[Harp-L] funk style blues



Jay,

A couple of ideas/suggestions:

Don't necessarily restrict yourself to playing blues over the funk grooves. It's primarily a rhythmic thing, so cop the groove and go with the flow. Short repeating phrases sometimes work. Keep it simple and throw in little variations for flavor, but focus on keeping the groove. You actually don't need to play anything elaborate if the groove is solid. Punctuate rather than elaborate. Less is more. In music, repetition is not a fault, but an aesthetic device. This concept applies in spades when you're playing funk.

Keyboard players playing synths with seventies funk bands can provide you with a wealth of ideas for more sophisticated soloing over funk grooves. Bernie Worrell is one name that comes to mind (Parliament)-- arguably the funkiest keyboard player on the planet. Also, you can listen to the keyboard playing on "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" by The Gap Band for this style (I don't know who the keyboard player is). A lot of this type of stuff I've just heard on the radio and i can't readily name the bands or musicians, but this style of synth playing translates pretty well to harp if you stay open minded and GO WITH THE GROOVE. it's a rhythmic thing. It's not so much about what notes you play it's where you put them and when you play them. Melody isn't very important and DON'T FORCE FEED PRECONCEIVED LICKS if they don't fit the groove. You can actually be pretty uninhibited about what you play so long as you can cop the groove, play with economy and stay with the repetitive rhythmic nature of the groove.

I don't know if any of this makes sense. I can do it better than i can explain it. But i hope it gives you some ideas.

FWIW.

JP





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