Funk Guitar Lessons

Welcome to my lesson on slap guitar! A brief overview of the video: - Combine both left and right hand technique.- Use thumb for slapping, first finger for plucking, third finger on left h...

Okay let's now try out the slap technique with a longer example. Start slow, then gradually increase speed while making sure the notes stay clean. *Notes on low E are to be slapped, notes o...

Hello IG! This tutorial is a short and sweet funk track, primarily based around a lead idea that I came up with while improvising. The track is based around a pop/funk drum beat, with a cou...

This idea almost immediately came to my head after hearing the drum beat. Very simple, but it "says" what it needs to say. I'm very often inspired to write after hearing a groovy drum beat. ...

The second riff adds a percussive feel to the song, especially when using palm muting. Once again, this follows the G minor Penatonic scale. I would consider this an extremely common type of...

Now we're on to the main focus of this lesson. As said in the intro, be sure to focus on phrasing, feel, vibrato, bending, and accenting. I've tried to include a lot of detail in the notati...

Quick Overview:Key of G minorTempo: 111bpmHeavy focus on the G minor pentatonic scaleLead lick can be easily manipulated and changed to fit your own personal style Enjoy!

Hey once again, shredders! For this tutorial, I chose to break down a track that was (structurally) written by myself and a drummer friend of mine, Brandon Hopkins, with some super funky ba...

As I mentioned in the introduction, here's where the "groove" aspect of your playing should be in full-force. Learn the notes, analyze the demonstration video to ensure your 8th shuffle feel...

Here's where we're introduced to our first "Guthrie" influenced lead. It highlights an F#m9, Dmaj7 and Bm7 progression and floats in and out of notes diatonic to the key to offer a very "acc...

This riff predominantly consists of three notes, F#, E and A. Still keeping with our shuffle-feel, the note groupings offer a polymetric sound that extends four bars. In bar 36, the met...

At last, the guitar solo! Again, within the F#m blues scale, the scale slips in and out of different modes hinting at all kinds of different flavours. Bar 60 through 61 consists of, yet ag...

Download the Backing Track here and have fun!

Hello IGers, Today we’re getting into some funk rhythm guitar. These riffs will be useful for getting your timing and groove in shape as well as expanding your vocabulary of rhythm st...

All the examples in this tutorial are over the same II-V-I chord progression (Dm7-G7-Cmaj7). Here are the first 3 examples... Example ASingle notes can often be enough. Here I use a note (C...

Next up is a riff that utilizes only the 3rd and 7th degrees of each chord. With a busy rhythm section underneath this can be enough to deliver the harmonies while maintaining a dry, percuss...

For the last two riffs I decided to add some colour tones to the 3rd and 7th (such as the 9th and 13th) to get a more interesting sound. Note that none of these examples utilize a root note...

Now it's time to practice the rhythms from this tutorial with the backing track. Be sure to mix up the patterns after a while and experiment!

Hey folks! This tutorial features a latin-funk piece that I came up with. You'll be learning four different parts, and improvising at the end. If you haven't already guessed, this is heavil...

The first part of this piece, is perhaps the layer that gives this song the majority of its 'groove'. This is perhaps my favourite style of rhythm guitar! Simple chords, with specific right ...

Part 2 is a catchy melody, played as a rhythm guitar part. Even though this is a fairly 'busy' line for rhythm, it still works well with vocals, or lead guitar. It's important to play stacc...

Next, we'll be moving the melody up a minor third to play the harmony part. It's quite easy to play once you've learned the main melody in the previous lesson.

The lead part naturally came to me as soon as I started improvising over the backing track. It's a repetitive melody that I feel stacks well with the previous ideas, as well as other melodie...

Here's a great backing to play over. Try improvising a solo, and if you feel comfortable, post some recordings in the forum. I personally enjoy backings that make me groove to the music. Hop...