Funkometer

SONG TITLE: FUNKOMETER

GENRE: FUNK

Eb
q = 77 Funk
F#7
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TEMPO: 77 BPM
F7 E7

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KEY: C MAJOR A

TECH FEATURES: DOMINANT SEVENTH CHORDS

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F
SLIDING DOUBLE-STOPS
SYNCOPATION

COMPOSER: KIT MORGAN 5

T 7
9
6
8 7
A 8 7
8
6
7
PERSONNEL: KIT MORGAN (GTR) B 9
HENRY THOMAS (BASS)
NOAM LEDERMAN (DRUMS)
ROSS STANLEY (KEYS)
FERGUS GERRAND (PERC)

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RSL-971686016557 / 1 / Mauricio Delgado / [email protected]

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C
OVERVIEW Throughout the late 1960s, Brown’s guitarists
Jimmy Nolen and Alphonso Kellum pioneered many

.
‘Funkometer’ is a funk track in the style of James funk techniques including the 16th note strumming
Brown, The Meters and Sly & The Family Stone. pattern (first heard on the proto-funk single ‘Papa’s
It features double-stops, 16th note rhythms and Got A Brand New Bag’, where it was used more for
syncopation among its techniques. effect rather than as an integral part
1/4 of the groove).

T The release of ‘Cold Sweat’ inspired a generation of
8
8
7
STYLE FOCUS
A young musicians. The Meters
10 8 infused funk 10
with the 8
bold musical flavours of their native New Orleans,10
10

There is a great deal of syncopation in funk, which B while Sly

8 & The Family Stone merged the distinctive
means you’re not always playing on the beat and that James
[3]
Brown groove with rock guitar.
some rhythms will have a strong emphasis on the off-

%
beat 16th notes. Chords are usually condensed down Funk in the 1970s was dominated by George

~~~~~~~~~~
to their key components, most often the major third Clinton’s P-Funk (some of whose members came from

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and flattened seventh. These can be played as sliding James Brown’s backing band), while the legacy of

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double-stops, which are easier to handle than full funk continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s with C7
chord shapes. Maintaining a tight rhythm and playing F 9like Tom Tom Club, Fishbone and Red Hot
bands

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cleanly are essential to good funk playing. Chili Peppers putting their own spin on ‘the one’.

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~~ ~~ ~~R&B~~to~~
THE BIGGER PICTURE RECOMMENDED LISTENING

Funk musicians often talk about playing ‘on the To hear how Brown’s music morphed from
one’. This means the drummer emphasises the first 10 8
funk, listen to the compilation Star Time (1991). The
beat of each bar as opposed to R&B and soul where TMeters’ self-titled debut (1969)[10
is ]full8of funk guitar,
Guitar Grade 4

8 10
the second and fourth beats are stressed. The first
song to feature this emphasis was James Brown’s 1967
Aas is Sly & The Family Stone’s Greatest Hits (1970).
Finally, the RHCP album BloodSugarSexMagik (1991)
single ‘Cold Sweat’. Bshows how funk developed in the 1990s.
[6]

21
 Funkometer
Kit Morgan
q = 77 Funk
F#7 Eb7 Db7
j
F7 E7 D7

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B 9 8 7 6 5 4

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1/4 ~~~~~~~~~
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[3]

RSL-971686016557 / 1 / Mauricio Delgado / [email protected]

~~~~~~~~~~
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22
© Copyright 2012 Rock School Ltd. This music is copyright. Photocopying is illegal.
 Œ n œœ .. œ jœ œ
E m7 A7 E m7

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RSL-971686016557 / 1 / Mauricio Delgado / [email protected]

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[21]

C Guitar Solo (8 bars) D.%. al Coda fi

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[25]

fi Coda
F#7 Eb7 Db7
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F7 E7 D7 C7

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Guitar Grade 4

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A 10 10 9 8 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
B 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

[29]
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© Copyright 2012 Rock School Ltd. This music is copyright. Photocopying is illegal.
 Walkthrough

Amp Settings Bars 15–16 | Embellishment fingerings

Aim for a bright, clean tone. This style of funk often featured Fret the E m7 chord as you would normally and play the
what might be considered relatively ‘thin tones’, so turn the first two beats as notated. Remove your third finger from
bass down if you feel that the sound is too muddy. Be careful the D string and use it to perform the grace note hammer-
with the gain level, because even clean amp channels will on in beat three. You should also use your third finger to
distort if they are pushed too hard. perform the hammer-on on the D string in beat four. Your
first and second fingers should not move throughout the
Clean bar. This will allow as many notes as possible to continue to
Channel Equalisation Reverb ring throughout the bar, which is a key part of the phrase’s
5 5 5 5 5
effectiveness here.
4 6 4 6 4 6 4 6 4 6
3 7 3 7 3 7 3 7 3 7
2 8 2 8 2 8 2 8 2 8
1
0 10
9 1
0 10
9 1
0 10
9 1
0 10
9 1
0 10
9
C Section (25–30)
GAIN BASS MIDDLE TREBLE DRY – WET This section is the guitar solo played over a two-chord vamp.
The rest of the section consists of a reprise of part of the A
section before it jumps to the Coda to bring the song to a
A Section (Bars 1–14) satisfying close.
The A section starts with syncopated dominant 7 chords
followed by a funky riff that combines single notes and Bars 25–28 | Guitar solo
double-stops. A range of expressive techniques are used The chord progression moves between the I and IV chords,
including various bends and slides. both of which are dominant 7 chords. The C blues scale is
a very popular choice over this progression, as is the minor
Bars 1–2 | Ghost strumming pentatonic. The minor 3rd (E b) of these scales creates a
pleasing discordance over the C 7 chord’s major 3rd, E.

RSL-971686016557 / 1 / Mauricio Delgado / [email protected]

There are several ways to strum the opening chords, but
keeping your hand in a constant strumming motion between
chord hits may help to make the part more fluent. When you
don’t want to strike the strings, move your pick away a small
amount – these are called ghost strums. Fig. 1 illustrates how
F#7 Eb7 Db7
≥ ≤ ≥ ≤≥≤≥≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥≤ ≥≤
the constant strumming motion corresponds to the rhythm F7 E7 D7

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of the intro where the ghost notes are also identified.

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Bar 3 | Quarter-tone bend
A quarter-tone bend is usually quick. Avoid wasting time
& 4 # # œœ .. n n œœ ‰ # n œœ œ bœ. . # n œœ .. nb b œœœ
trying to make your bends precisely a quarter tone. Use
your instincts to guide you because quarter tone bends rely
T 7 6 5 4 3 2
heavily on feel to obtain the right sound. A 9 8 7 6 5 4
8 7 6 5 4 3
B 9 8 7 6 5 4

Bar 4 | Sliding double-stops

The most challenging part of these double-stops is keeping Fig. 1: Ghost strumming
the notes ringing after you have played them. Focus as much
on maintaining pressure into the fretboard as you do moving
from fret to fret.

Bars 3–14 | Staccato phrasing

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Many notes are marked as staccato (short and detached)
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here. Observing these markings is key to playing this section
with correct phrasing (Fig. 2). To achieve this sound, release
the pressure on the strings as you play the note. Don’t take 1/4
your fingers all the way off; just stop pressing down. T 8
A
Guitar Grade 4

10 8 10 8 10
B 8
10

B Section (Bars 15–24)

The B section is based primarily on chords, some of which Fig. 2: Staccato phrasing
are embellished with hammer-ons.

24