Drummer Cafe Community Forum

hey guys, im starting to play more funk groove. i can play good with a click but it is really rigid and boring. how do i make groove like the pros? thanx nick

It doesn't groove until it is relaxed and natural, not rigid..
When you can play a two bar figure and recite your name, address and phone number, you are well on your way.  Reciting in rhythm doesn't count.  

Roger

Believe me, I am probably the last person to be giving advice on Funk rhythms/feel, but here I go anyway.......

Keep it simple to start and maybe try playing a bit behind or ahead of the beat--particularly the SD beats.  This might help "open you up" a little.

LISTEN to tons of funk. Get used to what it sounds like when played by the best guys out there.

Check out Steve Gadd, Harvey Mason, Mike Clarke, Steve Jordan, Clyde Stubblefield, Tony Thompson, Yogi Horton, Andy Newmark, David Garibaldi, Buddy Miles, ?uestlove, Zigaboo Modeliste, Billy Martin, Stanton Moore, Fred White, Philip Bailey, and more.

The more you get the SOUND of this stuff in your head, the better able you'll be to replicate it.

record yourself!  its the 2nd mantra of the DC's ten commandments. ;)  the first being "get a teacher".  :P

seriously, the more you hear yourself, the more you'll understand what it is about your groovin' that might be a little off.  e.g. for me, it was a rushing and overly loud hihat.  switched to lesser assaulting pair, and learned to ease back my right hand, while maintaining a solid backbeat.  later i realized my bass was a wee bit in rushing, too.  and now, its all slowly coming together.   8)

also, any bassists you know with whom you can jam?  grooving in any genre, IMHO, is all about team work, and you wont get better unless you play with peoples.

if ya like, when i finally find some free time from work, i'll record / click track a few bass lines into my trusty US122, and you could try practicing to them.

You might want to check out Steve Smith's dvd (history of the U.S. beat,he does a small bit of funk stuff in there ...(James Brown kinda stuff).

the easiest way I have found to improve feel is two fold 1) improve your coordination (any good book will do ie. the new breed) this way you will know more complicated things so the easy stuff (most funk) will sound much more relaxed. 2) practice at an extreme slow speed say 40bpm....take any funk groove play with the click at that tempo for 5 minutes a day and you will be grooving in no time. Playing slow is way harder than playing fast because you have to be concious of all the time between the notes, but once you know it at a slow tempo your feel at a normal tempo will be greatly improved because your not thinking about all the notes anymore. Try this for one week and I assure you that you will see a huge difference.

oh yea,

one more thing to add, and related to my other post in your other thread, try "singing" the lyrics to the song.  this isnt necessarily applicable for funk, unless you like mimic James Brown (Hit me!), but does wonders for most other songs and the like.

try it.  works like gang'o'busters.  :P