Awesome Funk

Groove Breakdown

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E Dominant 7 Arpeggio (chord tones)

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Scott Devine

Awesome Funk Groove Breakdown (L#94)

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Copyright © 2013 Scott’s Bass Lessons

Awesome Funk Groove Breakdown(L#94)

Your Action Plan

In this lesson you're going to learn how you can use non-chordal tones (i.e. wrong notes) to expand your choice of notes when creating grooves and fills.

1. The groove we'll be working through for lesson isbased on an E7 groove (E Dominant 7th). Before youwork through this lesson I want you to becomefamiliar with the E7 chord tones and where they arewithin the first 12 frets of the fingerboard. To do thislearn the E7 arpeggio from the three differentfingerings I discuss within my 'How to PracticeArpeggios' lesson. It's important to remember thatknowing your arpeggios/chord tones over the entirefingerboard and being able to play each of themusing different fingerings/patterns is the fastest wayof 'unlocking' the fingerboard. It will be one of thefoundational pillars of your bass playing.

2. Now it's time to work through the tutorial. As always,start slowly and learn each part of the groovethoroughly. If you're struggling with any particularpart of the groove, try to loop that particular sectionso you only play the part you're having difficulty withand you're playing it over and over again. Loopingsmall sections of a groove like this is a great way toiron out any glitches within your technique and cleanup a groove that has any particularly tricky bits withinit.

Copyright © 2013 Scott’s Bass Lessons

One of the most critical things you must do whilst playing this riff is trying to 'see' the chord tones on the fingerboard. So don't just look at the notes you're playing, you also need to see the pattern/shape that surrounds it by visualising the fingering pattern that those particular notes of the groove originate from. By doing this you're tying together the chord tone/arpeggio shapes you've been memorising to actual music. This is one of the biggest issues I come across on a regular basis. Bass players don't tie the two together. They practice their scales and arpeggios, but don't use them or 'see' them when creating grooves and solos. By using exercises like the ones I've covered it will make sure you're always striving to tie the two together - theory and actual music.

3. Once you know your E7 arpeggio with all of it'sdifferent fingerings, can play and understand thegroove within the lesson, it's time to create your owngrooves. To start with pick just one chord type in adifferent key than E. For instance you could pick G7.Now double check that you know the arpeggio fromthe three different positions I discuss within my 'Howto Practice Arpeggios' lesson. Doing this will give youa clear visualisation of the chord tones all over theneck.

Now I want you to create your own groove using the chord tones and the chromatic approach tone concept that we covered within the lesson. If you struggle to come up with an idea then start by finding a rhythm you like. Simply adding the chord tones and chromatic notes to that rhythm will give you a great groove!

As always… see you in the shed! Scott :)