Chords for Funk Guitar Lesson #1 Chord Inversions - Oscar Jordan

[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [C#m] _ _ _ _ _
Hello, my name is [A] Funk Master General Osher Jordan and welcome to _ [C#] Explorations in Funk.
We'll [C#m] investigate the underrepresented style of funk guitar, take a [F#m] look at the many elements
that make up [Bm] this style.
[F#m] Strap in and hold [C#m] on tight as we [B] delve deep into the [A] world of the earthy and the funk type.
_ [D] [A] Funk guitar is more than just strumming 9th chord, [Bm] it's about strong songs, [A]
great arranging,
and you either know the songs or you [D#] don't.
[A] I'll break down some of the coolest songs and shows _ _ used by Al McKay, Ray Parker Jr.,
Al Rogers, Chris, Ernie Isley, and a whole lot more.
I'll show you chord voicings, [D] octave lines, [A] dyads, muting, and even single note stank.
[D] You ready for it?
[A] _ I'm ready.
_ Get ready.
[D] Here we go.
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] You know, people come up [G#] to me on the street all the time and they will say, Oscar, _ [Cm] you're
a handsome black man, [N] but how do you play so funky?
All those funky chords you use, how do you do it?
Well, I'll tell you how I do it.
I use inversions.
_ _ Inversions are [D#m] chords, [G] just like you use all the time, except we just switch the order
of the notes [N] in the chord.
We just swap them around and then we get inversions.
They're inverted.
I'm going to show you some dominant 7th inversions.
I'm going to show you what is called the first inversion and second inversion, and I'm going
to show you how you can use them to sound cool and not be redundant because sometimes
redundancy happens and you don't want to do it.
Let me show you.
_ _ Let's say you're playing, say, a 1-4-5 in A, which is kind of like a blues pattern,
and maybe you're on stage with another guitar player and he's doing your garden variety
7th chord, A7, [A] like this.
_ _ You've seen that, right?
Well, he's doing that.
[B] He might be doing [A] a_ _
_ _ _ [C#m] _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ [C#m] _ [F#m] Whatever he's going to do, he's [A] doing something _ [F#m] based on that.
Well, [N] you don't have to do that.
You can do something else because you can and you have a brain and you want to be funky like me.
What you want to do is use an inversion.
Now, _ these things have been around forever.
_ _ _ Basically, just go to your D string on the [A] 7th fret. _ _ _
That's your [D] A.
That's an A note.
[B] _ _ _
Then take your [N] ring finger and put it on the G string [B] 9th fret, so you [A] have this. _
_ _ Then take [C] the middle finger, [Em] _ _ _ put that on the [A]
8th fret B string.
_ _ Then [N] the last finger, which is your pinky, will go on the 9th fret of the high E [A] string.
_ So what you get is this.
_ _ _ [G#] _ [A] _ _ _
That's a first inversion.
A7 first inversion.
Now, you probably recognize this because you've been around the world, you've seen lots of
things and you've heard things like _ _ Hendrix, _ _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ [G#] right?
[Em] Well, Hendrix uses that all the time.
[A] This kind of thing, you take off the bass note [D] and just use [A] this. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
[C] You've heard that in R&B [D] [A] stacks.
They use that. _
[G#] From [A] _ _ _ [C#] _ _ _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
[N] the beginning of time, they've been using this stuff and you can use it too.
So if you wanted to just play, say, something funky, you can do something like this.
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Get out of bass. _ _ _
_ [C] _ [A] _ _ [D] _ _ [A] _ _
Slap!
_ _ _ _ [A#] _ _
[C#] _ _ _ _ [G#] _ [C#] _ _ _
[A#] _ _ [A] Alright, so the next _ [Bm]
inversion that you [N] have is the second inversion and it's the one that
comes after the first inversion.
_ [C#] It's right here.
It starts here on the 10th [A] fret of the B string.
That's an A note.
So that kind of gives you an [N] idea of where you are on the neck.
The middle finger is at the 11th fret of the D string here. _ _ _
The ring finger is at the 12th [G] fret of the G.
[N] And the pinky is at the high E on the 12th fret.
So you [A] have this. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ So there's a pedal tone going on behind you.
You can [G] kind of make up little patterns with those two chords, those [A] inversions. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [N] See what I'm saying?
So if you know that second inversion, an A, you can move that to make it _ a D chord here
because here's [D] your D. _
_ That's on the 3rd [G] fret of the [D] B string. _
You can put it right here.
That could be your 4 chord in A.
_ _ Right?
[A] And of course, [C] you know. _
_ [D] _ _ And [Bm] then if you move that up, that could be your 5 chord [G#] in A.
So [C] now you can take these inversions and use them in all kinds of [A] ways.
And they [D#] move because [C] you want them to.
And this will allow you [C#m] to explore the funk fully.
So if we're playing that all together, [Cm] we _ [A] got_ _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ [C] _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ [A#] _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ [G#] _ _ [Bm] _ _ [G] _ [Am] _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ [G#] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
[G#] So _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _ what you [C] want to do [F#] is use those [F] inversions anytime you [E] run into a dominant [A] 7th chord
or a 9th [D#] chord or a 13th chord.
They're all in the same family, so they [N] all work.
In a blues, 1-4-5.
_ In a funk tune, you run across a 9th chord.
Use a 7th instead.
It's up to you to decide if it sounds good.
If it sounds good, it is good.
Play around with it all over the neck.
Different keys.
Get funky.
Word to your mother. _ _ _ _