Chords for Funk Guitar Lessons - 50 Funk Guitar Licks - #20: Firey Wrangler Machine

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Make no mistake, the playing heard from Jimmy Nolan, Catfish Collins, and all the guitarists that played for James Brown on all those records is the stuff.
These guys wrote the book on it.
But you know what?
James Brown is the godfather and he wrote the book too.
And he was the first one to start writing those chapters.
So when he sits behind the Hammond or he gets behind a piano, the stuff that he plays should be paid attention to too.
And that's exactly what we're going to do in this mashup.
First half, where we're checking out thirds in both instances, we're going to hear the main lick played throughout Hot Pants.
Then we're going to shift over to the second half and check out a piano part that James laid down in Sex Machine.
Watch.
_ _ _ _ [Ebm] _ _ _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ [Bb] _ [Ebm] _ _ _ _
_ [Abm] _ [Bbm] _ _ [Ebm] _ _ _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ [Ebm] _ _ _ _ _
[Abm] _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
So we're going to have a little battle here.
And that is between picking techniques.
We're going to start off with downstrokes.
Many times we've seen that a great approach to playing a great funk lick is to use all downstrokes.
[Gb] _ So it gives it that thing.
[Db] Or thang, should I say.
[Ebm] _ So we're going to come in on this whole [Eb] step in between the flat 7 and root in E flat. _ _
And even though the background is dominant, we're going to be playing a lick that's based out of minor.
And that, you know, that duel between the thirds is totally cool.
So we have the flat 3rd while the backing track has a major 3rd inside of it.
[Gb] _ [Ebm] So we're going to come in and once again use good old offbeat 16ths.
Second 16th, fourth 16th.
By the time you get done with this, you're going to be a master of this.
And that's good because it's some ultra hip stuff to have in your trick [Gb] bag.
So we're going to come in on this minor 3rd and 5th _ part of [N] an E minor chord,
which is actually a major [Ebm] 3rd, in between those two notes on the fourth 16th.
And just let it ring.
Don't put any pitch modulation to it.
You're going to want to, but don't do it.
And let that space of those two beats on beats 2 and 3 ring.
Don't scratch.
Don't let the notes die.
[Gb] Let them ring.
[Eb]
And then come back in on the downbeat of 4.
Now, when you come in on the last 16th of [Gb] beat 4,
then you're going to give this guy a pull.
[G] And you're not going to bring it into the downbeat of 1 into [Gb] the next hole. _ _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ _ You're going to cut it and let the first 16th of 1 have a rest
and come in on the second 16th with a root. _
Then you're going to set up for the other half of the battle here.
You're going to switch your picking techniques.
So [A] after you_
you can use alternate picking here [Eb] too.
So after you slide into the Eb to [Db] Db, 1 to b7 with a down and upstroke,
[Ab] you're going to start using hybrid picking.
So from the fourth 16th of the second bar, [Ebm] that's a downstroke from the Eb.
And then you're going to catch the same major third between Gb and Bb
with your [Bb] second [Ab] and third fingers.
So there's where the hybrid picking technique [Ebm] is.
And you're going to toggle in between root and this major third interval,
spelling out a Db minor chord.
_ Now notice I'm hopping off of the Eb root.
It's not staccato.
It's just making the rhythm of 16th notes and keeping them separate
so we don't hear this.
_ That's not the sound we're going for. _
Think of it as playing a piano without holding down the sustain pedal
because actually, remember, this is a piano riff.
_ _ _ So then we're going to toggle here.
_ [Ab] [Ebm] This motif right there is a great one to know. _ _
[Bb] However you utilize it.
[Ab] It's just a good inflection to have.
[Gb] Super catchy.
And you're just [Ab] toggling in between those two major thirds.
It's all diatonic to [Ebm] Dorian.
And then you're going to [Ab] come back with _ a 16th note _ triplet instance.
Now this is different than the one we saw in What Lady
[Ebm] where we had the hammer-on pull-off between the two and the flat three, _
[Ab] or the flat three and four, rather.
This time we're taking a pull-off from four to three, or the flat three,
and coming down to the root.
_ _ Now coming into _ bar four, you're going to have this 16th note triplet
that happens at the upbeat of one.
You're going to break out of the hybrid picking thing to make this happen.
And what you're going to do is use an upstroke for the pull-off
[Gm] and come down with a downstroke for [Ebm] the root.
But from there, you're going to get right back into hybrid [Ab] picking.
[Bb] So [Ab] you're going to come back and [Gb] hybrid pick the [Ab] major third,
the major third, you know, [Fm] that Dorian [Gb] _ [Fm] inflection [Eb] there.
And then you're going to slide, you know, slide from nowhere into a minor third,
which is comprised of the fifth and the flat seven.
Now if [N] you remember going back to our lick, This is Hip,
I indicated that this is a very cool interval to have in your trick pad.
This is that minor third in between the fifth and the flat seven.
So here [Gb] it is once again, and it'll come up again.
And guess where it came in?
The fourth 16th of beat two.
_ _ [N] _