Early Funk

Jam with TG’s live recorded backing track inspired by early funk greats James Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic

Funk came to prominence in the mid-60s, growing out of the R&B styles of earlier acts like The Famous Flames – famously led by a fiery young James Brown. Notable guitarists of the era include Brown’s longtime six-stringer Jimmy Nolen, Leo Nocentelli of The Meters, Phelps ‘Catfish’ Collins of the P-Funk Collective and Jimi Hendrix, who played on Nashville’s Chitlin’ soul circuit, later forming funk-rock act Band Of Gypsys before his untimely death. Our funk track loosely follows a ‘one-four-five’ chord progression in D, so the main sequence is essentially D-G-A. And, though standard major chords are commonly used, we’ve opted for some particularly funky 9th chords, which means you’ll be playing D9-G9-A9 for most of the time. The rest of the chords only occur briefly so keep your solo ideas focussed around these three vital chords. Try using distortion and wah for a Hendrix vibe during more aggressive soloing, but back off the gain for lighter moments and use a clean tone for rhythm parts.