Gate Gian gets othe ‘rove with ts gue to funk ath itor werattace 1s Bacirg et The inane i eng tele ve ard frome wit hs staghtawan it Seareyast cele: ter meet your gst tutor: time teaching at te ACM i wath hs own band They can be “rsday mh at The Baten teu the bac of Chests tron stn, Come ad corse earths =i be ond efore we get started, alike to trge every reader to check out some recordings by the righty Tower of Power ‘Whether you're a devotee of ‘hat soul funk vibe ora band member who specalfses in an altogether different style of music, youl Aiscover an inspiring demonstration of just hove wwe a group of musicians can work together, each player doing what's best for the groove and never putting sel indulgence before fee. Proof indeed FF needed thatthe whole can be greater than the sum of pars. ‘dn the CD demo I've concocted a title groove inspired by tis fine upstanding band and provided a numberof ideas eich you can mix land match to come up with your own guitar par I's worth pointing out that the ral Tower of © comprehensive line-up of that legendary or section!) Power compris players (includ Guthrie Govan pays tribute to the tightest band on the planet by jamming in every guitarist’s favourite key... 1 A i THE oe CONTEMPORARY | " so space is telly at a premium and every note has to be placed vsith taste and precision to keep the groove sounding tight without getting Cluttered. The @CD band, i contrast, Features sitar, bass and drums ony, so there's a Int more breathing space on the backing track, and | frely admit that the sample guitar part Tve laid down wouldn't lst more than to seconds inthe context of a real Tower of Power track ('d have to lose some ofthe gost notes fora star However, the general feel of the backing tack fs iniy authentic and the idea oF the guitar part is (0 show a selection of common funk approaches which you could apply to any groove in hls vein Experiment, as always, and let your ears be your only guide the 90D track Ifyou give the demo tune a quick spin, you'll notice that is based on a four-bar loop, ith a recurting figure joining the end of each loop 9the start ofthe next (he passage starting with the Tead-in bar of the rranseription and ending on at 2 of bar 1, with that second stab on E7, is the fst example of the aforementioned igure) This part offers a tle stability and consisteney to he groove, while the sections in between area litle more vague and open to Interpretation, For these in-berween sections, Your harmonic reference-point [san E7 chard, which you could tackle with an E Mixolydian mode: SINISE Ef Gh A B ob OD Fora grit, less anny’ effec, ty using the Em blues sel SESSLER ca & BD Asis so often the case with music descended fram the blues, dhe truth les somewhere between the two, and you'l hear a misture of minor and major thirds on the demo. Rhythmically, there is an underlying sbsteenth-note feel throughout the ‘tack, so your picking hand should be moving constantly to mark this; Ifyou count “ies, 2e43, 3e4a, cea! foreach bat, your hand should be moving downwards on the numbers and the ands, with upstrokes forthe vowels in between This am invaluable aid to keeping time; in audition, It enables you to feel the syncopation in the music. n other words, if you want 19 ‘omphasise the funkiness of the groove, uy to accent more of the points inthe bar where your picking hand is moving upwards. IF itll gets @ Dit messy, revert to emphasising the more obylous-sounding downstrakes for a more ‘sli sound all the while, that constantly moving right hand has been keeping time lke your very own Emacyetan Pred guthrie’s etc gear Te CO esr as eres th my ee To: Spe sur on serra ig tg ote a Ts Sent trughe Mahal MPC wth he ear camel Woh Gan bass Mid Tied Pras v7 3 4 6 6 The Bas Shit eset iological metronome! ‘Having said all chat, there are a couple of points on the track (bars 13 and 17) where 1 ‘coulda’ resis roving in some 32nd notes for a {ouch of the Sister Sledge vibe; this shouldbe used sparingly, if at all, but iF you're curious about how is done, the key Isto relax your “wrist, send it into a “quivering kind of motion, and aim forthe next normal 16th note. Inbar 13, for instance, your goal isco land on beat 3 with a nice positive downstroke, and if you aim to get that in time then the snate-roll-like furry of dead notes leading up to it should (witha bit of practice) take care of itself: Note that you're covering fever strings per pickstroke when you're doing these 32nd-note passages, that way your hand doesn’t have 10 work as hard and the dynamics seem to come out litle more evenly ‘Have fun jamming with the CD, bite that Dottom lip uit it bleeds, and I leave you with a bit of philosophy ~ TOP's current guitars, JefT ‘amelie, describing his role i the band. “My number one thinking is to be the glue between (drummer) Dave Ganbaldi and (bassist) Rocco Presta, Those guys play so tight that ve hasially got tobe the thread between them, so | ‘Gy w pick up on some sort of rhythm patter that jargon buster bat no dere pitch, and ‘hey ae normaly exceed by picking a seig with oor ght further Check au ay of te Tove of Foes nck aaomue ea parr foes Pe Ur rena out oe! slaselanesfrovm aserhythm guitar | ‘tower of power style | iE + + — 24 % — te % Sacea ‘guitar technieques | december 2000 | wwwintermusccombt eee nl = | (ig Ate) 1 & z a == = wu ei x EI a SR XLS FESELSESSS ES =——==__ = We | cecemcr 2000 | guar tecnntanes | cxrythm guitar tower of power style eee eae Hearse s— te sf op eee FOS e13yo