Funk Guitar 101

No style lives in a vacuum by itself. A funky feel can exist in rock, country, jazz, blues etc. So even though this lesson is called Funk 101, these ideas can be applied to a lot of different styles.

The rhythmic basis for funk is the 16th note. It takes four 16th notes to equal one beat in 4/4 time.

The first thing that you want to be able to do is to play a straight 16th note rhythm keeping a steady beat. At first don't even worry about playing a chord, just mute the strings with you left hand and just get a clicking sound. In fact, a funk guitar part could consist of only this clicking sound, making the guitar more of a percussion instrument. This is often used in combination with the wah wah pedal. Be sure that you tap your foot on the 1st of every group of four 16th notes, this is the beat. It will be extremely helpful to practice along with a metronome or a drum beat.

Funk is all about rhythm. There are usually not a lot of chord changes, so the interest in a funk tune is the rhythmic groove.

Page 2, Funky Chords