Learning the FUNK

Get ready to learn the reason behind Sly Stone, George Clinton, Bootsy,
James Brown and now U.  You will have the same tools used to make
FUNK as the elders of FUNK.  Now you need a bit of pain in your life and
that will help you use the FUNK to get the pain out.  FUNK can not only
move it can remove.

Like Base ball, you have a pitcher and catcher.  These two are the battery of the game. What happens between the Pitcher and the catcher affect the entire game. Therefore if there is a problem with the battery the toy, the game, what every you need batteries for will show problems.  

     In the case of FUNK it's all based around the Bass and the Kick drum of the the drum kit.  Kick and the bass run the show so they need to be tight.  In this lecture you will see the reason that the bass and drums need be tight in order to get people to vibe off of the song.

This lecture is a review of the basics that were taught in the first course.  We focus on the first beat of each bar making that our emphasis when creating a funk groove.

This lecture uses the popular Clavinet to show reiterate how to be funky with the first degree of the bar or "The One".

The "Core" concept, as I call it, is going to let you create your style of Funk.  Be your self when you start filling in your grooves.

Can't say it enough. To funky just follow the rule of "The Core" and get your core to work with your drums. This is called locking in.  You want he drums and the Bass to sound like one instrument.

After you've gotten a handle on the first degree of the scale you're now going to be introduced to the other degrees of the scale that make music popular music along with FUNK.  This next degree is the 4th degree of the scale and it is very popular even in todays music.

The 5th degree of the scale is hugely popular in Funk and in pop if you listen closely to songs like Micheal Jacksons Bad or James browns Make it Funky.  Also Blues uses the 5 chord tremendously.

Some groove can go on forever.  However, we never want to bore the listener so what is done to keep the listener engaged what is called a Turn around.  The Turn around basically resets the groove so it feel like you've just start listening to it.  THe turn around is a good way to get to the 2nd verse of a pop song or even a rap track. listen for turn arounds in your favorite tunes.

The one chord is the solid part of a groove. However, sometimes you need to go to another part of the song and use different chords.  The 2-5-1 progression lets you do that.

While Jamming on the one you'll need some tools to keep your grooves interesting.  I like to add the pitch bend in places so I can keep the listener engaged in the groove.

Sometimes we don't always have a keyboard handy so here are something you can do at the job or waiting in line at the DMV to keep your finger nimble.

This lick will get you started on creating licks of your own to use in FUNK.  Remind your self of what the major scale is and practice it in all 12 keys.  In the resources you will see the C major scale and the C Minor scale.  Remember what the differences are?  The minor scale is based off of the major scale except we flat the 3rd 6th & 7th degree of the scale to get minor.  Now when we play a c minor scale it actually borrows from another Major scale.  That scale is called the Eb major scale. Why?  Well the 3rd note in the C minor scale is Eb and that major scale is actually the rest of the C minor scale.  It may sound confusing but it's all based on intervals which I will explain.  Study the notes on the keyboard and see if you can see the relation. 

When a minor scale runs into a major scale it's a called "The relative Major".  Therefore Eb major is the relative major of C minor.  It's a lot to remember but try.  

NOTE: Remember when writing Funk or any type of music use your heart and not the math.

All chords are built by using what's called intervals.  A interval is the distance from one note to the next. For example, you know where middle C is right?  You also know where G is right? The distance from C to G is called a interval of a perfect 5th.  In this lecture you'll know how this works.  This is the foundation of building chords. :)