| Intermediate Bass 8 Finger Funk By Roy Vogt Bass Instructor, Belmont University |
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In this column we're going to get out of the land of Swing and Bebop and venture into a style utilized by many well-known players including Francis Rocco Prestia, Bunny Brunel, Verdine White and most notably the late great Jaco Pastorius. This is a style of muting notes with the left or fretting hand to create a stacatto, funky sound.
All of these players do this in a slightly different fashion. Rocco frets with two or three of his fingers and uses the ring and/or pinky to mute the notes. I prefer the technique I saw Jaco using with Weather Report and in solo performances I was fortunate enough to be able to check out in the mid to late 1970s. Simply put, each time you fret a note, you lift up slightly to choke the sustain. Often, you also have to touch the string in more than one place to stop a harmonic from ringing.
By the way, the stock Jaco-esque sound can be achieved on a two pickup bass by slightly rolling off the neck pickup and rolling off some highs.
This is a cool way to add a lot of notes to a groove without lumbering all through everything. Needless to say, use it sparingly. I would never do this on a Country track or a Ballad, but it sounds fine with a funky, James Brown type feel (check out the Black Eyed Peas for an idea of how this works in Hip Hop).
I've written out a D major and mixolydian scale using this concept and then used it for some different grooves and ideas. Have fun and keep it funky!
- Finger Funk (MP3, 788k)
- Drums (MP3, 788k)
Peace and Low Notes,
Roy C. Vogt
Nashville Bassist
Bass Instructor, Belmont University, Nashville, TN
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