Chords remain static for extended periods of time, building tension as they do by not moving and allowing the rhythmic qualities present throughout to mount pressure, even though they themselves do little to budge. The example above is also highly representative of funk harmonically as well. The song ‘Cut the Cake’ by The Average White Band, for example, features just such a harmonic and rhythmic interplay, in this instance between the guitar, drums, and horns, the vocalist matching the rhythms atop, characteristic of funk music as a whole, where the syncopation reigns supreme and commands all to do its bidding, no matter how choppy or convoluted. Even if the guitarist is playing ‘actual’ notes, they will usually be staccato chord stabs, or the musician will be leaning on individual notes in counterpoint with the vocalist, or others. This is a trademark of funk guitar which, when combined with a wah-wah pedal, channels the very essence of the music. With so much placed in the lap of rhythm, the guitar can often be found simply doubling up rhythms otherwise played on drums or percussion instruments, chugging and shuffling the plectrum along the strings with the picking hand while muting the strings with the fretting hand. Syncopation is key to the feel and inherent danceability to the rhythm’s near-constant march. What Does This Mean for The Guitar?Īs there are plenty of instruments sharing the workload of harmonic and rhythmic progression, from brass to keyboard to vocals and beyond, the guitar is expected to share in this. Though it bleeds into almost all of the elements in some way – extended harmonies, syncopated rhythms, implementation of brass and woodwind instruments, having a central bandleader etc – it is in the overall energy that we feel the shadow of Jazz’s influence perched on Funk’s shoulder. It is in this live, freewheeling way that we feel the influence of Jazz most strongly. These steady vehicles of rhythm are perfect beds for the philosophising of the vocalist, or simply for them to join in on the rhythm themselves, for often there will be grunts and whooping aplenty, especially in the music of James Brown, where he can be found constantly acting as conduit for the energy the whole band is producing, like an electrical transistor. The next section, and the tension begins anew. Rhythmic and harmonic progression rely on slow, steady journeys of push and pull tensions: building, building, seemingly on the verge of exploding for minutes at a time, then when you’re least expecting it – BANG. It is in this centring of rhythm where its inherent danceability lies. The central tenet of funk is groove, often hard-hitting and repetitive. When we do consider the music itself, and meet it in the middle without an intercessor, we see that a lot of what makes funk funky, and what moves us about it, is aligned with this very context that we are so removed from.ģ FAQs on Funk Chords Progressions: What Makes Funk, Funk? And yet, we might say that in learning about it, from without as opposed to within the overall socio-geographical context, we are better able to appreciate it for its musicality and the way it touches us within, instead of being broached by an overriding political philosophy. It’s strange to be approaching this style of music from so far into the future, when it has seemingly lost its inherent ability to move minds and butts, so to speak. Injustices still reign supreme, and the powers that the most politically active funk groups were rallying against, whether through their own lyrics or in aligning with their Black Panther brethren, are still just as powerful, if not more so, with capitalism’s ability to sidestep reproach at almost laughable levels, along with its ability to swallow and monetise every known and even remotely revolutionary opposition to its greed-swollen waddle towards what would seem to be total annihilation, from funk to punk, and beyond. How can we even begin to approach funk, a style that so much relies on a feeling, a mood? How can we learn through study this fabled, funky genre of music? With the benefit of hindsight we can, thankfully, more accurately categorise what made funk funky, able as we are to consider the sheer cultural phenomenon that it once was from a socio-political viewpoint that is at once far removed from it, and yet almost entirely unchanged in some respects.
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