What's up Funkateers???
I'm Josh with BassBuzz.
Bootsy's Funk Formula is super simple.
You can be a total beginner,
know no theory and still use
it to come up with basslines
like this:
[60's funk music]
and this:
and this!
I'm gonna teach you the formula
and then we're gonna play
a beginner funk bass groove together.
Let's hit it.
[BassBuzz theme]
I'm gonna teach you Bootsy's
Funk Formula in detail
but before I spend time talking about it,
how about we just do it together?
Before we play our full groove
we're just gonna play a D on
the 5th fret of the A string
together to this drum beat.
There are four beats in a
measure, one, two, three, four,
we're gonna hit on the One.
Two, three, four.
One, two, three, do that with me.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, just
keep laying that down.
One, two, three, four, one.
Now you keep doing that.
I'm gonna play some more notes.
Keep going.
I'll try something else.
So feel how even when I stop
playing all of those notes,
the groove is still there on the One.
And it doesn't really
matter what else I play.
Great let's stop on one more.
So can you feel how important the One is,
compared to all the other
stuff I was playing.
I could get away with a
lot of different basslines
and fills and weird stuff I
was trying over this drum beat.
As long as we came back to that One,
it all resolved and felt good.
Let me explain this in another way.
So I'm gonna put the drums back on
and just play it by myself.
So you just listen for
now, so here's the drums.
I'm gonna nail the One.
Couple times.
Now check this out.
Ugh, what's happening?
Where did the One go?
It starts feeling a little like unstable
and you don't know
what's happening, right?
Because I stopped laying down the One.
What is the One?
No, it doesn't have anything
to do with Neo or Morpheous.
Here's what we're talking about.
BOOTSY: Well, on the
One, is that, you know,
you got to count,
one, two, three, four,
BANG
Two, three, four.
Uh, it's the rhythm of life.
So everything is on the One.
We brought it all back.
You can play anything you
want in between those ones,
but always, BANG.
Bring it back so the people
can be right with you.
BANG.
So that's what everything
is on the One was all about,
and I got it from James Brown.
And you hit on the One.
One.
You know?
One.
You know?
And then you would try to
fit your different notes,
what you felt, in between them like...
You know, and that's the funk.
It's however you feel but you just have to
fit it between that space.
That little space that you got which is,
one, two, three, four.
one, two, you know, four.
And there you go, you got
your basic Funk Formula there.
You can do anything you
wanna do with it, you know?
If you don't already know him,
Bootsy Collins is a legendary bass player
who played with James
Brown, Parliament Funkadelic
and Bootsy's Rubber Band,
and the sound that he's
talking about of, On the One;
the drummer does a big
crash and the bass player
hits a big loud root note on one.
And sometimes the big hit on
one will happen every two bars,
instead of every one.
What Bootsy doesn't
really talk about is that
this isn't the only way to sound funky.
This is just a reliable formula
to nail that James Brown /
Parliament sound,
and come up with stuff
that sounds naturally funky
even with beginner funk bass.
We're gonna put this formula in practice
and play some more music together.
So let's take a listen to the full groove
we're gonna play and
start we'll learning it.
Let's start with just the
rhythm and the plucking pattern
and then we'll add the notes in in a bit.
So we'll just play the note
that we played earlier,
the 5th fret of the A string for now,
and we're gonna play a
rhythm that sounds like this.
One, and two, and three, and four.
And one, and two, and three, and four.
One, and two, and three, and four.
And one, and two, and three, and four and.
The pattern I'm gonna use to pluck that is
index, index, middle, index,
middle, index, middle, index.
And then reset,
index, reset,
index, middle, index,
middle, index, middle, index.
And then I reset.
Okay you wanna try that
with me, nice and slow.
Here we go.
One,
two, and three, and four,
and one, and two,
and three, and four,
and one, and two,
and three, and four,
and index and two,
index, middle, and four,
index, middle, and two,
index, middle, index, four.
One more time, one, and two,
and three, and four,
and one, and two, and three, and four.
Finish on one.
All right let's add in the notes.
So we'll start with
the index finger on the
5th fret of the A string
which hopefully you're very
cozy and friendly with by now.
Then we're gonna go pinky on
the 7th fret of the G string
to index on the 5th fret of the G string,
and then pinky on the
7th fret of the D string,
to index on the 5th fret of the G string,
and then last three notes,
pinky on the 7th fret of the D,
index on the 5th fret of the G,
to pinky on the 7th fret of the G.
So all together, index, pinky, index,
pinky, index, pinky, index, pinky,
and then back to the top.
Let's try that together
really slow just you and me
and then we'll start
playing with the band.
