A great deal of funk is rhythmically based on a two-
celled onbeat/offbeat structure, which originated in
sub-Saharan African music traditions. New Orleans appropriated the bifurcated structure from the Afro-Cuban mambo and conga in the late 1940s, and made it its own.
[7] New Orleans funk, as it was called, gained international acclaim largely because James Brown's rhythm section used it to great effect.
Simple kick and snare funk motif. The kick first sounds two onbeats, which are then answered by two offbeats. The snare sounds the backbeat.
Funk creates an intense
groove by using strong guitar riffs and bass lines. Like Motown recordings, funk songs used bass lines as the centerpiece of songs.
Slap bass's mixture of thumb-slapped low notes and finger "popped" (or plucked) high notes allowed the bass to have a drum-like rhythmic role, which became a distinctive element of funk.
In funk bands, guitarists typically play in a percussive style, often using the
wah-wah sound effect and muting the notes in their riffs to create a percussive sound. Guitarist
Ernie Isley of
The Isley Brothers and
Eddie Hazel of
Funkadelic were notably influenced by
Jimi Hendrix's improvised solos. Eddie Hazel, who worked with
George Clinton, is one of the most notable guitar soloists in funk. Ernie Isley was tutored at an early age by Jimi Hendrix himself, when he was a part of The Isley Brothers backing band and lived in the attic temporarily at the Isleys' household.
Jimmy Nolen and
Phelps Collins are famous funk rhythm guitarists who both worked with
James Brown. On Brown's "Give it Up or Turn it Lose" (1969), Jimmy Nolen's guitar part has a bare bones tonal structure. The pattern of attack-points is the emphasis, not the pattern of pitches. It's as if the guitar is an African drum, or idiophone. Note that the measures alternate between beginning on the beat, and beginning on offbeats.
