other than staccato notes, any insights on playing improv on funk songs, like 'uptown funk', 'more bounce to the ounce', 'use me', 'brick house' etc?
graphicguy
Minor pentatonic funky licks, syncopation, repetition, specific Maceo articulation style. (Do Dot!)
Timbre changes: Play high A. Then open and close your right hand in a cool rhythm. Instant Maceo!
One of my favorite alto players and to this day one of the most FUN shows I’ve ever been to.
I believe Maceo himself says: 2% jazz, 98% funky stuff.
Timbre changes: Play high A. Then open and close your right hand in a cool rhythm. Instant Maceo!
One of my favorite alto players and to this day one of the most FUN shows I’ve ever been to.
I believe Maceo himself says: 2% jazz, 98% funky stuff.
Check out James Brown - "Cold Sweat" (part 1 & 2). Note that the feelin' applies to the entire band. No clutter or extra needless notes.
And uptempo;
And uptempo;
great tips! i like that video; also check out 'house party' from same concert; right re play w/yt vids; will try that A riff; good idea re any other fave funk riffs? eg staccato g-g-f-g d-f-Bb-a-g-f-f
Listen, sing, sing, play. Repeat. Copping licks is cool, but getting completely inside the music you’re playing is the only way to make those licks come off as authentic.
as far as how to sound like him. Learn drums or do lots of rhythm work on one note. Trick is to be able to accuratly feel one 16th ahead or behind a beat for your note. K
I'll try to answer -- but more as a man who LISTENS to Funk and Maceo as a staple in my music listening diet. Said another way, I'll comment as a fan of Maceo and of Funk music.
1. IMHO, don't try to sound like Maceo. Funk, especially, is a style that rewards authenticity. In any setting except your private practice room, trying to sonically portray another person is inauthentic. While it will gain you some instant credibility, it is not sustainable.
2. A Funk soloist is part saxophonist, part drummer. Play your horn with some percussivity.
3. Rhythmically, great funk soloists rarely play long notes. Neither do drummers, if they're engaged in the task of making butts swing to a groove. Notes greater in duration than a half note usually are the closing or beginning word in a statement. (example: Introduction to Papa Don't Take No Mess, or Maceo solo in Inner City Blues) This makes Funk playing one of the most challenging of all styles. While less complex in harmonic structure, Funk playing requires the highest discipline with respect to rhythmic execution. Bad Funk soloists run out of the focus and stamina required to stay rhythmically in the groove and they revert to blowing long notes, altissimo or other gimmicks to stay in the solo.
4. Statements in eighth and sixteenth notes, often dotted and syncopated are the rule.
5. The use of triplets is very common. Triplets, mordents, ghost and grace notes are staples in great Funk soloing. All of these devices should be practiced, along with the discipline of soloing using short duration (drum beat-like) notes.
6. Always know where the "1" is. The downbeat of a new measure. Hit the 1 or have a good reason for not doing so.
7. Tone development is as important as it is in Classical playing. Having a strong center is a great asset in Funk playing. A Funk soloist is like a preacher delivering a sermon at the pulpit. Projection and confident story telling are essential. Most players use vibrato sparingly. Maceo uses it very effectively often as a little shake on the tail end of a funky note. Dexter Gordon does that like a master musician.
8. Having a plan as to where the solo is going is another essential. Any solo should tell a story, but in Funk soloing, running out of runway (ideals) is most pernicious. Trying to stay in the groove does not afford a player the time to problem-solve the trajectory of the solo. More than any other musical style, missing just one beat can result in your band leader or audience saying or thinking things like this: "Jimmy, hey Jimmy! Move back with that little funny horn, you ain't say'in nothing. Move out! Move out!" RIP JB.
9. Repetition isn't a weakness, it's a strength. Repeating a phrase multiple times brings the audience along with the player. It sets up tension as the listeners brace for what is coming next. It also lends credibility to the statement. If what you state isn't important enough to repeat it, it's just an ephemeral piece of noise.
10. Playing too many notes is worse than playing too few. Fewer notes played on time is far more effective than 32nd runs sprayed over the rhythm section.
11. Slurring vs. tonguing. Great Funk players do far more tonguing than slurring. There is a cadre of Smooth Jazz players who are excellent musicians that slur, slip and slide over funky beats, but the greats like Eddie Harris, Maceo, and Sinclair Pickney use sluring strategically, if not sparingly.
12. To play a Funk solo is to dance, in part. I struggle with that because some people, including an idiot sax teacher I once had, believed that you can't be a great sax player if you can't dance. As in, literally. In a club. But, insofar as a Funk solo engages the player in a rhythmic expression, it is a dance. It also asks the same question we're asked when we're on the club dance floor. "Are you shy about this, or are you gonna swing your butt?"
Which brings me to the last and most important thing to do to play Funk, or even to play like Maceo.
Have fun, or get off the floor.
1. IMHO, don't try to sound like Maceo. Funk, especially, is a style that rewards authenticity. In any setting except your private practice room, trying to sonically portray another person is inauthentic. While it will gain you some instant credibility, it is not sustainable.
