I wanna play the funky music

[ineedspeed1]

hi im relativily new at playing and i cant quite get a really funk sound like a bootsy collins thing im just wondering if anyone has any tips

[Pbassred]

Well booty used a auto wah effect a lot, but not always. If you listen to a lot of funk you will hear a lot of different sounds:- Low down, middle growl, trebbly pop and slap. so there in no one sound except what your fingers make.

Start by learning old James Brown songs.

[Dirk Diggler]

Practice, Listen, repeat. You mention you're relatively new at playing, you don't think Bootsy was new when he was playing do you?
Good luck,
Dirk

[ineedspeed1]

thanks man

[Ubersheist]

Look at some Meshell N'deggiocello. She plays a whole lot of relatively easy bass lines, but she throws in some super creative stops and lines. The classic is "If That's Your Boyfriend" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8so3qdNlICE (Bass great Yossi Fine actually takes over after the intro on this clip.)

Don't worry about the technique during the slapping part, get the notes. All of them, and be wary of the timing. The little clicks on the upbeats. Getting all the notes and the timing is WAY more important in being funky then slapping. Many, many funky bass lines aren't slapped.

Finally, don't over play. If you watch any of the great funk players, they really don't hit the strings very hard, and they leave alot of space between the notes. Funk does not mean a crazy, agressive bass line, it's actually the opposite.

Here's a good tutorial from Ms. N'deggiocello: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srCZE...eature=related

I like her line at 1:16 about "stripping away things" making the music groove harder.

[Phalex]

You gotta get the people dancin and singin and movin to the groovin. Just when it hits you someone is bound to turn around and shout: Play that funky music..........

[groooooove]

how do you learn to speak a languedge? by hearing it.

funk is a languedge. a rather nasty one at that.. listen to funk and you'll become funkier.

a good place to start is definately james brown. other good funk listening would be the meters, and all incarnations of p-funk.

IMO the downright nastiest funk band that ever was, is definately Dumpstaphunk. two bass players, both of them are excellent.

[Ripper]

you need the funk... bootsy had it and he could see around corners.

[xgator4u]

Originally Posted by Phalex

You gotta get the people dancin and singin and movin to the groovin. Just when it hits you someone is bound to turn around and shout: Play that funky music..........

LMAO ; Phalex, you beat me to the punch...

[CamMcIntyre]

I agree with the sentiment that you need to hear it before you can play it.

Listen to as much as you can get your hands on. Transcribe the stuff that strikes you the most. I've done this with jazz, rock, metal, etc.

Before a given gig, I'll listen to more of that style of music to get it back into my head.

[MNAirHead]

advice..

Get a simple drum track on an mp3 palyer.. simple beats.. in moderate tempo.....

Get some type of groove bob "rooster" with your head going.

Listen to just the drum beat over and over and over until everyone thinks your nuts with the pulse.

If you're physically not feeling the beat it's not time to pick up the bass.

Second advice is to AVOID the temptatation to hold of doing any grooves in the Key of E -- you'll fall in the trap most folks do not being able to groove in CSharp, A Flat etc.

[dave-chaulk]

Originally Posted by Ripper

you need the funk... bootsy had it and he could see around corners.

+ 10 for Old Greg/might boosh