Easy Funk basslines

[Reggaebass]

Hi all, I normally play roots reggae bass, but I occasionally dabble in funk , I know there’s a few funky players on here, can anyone recommend some easy ones to get me rolling ☝️

[Jakester]

There are some good ones here:

 

 

[Old Man Riva]

I’d encourage anyone who wanted to learn a bit about funky bass playing to listen to The Meters.

The bass player, George Porter Jr, lays down some terrifically funky lines. Generally not too taxing to play, (and brilliant to play along to) George’s feel for the bass, and his brilliant use of space (i.e. every note counts, and there’s often tons of space between them), for me, make them essential listening.

I wish someone had steered me towards them earlier in my bass playing years!

 

[Reggaebass]

8 minutes ago, Old Man Riva said:

I’d encourage anyone who wanted to learn a bit about funky bass playing to listen to The Meters.

The bass player, George Porter Jr, lays down some terrifically funky lines. Generally not too taxing to play, (and brilliant to play along to) George’s feel for the bass, and his brilliant use of space (i.e. every note counts, and there’s often tons of space between them), for me, make them essential listening.

I wish someone had steered me towards them earlier in my bass playing years!

 

Yeah nice one 👍, I’ve just added that to my, to play list 

[Cato]

The verse and chorus sections of Chic's 'Good Times' are pretty straightforwards.

There's a guy playing along with tab here.

But there's quite a lot of other YouTube lessons on this.

[Stub Mandrel]

Is this soul or funk? - But if you get into this, you might grin enough to make the top of your head fall off...

 

[Barking Spiders]

Viz For The Love of Money IMO it's best played with a pick through a phase pedal to get the necessary attack and the ghost notes are essential for getting it right.

I'd also recommend 

and

 

[Jonse]

One of my favourites 

Cheryl Lynn - Got to be real

Easy enough disco/funk/soul tune 

https://youtu.be/fI569nw0YUQ

Edited January 20, 2021 by Jonse

[Mrbigstuff]

A lifetime of funk in this book: https://www.halleonard.com/product/690744/funk-bass-bible

[Reggaebass]

24 minutes ago, Barking Spiders said:

and

 

Thanks for that Barking spiders, I’d forgotten about DeLuca, he’s got some great grooves, I used to be subscribed a few years ago, I’ll have another look 👍

[Al Krow]

Great thread - following! 

[bassfan]

Have a go at September - Earth Wind & Fire or Chic’s Le Freak , Great groove on that! Two of my favourites to jam along to. 

Edited January 20, 2021 by bassfan

[Reggaebass]

4 minutes ago, bassfan said:

Have a go at September - Earth Wind & Fire or Chic’s Le Freak , Great groove on that! Two of my favourites to jam along to. 

Ooh great ones bassfan, especially Chic, that takes me back, thanks for that 👍

[bass_dinger]

2 hours ago, Cato said:

The verse and chorus sections of Chic's 'Good Times' are pretty straightforwards.

 

Oooh, I struggle with this one - the short notes, the little spaces, the offbeatness of the whole track.  I need to chop each bar into (I guess) 16th notes, and work out on what subdivision of the beat (1, e, and, a) the notes fall on.  

When I play funk, I play all the right rests, but not necessarily of the right length . . . 

 

[bassfan]

9 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Ooh great ones bassfan, especially Chic, that takes me back, thanks for that 👍

No worries.... I’ll come to you for some easy reggae 😉

Flashlight - parliament/funkadelic 

Then  progress to never too much - Luther /Marcus Miller 

Get on the Floor - MJ

then straight into ‘somebody else’s guy’ ... 

gone straight to advanced! Doh... I can’t play the last 2 properly. 😂 

[Reggaebass]

 

3 hours ago, Cato said:

The verse and chorus sections of Chic's 'Good Times' are pretty straightforwards.

There's a guy playing along with tab here.

 

Nice bassline Cato, it has a rappers delight feel about it 👍

 

[bassfan]

1 minute ago, Reggaebass said:

 

Nice bassline Cato, it has a rappers delight feel about it 👍

 

SHG sampled good times for rappers delight. I think. 

[Reggaebass]

6 minutes ago, bassfan said:

then straight into ‘somebody else’s guy’ .

Love that tune and I did try it a while back , on and off for a few weeks, but I have to admit I did struggle , I was using this as a guide 

 

[Reggaebass]

15 minutes ago, bassfan said:

No worries.... I’ll come to you for some easy reggae 😉

Anytime ☝️

[bass_dinger]

39 minutes ago, bassfan said:

SHG sampled good times for rappers delight. I think. 

Chip Shearin says that Chip Shearin played the bassline. 
 

Nile Rogers says it isn't Chic - 6'44" - 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkjJx6rYrOo
 

So, both Chip and Niles say that the Rapper's Delight bassline is a little different to the original.   

I have seen a video of Nile Rogers saying that "they got some 17 year old kid to play the bassline in the studio", but I can't find it now. 

 

 

Edited January 20, 2021 by bass_dinger
The bassline was not sampled, but the string section probably was.

[Al Krow]

10 hours ago, bassfan said:

No worries.... I’ll come to you for some easy reggae 😉

10 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

Anytime ☝️

Sounds like a great sister thread for you gents to be starting! 

Edited January 21, 2021 by Al Krow

[Raslee]

There’s a Studio 1 reggae version out there too....

 

[Cuzzie]

@Reggaebass morning buddy, you know I love a bit of funk

If you want space and groove....

Get your squelch on with this

 

And a song named after you

 

@CameronJ is a very funky man - I hope he chips in for you

[Reggaebass]

22 minutes ago, Cuzzie said:

morning buddy, you know I love a bit of funk

Thanks for that cuzzie, I like that footage from Soul Train 👍

[Cuzzie]

8 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Thanks for that cuzzie, I like that footage from Soul Train 👍

Yeah it’s really cool, Spotify is tuned differently if you use that to play along to, but I thought the videos would be cooler where there is footage