2. A Funk soloist is part saxophonist, part drummer. Play your horn with some percussivity.
3. Rhythmically, great funk soloists rarely play long notes. Neither do drummers, if they're engaged in the task of making butts swing to a groove. Notes greater in duration than a half note usually are the closing or beginning word in a statement. (example: Introduction to Papa Don't Take No Mess, or Maceo solo in Inner City Blues) This makes Funk playing one of the most challenging of all styles. While less complex in harmonic structure, Funk playing requires the highest discipline with respect to rhythmic execution. Bad Funk soloists run out of the focus and stamina required to stay rhythmically in the groove and they revert to blowing long notes, altissimo or other gimmicks to stay in the solo.
4. Statements in eighth and sixteenth notes, often dotted and syncopated are the rule.
5. The use of triplets is very common. Triplets, mordents, ghost and grace notes are staples in great Funk soloing. All of these devices should be practiced, along with the discipline of soloing using short duration (drum beat-like) notes.
6. Always know where the "1" is. The downbeat of a new measure. Hit the 1 or have a good reason for not doing so.
7. Tone development is as important as it is in Classical playing. Having a strong center is a great asset in Funk playing. A Funk soloist is like a preacher delivering a sermon at the pulpit. Projection and confident story telling are essential. Most players use vibrato sparingly. Maceo uses it very effectively often as a little shake on the tail end of a funky note. Dexter Gordon does that like a master musician.
8. Having a plan as to where the solo is going is another essential. Any solo should tell a story, but in Funk soloing, running out of runway (ideals) is most pernicious. Trying to stay in the groove does not afford a player the time to problem-solve the trajectory of the solo. More than any other musical style, missing just one beat can result in your band leader or audience saying or thinking things like this: "Jimmy, hey Jimmy! Move back with that little funny horn, you ain't say'in nothing. Move out! Move out!" RIP JB.
9. Repetition isn't a weakness, it's a strength. Repeating a phrase multiple times brings the audience along with the player. It sets up tension as the listeners brace for what is coming next. It also lends credibility to the statement. If what you state isn't important enough to repeat it, it's just an ephemeral piece of noise.
10. Playing too many notes is worse than playing too few. Fewer notes played on time is far more effective than 32nd runs sprayed over the rhythm section.
11. Slurring vs. tonguing. Great Funk players do far more tonguing than slurring. There is a cadre of Smooth Jazz players who are excellent musicians that slur, slip and slide over funky beats, but the greats like Eddie Harris, Maceo, and Sinclair Pickney use sluring strategically, if not sparingly.
12. To play a Funk solo is to dance, in part. I struggle with that because some people, including an idiot sax teacher I once had, believed that you can't be a great sax player if you can't dance. As in, literally. In a club. But, insofar as a Funk solo engages the player in a rhythmic expression, it is a dance. It also asks the same question we're asked when we're on the club dance floor. "Are you shy about this, or are you gonna swing your butt?"
Which brings me to the last and most important thing to do to play Funk, or even to play like Maceo.
Have fun, or get off the floor.
Good stuff, Siggie. I pretty much agree. I would say that you don't have to be able to dance to play funk -- but it sure helps. I liked that you said "To play a Funk solo is to dance ... "Are you shy about this, or are you gonna swing your butt?" If you're going to play a strong, grooving funk solo, you have to put yourself out there with confidence and authority and make statements -- you have to swing your butt as if you were on the dance floor.
Two things:
In terms of note duration, I meant to say that most notes are less than a beat and a half in duration. Playing long notes is a departure from a percussive presentation in soloing. The head is another mater altogether.
Dancing. I grew up in a family, and a neighbor hood of dancers. Dancing got you dates. Dancing got you respect. Failure to dance well could get you knocked out. I'm an expert on dancing culture. Any student or musician reading this should listen, but form their own opinion. I'll tell you a secret. And, as a Black man who grew up in the "hood" you better not share this secret.
Dancing well requires practice, not innate genetic talent.
You better not tell anyone! I swear...
"Feeling the beat, rhythm, being a "natural," those are abstract, non-measurable traits, and like Heisenberg's quantum measurement conundrum, the act of measuring "feeling the beat" changes the measured quantity. If you grew up shy about dancing, or in an environment where it was not done, you probably didn't practice dancing.
Dancing is the act of applying coordinated (!) movements. Dancing moves in any complexity beyond a head nod are like fingering arpeggios on a sax. The most "natural" dancer will look like a Steve Martin character trying to rhythmically and accurately finger a scale to Funk tune -- if they haven't practiced the coordination required to play a scale.
More pernicious: The Funk soloist who dances to his solo, but ain't saying nothing on the horn.
It's all about articulation and timing. Transcribe and listen to a lot of Maceo. Maceo also had some specific fingerings he used to accomplish the change in tone on a single note. Check out 8:45 in this video:
Hope that helps.
Hope that helps.
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