Funk advice - stick to the bassline or busk it?

[mcnach]

On 31/12/2018 at 20:33, paul_c2 said:

 

 

Its not really a case of "us" and "them"; more like that there's good and bad musicians in all forms of music. The less good musicians tend to focus on just a subset of their musical knowledge, and its easier for a less good 'classical' musician to not have to focus on things like swing, groove, playing by ear, improvising etc.

But let me reassure you, there's 'classical' musicians who can run rings around the average 'rock' musician for technical ability, knowledge, musicianship, etc etc in ALL aspects of playing music. 

Also worth mentioning, that jazz musicians tend to be able to read very well, in addition to improvising over chord changes etc etc (including the good guitarists!)

 

Amen.

[Bluewine]

As long as your lines are funky and they sound good I don't think it matters. However , I can't imagine much coming of anything without putting in some level of effort.

Blue

[lownote]

I'm the OP. Perhaps slightly cart before horse I've now put my question to the highly skilled singer and band director who runs the funk club in question.  Her answer?  "... it's all about the pocket and locking in with the drummer. So yes, improvise but your rhythm needs to be tight." But I can't help feeling those BCers who've said well known bass lines are important have a point too.  Ah, whatever.  I think my natural level is blues, life's so much easier.  Roots and ghost notes and a meaningful bass face, as if I have bad constipation,  should get me through.     

[interpol52]

On 26/12/2018 at 19:11, Cato said:

I'm pretty sure that a lot of the guys who played on the original records were busking it to some extent. Maybe not the main body of the bassline but a lot of the fills and flourishes were probably improvised.

Obviously people expect the lines to be close to the originals but unless they're all fanatical purists I reckon there's room for a bit of flexibility and improvisation as well.

This is the approach I take. The most recognizable parts of the song should be in place, then you can add your own where appropriate. 

So much of playing funk is about feel and groove,  if you tried to reproduce every single ghost note or accent then you would probably lose your own sense of The Funk!