Funk guitar rhythms, chords, and looper pedal ideas inspired by EARTH WIND & FIRE – 6:35 min

In this lesson Ben Zinn gets out the looper pedal and teaches some fun rhythms and chords in the style of Earth Wind & Fire. Ben teaches how to take a looper pedal and play some funky parts from different instruments and adapt them into your guitar playing. Ben starts out playing a drum groove on the guitar and puts it into the looper pedal and builds from there. Ben teaches you how to do it in this fun lesson. Learn some fun rhythm patterns to first create a groove. Ben then shows you how to add a bass line and lock it into the drum line. He is just playing root notes of the chord changes in the progression on the low strings. Next Ben adds a little funky syncopated guitar line and adds that to the mix. And then Ben adds a keyboard part – just some fun little chords. The main progression of the song is based off this chord progression: A – C#m7 – Bm7 – E7. Use these techniques as a jump off point and get creative to come up with your own funky loops and progressions – enjoy!

SLAP, POP, and FUNK techniques for electric guitar – 6:33 min

In this lesson Dave Nassie teaches something a little different – getting some cool slap funk techniques on the electric guitar. You usually see these techniques played on a bass guitar. But how fun is it to be able to do these devices on the electric guitar. Use a clean tone and your fingers, no pick needed. Use your thumb to get the desired effect. Dave first goes over the techniques with a few open notes so practice to get the tone of the thumb slap – it will take some time to get comfortable wit hthis – and try moving along the string until you hear the best place for the desired tone. Then you can get into the slap. pull, and pop. Dave utilizes octaves to work up the devices at first and continue on with this lesson to get some killer sounds that you may not have experimented of before. Stay creative and enjoy! 

Funk/Reggae grooves combining bass lines with chord movements – 8:31 min

Learn New Orleans Style FUNK in the style of THE METERS – 7:10 min  

In this lesson Ben Zinn teaches some cool rhythms and licks in the style of THE METERS. Here Ben teaches all about some New Orleans style funk. He first explains the groove and also the scale used in the lesson – which is A Minor Pentatonic Blues with an added chromatic run. Learn how to get these licks to sound funky and use dynamics to go harder or softer on the notes. Use this example as a jump off point to get some creative ideas in this style – experiment with the scale and come up with some of your own licks and rhythms in this style – enjoy!