Bass Around the World #7: Later Funk Cold Sweat Style
The funk period of James Brown came about in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Rhythm became king with minimalistic one-chord progressions. By simplifying chord changes, funk musicians were free to use syncopation more extensively, usually in a familiar two-bar pattern. Sixteenth notes phrases were introduced and bass lines emerged as the hooks of songs.
As funk music was more about rhythm and syncopation, an emphasis on beat 1 was less necessary and bassists could play more ahead, cross-bar phrases where they combined eight and sixteenth notes. Great examples of later funk hooky bass lines are "Chameleon" by the legendary Paul Jackson playing with Herbie Hancock in Headhunters, or "Cold Sweat" by James Brown which is our reference example for today's lesson.
Nerdy fact: New Orleans Funk and Early Funk were based around eight notes and two-bar phrases, whereas Later Funk is felt in one-measure and sixteenth notes patterns. Some songs in this period had no progression at all, just an endless bass groove using the tonic with vocal and instrumental vamps on top of it.
And now... It's lesson time!
Let’s learn the bass line to the iconic and super funky song "Cold Sweat."
Regarding the structure—it is 16 bars vamp on D7, then 10 bars on C7, one bar off beat unison E, F, F#, G, one bar break, one bar off beat unison F, F#, G, and landing on the second beat of the following bar on G7.
Pay attention to the length of notes, it’s all about the right combination of staccato and legato notes. Also, be aware of sixteenth notes in the second bar of the bass pattern—it makes it all move forward and helps the bass line to move your body.
The tone material consists of D7 (D, F#, A, C) and C7 (C, E, G, Bb) arpeggios with chromatic passing notes between their respective major thirds and fifths.
This is a great and fun song to play, even for beginning players.
Enjoy & see you next time!
Source: The Bassist's Bible by Tim Boomer
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