# AI Wiki - Music - Funk Music ## Overview Funk emerged in African-American communities in the mid-1960s, from soul, rhythm and blues, jazz and gospel. James Brown and his bands defined it: "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" (1965), "Cold Sweat" (1967) and "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" (1970). Brown's groove put heavy emphasis on the first beat of each bar, **"the One"**, and he cued the band with "On the one!". Sly and the Family Stone, the Meters, Parliament-Funkadelic (George Clinton), Earth, Wind & Fire, Tower of Power, Stevie Wonder and later Prince extended it. Funk drum breaks (Clyde Stubblefield on "Funky Drummer", 1970) became the raw material of hip-hop sampling. In funk, rhythm matters more than harmony. Songs often sit on one or two chords for minutes while the drums, bass, guitar and keyboards interlock in short, syncopated sixteenth-note parts. Each instrument plays a percussive role. ## Rhythm and Feel - **The One**: the downbeat of the bar is the strongest point; the bass and kick drum usually land on it together, and parts resolve back to it. - **Sixteenth-note subdivision**: everything is felt in 1 e & a, 2 e & a…; parts are placed on syncopated sixteenths. See [[AI Wiki - Music - Rhythm and Time Signatures]]. - **Slight swing on the sixteenths** is common: the long-short [[AI Wiki - Music - Swing and Shuffle Feel|swing feel]] of jazz, applied one level down (to sixteenths instead of eighths). - **Moderate tempos**: often slower than other dance music, which leaves room for syncopated sixteenths. - **Space and ghost notes**: rests and muted notes are as much a part of the groove as the played notes. - **Interlocking parts**: two guitars, bass, keys and horns each take different sixteenths, so the full rhythm only appears when they play together. ## Harmony - **Vamps**: one- or two-chord grooves, for example Am7 to D7 (or D9), repeated for a whole section, with a contrasting bridge. - **Extended chords** borrowed from jazz: dominant 9ths, minor 7ths, minor 9ths and 11ths, 6/9 chords, 13ths and 7♯9. Minor seventh chords are used far more than minor [[AI Wiki - Music - Triads|triads]]. See [[AI Wiki - Music - Seventh Chords]]. - **Modes**: the chords usually imply **Dorian** (a m7 vamp with a major IV chord, Am7 – D7) or **Mixolydian** (a dominant 7/9 vamp), with melodies mixing in the blues scale. See [[AI Wiki - Music - Modes]]. ```chords {title: Two funk vamps} {time: 4/4} {start_of_verse: Dorian vamp in A minor (i7 – IV9)} | [Am7] / / / | [Am7] / / / | [D9] / / / | [D9] / / / | {end_of_verse} {start_of_verse: One-chord Mixolydian vamp on E9, with the half-step slide} | [E9] / / / | [E9] / / [D#9] [E9] | {end_of_verse} {comment: The D#9 is the same shape one fret lower, slid up into E9 on the last sixteenth.} ``` ## Funk Guitar Funk rhythm guitar is played clean (no distortion), mostly on the top three or four strings, with small chord shapes high on the neck. - **Constant sixteenth-note strumming motion**: the hand moves down on the beats and "&"s and up on the "e"s and "a"s, all the time, whether or not it touches the strings. You choose which strokes sound (see [[AI Wiki - Music - Strumming Patterns]] for the basics). - **Chicken scratch / "chank"**: fretting-hand fingers rest on the strings without pressing, so the strum gives a dry, percussive click; pressing down for a sixteenth then releasing gives a short chord. Jimmy Nolen, James Brown's guitarist, developed this approach. - **Single-note riffs** with the same muting, often on the lower strings, doubling or answering the bass. - **Half-step slides** into the chord (D♯9 to E9), and **wah-wah pedal** for vocal-like rhythm parts. Wah, envelope filter and a light compressor are the usual funk effects (see [[AI Wiki - Music - Guitar Effects]]). A basic sixteenth pattern on E9 (`C` = chord sounds and is cut off at once, `x` = muted scratch): ``` Count: 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a Hand: D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U Play: C x x x x x x C x x C x x x x x ``` The hand never stops; only the left-hand pressure changes. Start at a slow tempo with a [[AI Wiki - Music - Metronome and Speed Building|metronome]] on every beat. The core chord shapes: ```chord symbol: E9 frets: x-7-6-7-7-7 fingers: x-2-1-3-3-3 title: E9 (the James Brown chord) --- symbol: E7#9 frets: x-7-6-7-8-x fingers: x-2-1-3-4-x title: E7#9 --- symbol: Am7 frets: 5-7-5-5-5-5 fingers: 1-3-1-1-1-1 title: Am7 (E-shape barre) --- symbol: D9 frets: x-5-4-5-5-5 fingers: x-2-1-3-3-3 title: D9 ``` For the E9 shape, many funk players only sound the top three or four strings (D, G, B, high E), muting the A string with the tip of the second finger. The D9 is the same shape as E9, two frets lower. ## Scales for Funk Lines - **Dorian** over minor seventh vamps (A Dorian over Am7 – D9: the F♯ is the note that makes the D chord major). See [[AI Wiki - Music - Minor Scales]] for the difference with natural minor. - **Mixolydian** over dominant vamps (E Mixolydian over E9). - **Minor pentatonic and blues scale** for riffs and horn lines. See [[AI Wiki - Music - Pentatonic Scale]] and [[AI Wiki - Music - Blues Scale]]. ```fretboard title: A Dorian vs A natural minor (6th is F#) scale: A dorian compare: natural minor shape: E labels: intervals ``` ## Bass, Keys and Horns - **Bass**: syncopated sixteenth lines locked to the kick drum on the One; octave jumps; **slap and pop** (thumb slaps the low strings, fingers [[AI Wiki - Music - Pop Music|pop]] the high ones), associated with Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone; Bootsy Collins and Rocco Prestia (Tower of Power) are other reference players. - **Keyboards**: the **clavinet** (Stevie Wonder, "Superstition", 1972) played like a rhythm guitar, with