghost notes on the snares is amazing for helping keep time.

That and foam. The foam works wonders. Don't underestimate it if you have a ringy bass with lots of sustain. It's not even about Muting. Foam adds a little natural decay to the notes instead of the notes being full volume for the duration then getting chopped off when muted.

I guess if you are really good, you can damp the strings with your Muting fingers before cutting the notes off. I'm not that good. Not at this speed.

 

[Bob_Ross]

To really nail funk you need to be super-intimately aware of all the 16th-note subdivisions of every single beat

...and then you need to forget them, and just feel the quarter notes

...and then you need to forget those, and just feel the one.

 

[mambo4]

To really nail funk you need to be super-intimately aware of all the 16th-note subdivisions of every single beat

 

[Drop1]

Every time I think i have this nailed, I wake up the next day and its gone. The first half of the main riff is cake. I picked that up within minutes.

The little fill at the end of the second half of the riff I also have down.

It's those notes jumping between the a and d string I keep loosing. I've been at it for days now. I get it and lose it over and over.
I can play it, but it doesn't sound right and I dont feel connected/in control on that part of the line, no matter how slow i play it.

Any tips?

Have any of you marked on which 16th notes the notes actually fall? Everything between the 3 open a''s and the next open e it's just a blur when I play it. It feels forced and uncontrolled.


I've slowed it down to 55 bpm (and many other bpms) and that seems to make it even harder to play lol..

If one of you have it nailed and don't mind posting a sound clip I'd appreciate that. All the online guys seem to each play that section a touch different. I know I won't be able to move on until I habe this in my pocket. Grrr.

 

[mambo4]

as everyone says prioritize the down beat over the fill.
Do whatever it take to nail the next 1
Work backwards from there
Leave a few notes of the difficult fill out until you can loop it with a good feel
Then add them back in to your strong groovy framework

If you pursue a complex groove "forwards" in time ,
You can get caught up in the minutia of the linear sequence of notes
and loose sight of the broader rhythmic sensibility required

 

[Drop1]

as everyone says prioritize the down beat over the fill.
Do whatever it take to nail the next 1
Work backwards from there
Leave a few notes of the difficult fill out until you can loop it with a good feel
Then add them back in to your strong groovy framework

If you pursue a complex groove "forwards" in time ,
You can get caught up in the minutia of the linear sequence of notes
and loose sight of the broader rhythmic sensibility required

I got it. Getting the note expression right I'm that one part took some time. I was playing it a little too "steppy". Too much accent on the wrong notes. I have to hammer on the f sharp and g at the end of rhe phase cause I only use 1 finger to pluck, but I figure it's more important the notes sound off in the right place than how I play them.

I "can" play it with 2 fingers , but I'm still working on keeping my middle finger under control. I still fumble with it from time to time.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

I am STRUGGLING to "feel" some funk songs.

There are the original examples of Funk songs, and there are some easy, simplified derivatives from the original Funk music.
And those simplified Funk derivatives/songs (played by the musicians who, also, needed to learn Funk Music) provide me with information that is much easier to "digest."
The following is a Swedish pop band - Emrik & Wefunky Bandthat - that "channels" the Great "Parliament."
And that simple, "feel-good," pop-funk track it's a good example to start learning funk bass-lines.

(P.S. What's more, the bass player, Bas Berra Holmgren plays the ordinary 4-string bass (and is bald like me. )

The bass-line sounds as a simple one, but under the "microscope," it has a lot of interesting short embellishments.
The song puts me in a good mood Monday morning.



Another easy-listening pop-funk track - LIVE - of the same band.

 

[Ritter667]

View attachment 6973099

On that note, in all seriousness, though sort of an inversion of above quote:

Practice free dancing to funk tunes.

 

[Michedelic]

I can play most anything with a little practice, but I am STRUGGLING to "feel" some funk songs.

Some I can pick up the feel right away, others not so much.

My most current example is "good times".

I picked up the notes quickly enough and I can play it in time, but it doesn't "feel" right.

I dont feel connected to the lines like I usually do with other genres.

Is there any cure for this beyond just playing the tracks until you do feel it?

I feel like a robot going through the motions which is odd since I love the bass line.

Edit. Thinking about it, I think part of it is just tone. The closer my tone to the songs I play, the better they feel. This song in particular my tone is nothing like it. Makes it feel odd.

35 posts, and I can’t believe I’m the first to say this….






James Brown. Everything.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

The bass-line from the following track has solidly channels "Good Times."

Bassist, composer and sound producer Kenichi Ikeda.



I really like the bass player and his recordings.
(It's about distilled and pop-ized Funk Music for Masses.)

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Here is a remixed version of just the Drums, the Bass, and the Guitar from RootSoul's "Let Nothing Change You."
Bassist, composer and sound producer Kenichi Ikeda

It's, what I call, a distilled, simplified, and pop-cultured "re-image" of Funk Music.
But it helps to get that "moving" sense of the rhythm.

(The bass player is trying to play "behind the beat" or, maybe, his bass effects create that illusion.)

 

[pepj]

There are notes and then there are notes.
If you don't feel it, don't try and play it. It doesn’t work.

It's the reason why I avoid reggae like the plague...i have no empathy with it,

Its like slap...nothing worse than just riffing if it lacks the feel, imv.

 

[brianrost]

In order to feel funky, you must be funky. In order to be funky, you must make everything you do funky. Lee Dorsey made that declaration clear to us in 1969.

The bass line to that song is so simple, it’s all in the feel and it’s tough to get it so relaxed.

Here’s a not-so relaxed cover version.