Funky Strumming Options

[Jad Diab]

Hey GMCer's, here's my third lesson on the SI board, hope you'll enjoy it
My first lesson was a bit jazzy, the second one a bit rockin', but this time it's gonna be funky.

This lesson is based on a funky guitar strumming, with lot of variations to create melodies, this technique is used by lot of musicians, you just focus on a main idea (rythm) and add variations to create some phrasing, and it can make a song a lot less boring then repeating the same melodie all the time.
You can have fun and improvise on the backing tracks, the key is in A Dorian, (for beginners, A minor pentatonic works well )
All comments and feedbacks are welcome, I will be happy to read them and answer to all questions.
I hope you'll like my lesson, and I hope that I'll manage to be an instructor at GMC one day.

Main Video :
Here's the Videos Progressions
Video 1 ; Video 2 ; Video 1 ; Video 3 ; Video 4 ; Video 5
 Main_video.wmv ( 16.59MB ) Number of downloads: 1083



Video 1 :
Here's the main rythmic pattern, notice how I'm muting the unwanted strings so we can hear only the notes that we want to hear. It's creates a sort of dirty effect on sound, that is typical for funk. At the end of this pattern you'll find the D7 chord (Dominant 7), D7 is typical of A Dorian, you won't find it in the other modes (if using the key of A), it's called the Sub-Dominant. You can check out Andrew's theory lesson Modal Chord Progressions for more informations .By the way 'bout sound, if your looking for your tone, you'll better seek a crunch sound, too much distorsion will kill the groove of funk. You need a crunch sound with little bit of gain, in order to hear every note cleanly. I'm using a Pod X3, my tone name is plexy phase.
 1.wmv ( 16.13MB ) Number of downloads: 733

E|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|-----------7-5-------------------------------------7-5----------------------3-|
G|-----------7-5----------------7b-7p5---------------7-5---------------7p5----5-|
D|-5h7-7--------------5h7-7----------------5h7-7-------------5h7-7------------4-|
A|-------x-x-----x-x--------x-x--------x-x-------x-x-----x-x-------x-x-----x--5-|
E|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Video 2 :
In this pattern, there's lot of variations, the first one is on the 2nd bar, you'll see a chormatic sequence using the "devil's interval" the dimineshed fifth. Again, carefull on muting unwanted strings, and the the second variations is a little shred run, in the key of A dorian that ends up with a C5 chord.
 2.wmv ( 23.22MB ) Number of downloads: 682

E|---------------------------------------------------------------15-14-12--------------------------
B|-----------7-5----------------10-10-9-9-8-8------------7-5-------------15-13-12-15-13-12---------
G|-----------7-5----------------9--9--8-8-7-7------------7-5------------------------------14-12-11-
D|5h7-7--------------5h7-7----------------------5h7-7----------------------------------------------
A|-------x-x-----x-x--------x-x--------------x-x------x-x----x-x-----------------------------------
E|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------|
--------------------|
14-12-11---------12-|
--------14-12-10-10-|
--------------------|
--------------------|

Video 3 :
This is a laid back pattern, rythmic placement is really important in this one, so careful on timing.
 3.wmv ( 19.38MB ) Number of downloads: 584

E|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|-----------7-5------------------------------13-10---------7/8\7-7-5--|
G|-----------7-5--------------------------x-x-------11-12-9------------|
D|-5h7-7-------------5h7-7-----5p4-------------------------------------|
A|-------x-x-----x-x-------x-x-----5-3---------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------------------------------------|

Video 4 :
This pattern is the same as in Video 1, there's only a small variation at the end.
 4.wmv ( 15.47MB ) Number of downloads: 607

E|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|-----------7-5-------------------------------------7-5------------------|
G|-----------7-5----------------7b-7p5---------------7-5---------------5--|
D|-5h7-7--------------5h7-7----------------5h7-7-------------5h7-7-----4--|
A|-------x-x-----x-x--------x-x--------x-x-------x-x-----x-x-------x-x----|
E|------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Video 5 :
I like this pattern, a little shred run on the second bar, and then you do a bend on the G and the B string at the same time, notice how I'm putting my fingers.
 5.wmv ( 18.1MB ) Number of downloads: 575

E|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|-----------7-5---------------------------------------7b-7-5-----5-7------|
G|-----------7-5---------------------------------------7b-7-5-----5-7--7/9-|
D|-5h7-7-------------5h7-7-------------5-4---5h7-7---------------------5/7-|
A|-------x-x-----x-x-------------5-7-9-------------x-x--------x-x----------|
E|-------------------------5-7-8-------------------------------------------|

Backing Tracks :
 BT_80.mp3 ( 1.26MB ) Number of downloads: 509

 BT_90.mp3 ( 1.12MB ) Number of downloads: 422

 BT_100.mp3 ( 1.01MB ) Number of downloads: 450

 BT_110.mp3 ( 938.49K ) Number of downloads: 420

 BT_120.mp3 ( 876.04K ) Number of downloads: 419

Guitar pro :
 Funky_Strumming.gp5 ( 4.52K ) Number of downloads: 375

Gear :
Ibanez RG prestige 1570 MRB with EMG 81/S/85 pickups
Line 6 POD X3
Marshall MG100DFX
Dunlop Jazz III Picks
Cubase SX
EZ drummer
FL Studio 5.0
Vegas Movie Maker 6.0

I'll be happy to read your comments and feedbacks. If you've got any questions, please don't hesitate to ask them.

Greetings,

Jad.

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This post has been edited by Jad Diab: Nov 24 2008, 08:47 PM