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Finger-style Funk Archives

Bass Lick Series: Funky Bass Breakdown in E
Bass Lick Series

Bass Lick Series: Funky Bass Breakdown in E

Here’s another lick to add to your bag of tricks. Once again, I’m using open strings as described in past lessons. This one is a groovy bass line you can play over a E7, E9 or E13 chord using the Em dorian scale with the Major 3rd added (G#). Omit the G# and use it over a minor chord/key. Follow...

Bass Lick Series: Funky Fingerstyle Bass Groove in Dm
Bass Lick Series

Bass Lick Series: Funky Fingerstyle Bass Groove in Dm

Time to add another lick lesson to the series. This time around, our focus is on this funky fingerstyle bass groove, which is in the key of Dm or D7, using mostly the D minor Dorian scale with chromatic connecting notes. This lick also relies heavily on open strings, for fast note doubling (D on open string to D on...

Lesson: Funky and Relaxed Fingerstyle Bass Groove with Double Stops
Bass Lessons

Lesson: Funky and Relaxed Fingerstyle Bass Groove with Double Stops

Continuing our bass groove lesson series, here’s a cool (and relaxed) groove and exercise for you. In this groove, we’re employing double stops with one of the most common shapes: Major 10th, root note, and a Major 3rd (an octave above). Follow along with the video and this lesson transcription (PDF download). For the gear heads, I’m playing my Sandberg...

Groovy Fingerstyle Bass Lick Lesson
Bass Lessons

Groovy Fingerstyle Bass Lick Lesson

Here’s a neat little fingerstyle groove lick lesson, complete with double stops and that open string trick we’ve been playing around with over a couple of the recent lessons. I can’t seem to stop using this technique when playing licks. Maybe it is becoming my signature thing! Follow along with the video and the transcription (PDF). We’re in the key...

Lesson: Soul/Funk Fingerstyle Bass Groove
Bass Lessons

Lesson: Soul/Funk Fingerstyle Bass Groove

In this lesson, we’ll explore some fingerstyle soul/funk with a nice groove in A. As with the previous lesson, I’m making use of open strings to achieve some fast note doubling (this time, A and D). Follow along with the video and this transcription (PDF). For the gear heads: I’m playing a Sandberg California TT MarloweDK Signature bass through a...

Finger-Style Funk Bass Lesson: Build Dexterity and Accuracy in Your Playing
Bass Lessons

Finger-Style Funk Bass Lesson: Build Dexterity and Accuracy in Your Playing

In this lesson we’re going to focus on a style known as finger-style funk (or “finger funk”), with the goal of developing both dexterity and accuracy in your playing. Finger-style funk is typically centered around the 16th note, and many of the notes are muted. You’ll notice in the notation for this lesson that those muted notes are indicated with...