Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Funk Lesson 1pdf
Funk Lesson 1pdf
POP ROCK
STYLES, GROOVES & SONGS
WEEK 4 - FUNK GROOVES - PART I (pg.1)
Funk Grooves:
In Part I of this lesson, we will be working Funk grooves inspired by great Funk drummers such Clyde
Stubblefield, Jabo Starks, David Garibaldi, Mike Clark, Steve Gadd among others. Part II consists of
syncopated groove ideas for you to practice and develop more flexibility with Funk styles.
This type of feel was popularized by the legendary artists and bands such as James Brown, Parliament-
Funkadelic, Tower of Power, Herbie Hancock and many others. Funk drumming has a tremendous amount
of syncopation, specially on the snare drum. The intricacies of the snare, bass drum and hi-hat accented
and non-accented notes makes this type of playing somewhat “advanced”
As a professional drummer, you will be asked to play this type of groove on various musical situations
including styles such as: Contemporary Jazz, Funk Fusion, Jazz Fusion, Funk, R&B, Blues, Horn bands,
Pop/Rock, and more. As a drum set student, you might be required to know this style in jazz band,
college auditions and final exams. There are many ways to play Funk styles. As a drum set teacher, you
should also teach this essential style. The grooves presented here are the most commonly used by
drummers in this category all over the world. Funk drumming should have a close reference to many of the
James Brown songs. Some of the most popular Funk songs such as “I Got The Feelin’ “by James brown,
“Soul Vaccination” and “What Is Hip”, “The Oakland Stroke” by Tower Of Power, and “Actual Proof” by
Herbie Hancock all have tricky syncopated bass drum and snare patterns that differs quite a bit from let
th
say a straight 8 Rock type of groove. Syncopation in the Funk style has a tension and release on the big
“ONE” once in a while. The beat “1” of the measure of every other measure is an important part of the
complete feel of a Funk groove often emphases by a loud bass drum hit. The snare drum is not the usual
“2” and “4” on the back beats. The snare drum rhythms are usually executed with accented notes as rim
shots, and non-accented notes are soft, also known as “ghosted-notes” Good dynamic control and great
coordination and hand technique is a must to be able to pull it off some of the legendary Funk grooves
played by the great Funk drummers mentioned above. Here it is a collection of Funk grooves for you to
practice and use with songs.
Ex.1 Clyde Stubblefield Inspired grooves: “I Got The Feelin’” by James Brown:
Ex.2 - “I got The Fellin’” Bridge type of groove:
1
POP ROCK
STYLES, GROOVES & SONGS
WEEK 4 - FUNK GROOVES - PART I (pg.2)
Ex.3 – David Garibaldi – “Soul Vaccination” – Intro- type of groove: by Tower of Power:
Ex. 4 “Soul Vaccination” by Tower of Power - Verse-type of groove:
Ex. 5 “Soul Vaccination” Interlude groove:
2
POP ROCK
STYLES, GROOVES & SONGS
WEEK 4 - FUNK GROOVES - PART I (pg.3)
Ex.6 - “Southwick” by Maceo Parker
Ex.7 - “Southwick” by Maceo Parker – bridge-groove:
Ex.8 - Mike Clark inspired groove. “Actual Proof” – by Herbie Hancock:
Ex.9 - David Garibaldi – “The Oakland Stroke” by Tower of Power:
Ex.10 – Zigaboo Modeliste – Inspired grooves in the feel of “Cissy Strut’ by The Meters
A section:
Ex. 11 – Bridge section:
3
POP ROCK
STYLES, GROOVES & SONGS
WEEK 4 - FUNK GROOVES - PART II (pg.4)
Ex. 12 – Reading Funky Syncopated Rhythms – Explore various hi-hat and ride/cowbell
combinations:
Ex. 13- Groove inspired by the great Jazz Fusion drummer Lenny White:
Syncopated Funk grooves without ghosted notes and hi hat /ride/cowbell patterns.
Explore and experiment with your own ideas while keeping the main accents notated
below:
Ex.14
Ex. 15
Presenting Funk grooves during final exams and auditions:
Short Form: Select two different Funk grooves and play 4 measures of each one, then repeat and stop.
[: play 4 measures - fill | play 4 measures -fill:] stop!
Long Form: Select two different Funk grooves, this time stay on each one a bit longer, playing 8
measures of each one, then stop. You could repeat this form as well before stopping.
|- play 8 measures - fill | play 8 measures -fill -| – stop!
4