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funk/hiphop bass techniques

S

simmerdown

Feb 25, 2012
161
1
mountainous area, USA
#1
(searched the forum a bunch, and either the search function sucks or this hasn't really been talked about much (which would be shocking)...if there are threads i am missing, sorry! please let me know where/which...thanks)

anything you want to say about FUNK is on-topic here

right hand techniques common to funk?...i think i hear a lot of hammers, slides and such?

chords and chord progressions that sound legit

amps or tonal things you use/do...effects chains and such...

(soap ba)r pickups i can switch to for a more funky sound?

strings...

anything a'tall....
 
#3
How to funk:

1) Get a bass.
2)???
3) FUNK!

It really is that simple.

For a more serious reply, funk and hip-hop really aren't all that technically demanding (not usually anyway) so there isn't a whole bunch to learn as far as technique goes. Just find some funky stuff you dig and start by playing along. The more you're into the music the faster it'll come so don't start with a band you aren't really feeling just because everyone seems to like them.

The cool thing with funk and hip-hop is that they can blend really nicely with other genres so you can find plenty of stuff that's super funky but not strictly funk.

Here's a lil funktry for ya: The Bridge-- Shake em down - YouTube
 
#7
Check out wefunkradio.com. All the funk/ hip hop you can handle, tons of underground stuff and rare cuts, etc. I have been listening to them for about 5 years or so. I have heard sooo many good bass lines when listening to their stream.
 
#9
simmerdown said:
right hand techniques common to funk?...i think i hear a lot of hammers, slides and such?
Click to expand...

Those are left hand techniques, unless you are left handed. There's a type of "vibrato" (not sure of you can call it a vibrato) where you slide up and down ~ a half step to a whole step up and down in both directions. You can hear it a lot on Stevie Wonder's I Wish, Boogie Oogie Oogie by Taste of Honey, and a lot of mid to late 70s funk tunes.


simmerdown said:
chords and chord progressions that sound legit
Click to expand...

Most common funk chord progression is just to groove on a single chord in either Mixolydian or Dorian mode. You can even use both modes interchangeably, and the tonality can switch back and forth between a dominant 7th chord sound, and a minor 7th, based on context.

Other common chord progressions are I - IV, V - I, VI - V - I, and the standard blues progressions.

Chord tones that make a bass line sound funky are the major 6th and minor 7th, which are both found in the Mixolydian and Dorian modes.

Sorry for all the theory in a thread about technique. Funk isn't really about technique.

As for technique that would apply to both funk and hip hop, you want to pick cleanly, preferably with fingers, and make liberal use of left hand muting to keep notes short and punchy. Listen to Jerry Jemmott. He's more known as a blues and soul bassist, but he's been sampled a lot, and he played on Gil Scott Heron's The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, which was a tune that laid one of the cornerstones of hip hop.
 
#17
Hi,
I'm currently working my way through the book "Classic funk and R&B grooves" by Josquin des Pres which is pretty cool. It contains 100 bass licks from Jamerson, Graham, Jemmott, Pastorius, Johnson, and more. My only complaint is that the tracks are only 4 to 8 bar long, ranging from 10 to 25 seconds. It's pretty short to play along with the CD. The best approach is to listen and learn the lines and then play them with a metronome or drum machine.
Cheers,
Dominic
 

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