Here we go, one and two,
and three, and four,
and one, and two,
and three, and four,
and one, and two,
and three, and four,
and index, and two,
pinky, index, and four,
pinky, index,
and two, pinky, index, pinky,
one more time, one, and
two, and three, and four,
and one, and two, and three, and four,
finish on the first note.
All right we're gonna play
along with the track to
slow, medium, and full speeds.
Here is the slow, here we go.
One, two, three, four.
One, and two, and three, and four.
And one, and two, and three, and four.
And one, and two, and three, and four.
And one, and two, and three, and four.
And,
Sweet.
Now would be a good
time to click subscribe
and click the bell
so you're hip to it when
new lessons come out.
Before we go to the medium speed,
I'm gonna show you a shape
you can use on the neck
so you'll know how to fill
in the bar after the One,
with notes that will definitely work.
If you use the right shape
you can't possibly mess up
with choosing notes for a funk groove.
I'm gonna show you a four note shape
that we'll call the Funk Box
that'll work almost all the time.
Whether it's a major
chord, or a minor chord.
And here's what it looks like.
So we've got our starting note,
and then we go up a string and
up 2 frets for the next note
and then up two strings
on the same fret from the starting note
for the next note after that,
and then the last note is up two strings
and up two frets from where we started.
So starting point, up a
string and up two frets,
then up two strings from where we started,
and up two strings, and up two
frets from where we started.
If you know a little music theory
you'll know that these notes
are the root, 5th, flat 7th
and octave of whatever
key you're playing in.
And this is the shape that I used
to write our little groove
in the key of D, right?
Those are all notes within
this Funk Box shape.
So to use this on your own
first you gotta figure out the
root note by using your ear,
or by asking a bandmate.
And then all you have to do
is hit the root on the One
and then fill in the rest of the bar
with any of the notes from your Funk Box
in a place that sounds
good to you rhythmically.
We'll actually explore doing that together
after we do the medium speed play along.
Here we go, one, two, three, four,
One, and two, and three, and four.
And one, and two, and three, and four.
And index,
pinky, index
pinky, index, pinky, index, pinky.
One.
All right, now we're
gonna ride this groove
a little longer at the full speed
and we're gonna switch
over and do some hits
on the One halfway through
so keep your eyes peeled.
All right, here we go.
One, two, three, four.
Hit on the One.
One.
Two, three, four, one.
Three, four, uh.
Back to the groove, three, four.
Okay it's time to put together
everything you've learnt.
We're gonna take Bootsy's Funk Formula
of laying it down on the One.
We're gonna take our Funk
Box of our four notes
that'll definitely work
over this funk groove.
And you're actually gonna try
sticking some of your own notes into this.
So let me demonstrate for you.
I'm gonna be you and I'm
gonna do what you're gonna do,
so you just listen for now.
So I'll put on the track,
So I'll lay it down on
the One, just like before.
Just do that a couple
times to get comfortable.
One.
And all this space is where
I can put funk box notes,
so here I go, I'll go one.
And then I can play whatever
I want inside the bars.
The only rule is that it
has to feel good to you.
You can try stuff and it
doesn't feel good of course,
but that's all your aiming for right now.
It doesn't have to be a specific rhythm
or line up with a specific instrument,
just have to lay it down on the One,
fit in the Funk Box, and feel good to you.
Okay?
So I'm gonna start the track.
I'm just gonna lay it
down on the One with you,
and you're gonna do your own Funk Boxing.
Ready?
Just have fun with it.
Here we go,
One, two, three, four.
Anything you want in
here with Funk Box notes.
On the One.
As long as you hit that one,
you can do whatever you want.
Just do a few more of those.
Uh.
Sounds so nice, gotta hit me again.
Uh.
All right this is your last one,
play every note you can.
Ha.
Nice funkin'.
See, improvising and playing
funk, it's not that scary.
You just need a framework to work with,
so click subscribe and click the bell
if you wanna know when
new lessons come out,
and now you know what
Bootsy's been talking about
all these years.
BOOTSY: Gimme that one.
Give me that one.
Whatever you do, don't matter,
make sure you give me that one.
I said, "Oh you mean like that."
[imitating bass notes with his voice]
Yeah, that's it son!
I'm glad I thought of it.
Just hit a solid root note every bar,
or every couple bars,
and then fill in the
space with your Funk Box
or other notes that you
know how to put in there.
And you're off to a funky good time.
Let me know in the comments below
what your favorite tune is
that uses Bootsy's Funk Formula
and I'll see you soon.
[frenetic slap bass mess]
Oh no I'm stuck!
Help, click the subscribe
button to help me get unstuck.
You can check out all the
latest free bass lessons
right when they come out.
And you can click the
video preview over there
if you wanna check out
another bass lesson right now.
Ah, that's better.
Thank you.
