Funk groove 1 permalink
Notes permalink
- Notice the ‘ghosted’ notes, marked in drum notation (the first few are circled in green).
- Get the notes down first, then work on feeling the groove.
- Try playing along with a funk drum loop. See if you can play ‘in the pocket’: try holding back just a bit behind the beat.
- Try adding your own variations in terms of motif and rhythm. You could keep it really simple to start with: maybe just a B flat in the left hand and the A flat above in the right. It doesn’t need to be rhymically busy. Leave space.
Bebop enclosures basics 1 permalink
The figure above demonstrates a foundational bebop pattern called ‘enclosures’. There are three of them, marked with blue brackets.
The basic idea is that you move around a ‘target’ note, starting below then moving above, or vice versa. You can move stepwise (as per the first enclosure above), or by making a leap (as in the second and third).
The harmony in this example is a classic ii-V7-I/V-I cadence. We’re in F major so the ii is G minor 7, the V7 is C dominant 7 and the I is F major 6.
Try playing it in all 12 major keys.
1a permalink
Another phrase containing enclosures.
Practice tip: hold down a chord, say Gm7, and work out your own enclosures over it.
1b permalink
You’re not limited to eighth notes. Here’s the first example but played in double-time (sixteenth notes) and offset by a beat.