Sly and The Family Stone tabs?

[jamestown94west]

I'm trying to learn a Sly and The Family Stone medley

The songs are Everyday People/Dance to The Music/I want to take you higher/thank you (for lettin be myself again)

if anyone has any tabs or advice they can share, it would be VERY appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[HolmeBass]

I would work on them by ear, none of those songs are terribly involved. Thank You Falettin Me Be Mice Elf is I think the actual title of the last tune. It is in E and is a minor Pentatonic slap riff (actually the bass doesn't even play the 3rd, so maybe it is major?).

 

[obimark]

Everyday People is mostly one note- good ear training as noted.
Dance to the Music mostly one chord as well.
Give it a try to work on your ear.
I want to take you higher is in A for the whole song , with the riff at the beginning.

 

[JimK]

I would work on them by ear, none of those songs are terribly involved.

They are very rhythmically-involved, however.

"Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Agin)" is the actual title of the last tune. It is in E and is a minor Pentatonic slap riff (actually the bass doesn't even play the 3rd, so maybe it is major?).

That major/minor ambiguity is part of the Blues lexicon...which makes it part of R&B/Funk's lexicon.

 

[obimark]

Exactly- I'd love to see the Sly and Family tab book Hal Leonard said was coming a YEAR AGO!! (But since haven't seen jack on there site)
You almost have to feel these lines, because what he does is masterful, plays around with the rhythms in weird ways that just groove.

 

[superheavyfunk]

I would work on them by ear, none of those songs are terribly involved. Thank You Falettin Me Be Mice Elf is I think the actual title of the last tune. It is in E and is a minor Pentatonic slap riff (actually the bass doesn't even play the 3rd, so maybe it is major?).

Its actually "Thank You Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Agin". The riff starts with a 'B' note.

 

[jamestown94west]

I got the bass line for "thank you..." figured out, but I'm still working on "dance...", its all about the feel, which is always more difficult than just learning to play some notes in a certain order.

 

[superheavyfunk]

Yeah, that's the thing about funk. You gotta have the groove down... Its way more important than hitting the exact same notes as the original track.

 

[obimark]

Most good funk players don't always stick to the original notes when they play live anyhow- Graham included. he expands quite a bit on some of these line live, BUT he always has the GROOVE.
WOuld be nice to see a good SLy Bass tab book with 12 of the best ones, but HL doesn't seem to put out many new bass books anymore.

 

[jamestown94west]

I'm really just wanting some tabs that give me a point of reference, so I can learn the songs faster. Also, sometimes bass lines are prominent, and have certain parts that are part of the hook, and will sound off to the listener if played differently. For example, the slap groove on "thank you falletin me be mice elf", if you make up your own bass line, it won't sound right. I usually just tabs as a guideline, and then learn the song by ear without any music in front of me. I did an entire foo fighters tribute show this way and no one seemed to notice that I wasn't playing the songs just like Nate Mendel