short, percussive sixteenth-note figures; the Fender Rhodes electric piano for minor 9th chords; Hammond organ stabs; and later synth bass. Piano players should keep the left hand sparse (the bassist covers the low end) and play short right-hand stabs on syncopated sixteenths. See [[AI Wiki - Music - Hand Independence]]. - **Horns**: short unison or harmonised stabs on the offbeats. E9 on piano, with the root in the left hand and the 3rd, 7th, 9th and 5th in the right hand: ```chord instrument: piano --- symbol: E9 pitches: E2 G#3 D4 F#4 B4 title: E9 (LH root, RH 3-7-9-5) --- symbol: Am7 pitches: A2 G3 C4 E4 title: Am7 (LH root, RH 7-3-5) ``` ## Songs and Artists to Study - **James Brown – "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag"** (1965), **"Cold Sweat"** (1967), **"Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine"** (1970): the One, chicken-scratch guitar, horn stabs. - **The Meters – "Cissy Strut"** (1969): New Orleans funk, interlocking guitar and bass. - **Sly and the Family Stone – "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)"** (1969): slap bass (Larry Graham). - **Stevie Wonder – "Superstition"** (1972): clavinet riff, layered keyboard parts. - **Parliament – "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)"** (1975): P-Funk groove. - **Wild Cherry – "Play That Funky Music"** (1976): one-chord guitar riff. - **Chic – "Good Times"** (1979): Nile Rodgers' sixteenth-note rhythm guitar, Bernard Edwards' bass. - **Prince – "Kiss"** (1986): minimal, dry funk guitar. ## How to Practise 1. With the guitar fully muted, strum constant sixteenths (D U D U) to a metronome; count "1 e & a" out loud. 2. Learn E9 and the D♯9-to-E9 slide; let the chord sound only on the One. 3. Add accents on the "a" of 2 and the "&" of 3, as in the pattern above; then make up your own. 4. Play the Am7 – D9 vamp; hear the F♯ (Dorian 6th) inside D9. 5. Improvise single-note lines from A Dorian and A minor pentatonic over the vamp, leaving space. 6. On piano, play the same vamp with the left hand only on the One and short right-hand stabs. ## Key Points - Origin: mid-1960s, James Brown; then Sly Stone, the Meters, P-Funk, Earth, Wind & Fire, Prince. - Feel: emphasis on the One, sixteenth-note syncopation, often slightly swung; space and ghost notes; interlocking parts. - Harmony: one- or two-chord vamps; 9th, m7, m9, 13 and 7♯9 chords; Dorian and Mixolydian, blues-scale melodies. - Guitar: clean tone, constant sixteenth strumming motion, chicken scratch muting, E9 shape, half-step slides, wah. - Bass: slap and pop; keys: clavinet, Rhodes, short stabs. ## Open Questions - **Answered** ([[AI Wiki - Music - Sixteenth-Note Rhythms|Sixteenth-Note Rhythms]]): What are the standard sixteenth-note rhythm patterns from Jimmy Nolen's and Nile Rodgers' parts, transcribed? Both rest on constant sixteenth-note strumming with two- and three-note voicings: Nolen used short muted "chicken scratch" stabs, Rodgers kept chord shapes held on two or three strings with the hand moving like a metronome; the article gives style grids for both, while note-for-note transcriptions remain in published lessons. - **Answered** ([[AI Wiki - Music - Sixteenth-Note Rhythms|Sixteenth-Note Rhythms]]): How much swing do classic funk records actually use on sixteenths (measured ratios)? Ainsworth (2025) measured drum swing from 1.07:1 ("Cold Sweat", "Funky Drummer", about 52%) to 1.8:1 ("Papa Was Too", about 64%), never reaching triplet 2:1; Roger Linn's 54% setting loosens a straight groove without audible swing. - **Answered** ([[AI Wiki - Music - Sixteenth-Note Rhythms|Sixteenth-Note Rhythms]]): Which piano/clavinet exercises best develop sixteenth-note independence between the hands? Left hand on the One with right-hand sixteenths, sixteenths split between the hands like a drummer, question-and-answer phrases with each hand playing alone, a locked clavinet chord shape moved around, and left-hand bass lines practised alone. ## References - Wikipedia, "Funk": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funk - Wikipedia, "Swing (jazz performance style)": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_(jazz_performance_style) - Wikipedia, "Mixolydian mode": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixolydian_mode - Wikipedia, "Blues scale": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues_scale ## Related - [[AI Wiki - Music - Jazz Music]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Blues Music]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Seventh Chords]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Modes]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Minor Scales]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Pentatonic Scale]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Blues Scale]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Rhythm and Time Signatures]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Strumming Patterns]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Hand Independence]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Reggae Music]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Barre Chords]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Common Chord Progressions]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Keys and Key Signatures]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Rhythmic Ear Training]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Guitar Effects]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Electric Guitar]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Guitar Amps and Tone]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Muting Techniques]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Reggae Bass and Drums]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Song Form and Structure]]