Guitar Instructor Dyce Kimura

Intermediate guitar lessons in Miami brought to you here on youtube by Dyce Kimura, at your service, and we’re going to play some funk.

So check this out. Let me adjust this camera. I want you to see my right hand. I’m going to be explaining both hands to you. In today’s lesson it’s going to be for intermediate and advanced. In other words, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’re probably not ready for this lesson (I offer intermediate guitar lessons in Miami). Let me just say that upfront. So for those of you who are ready to continue, let us continue. We’re going to play some funk. I’m going to play to some O’Jays tune, this is for the love of money. I’m going to improvise and jam a little bit and show you the fundamentals of how to think as a funk guitar player. This is going to get you started.

Basically we’re in the key of D. I’m using a Strat. I’m in the fourth position. You can go to the fourth position of the neck pickup. Kind of get a warmer bright sound. You know a warmer bell- like sound for funk. Strats are great. Telecasters are great. I’m using a little bit of gain, almost totally clean. This is clean on my amp. This is a Hughes and Kettner. I’m adding a little bit of drive with the tube screamer. Actually I’m going to bring up the highs a little bit, back off the gain. It gets a nicer blend. So I’m going to try and explain this concept to you. I’m going to start by playing a little bit for you. If you like what I’m playing stick around and I’ll explain it to you. I also offer intermediate guitar lessons in Miami.

This is the O’Jays “for the love of money”. I’m going to do some easy, basic funk in the key of D. Check it out. They get down a little bit there. So it’s a nice place to cut it. So before I get carried away by what’s going on, I’m always in the key of D and I’m using the pentatonic here. Disclaimer like I said in the beginning of the lesson, if you don’t know what this stuff is, this lesson probably isn’t for you. And I also offer intermediate lessons in Miami. For those of you who know, this is the D pentatonic. I’m actually in Dorian mode, that’s why I’m using that. And I’m isolating two strings at a time. One, two, or three strings at a time constantly. With funk, if you can try to play two strings at a time constantly – those by the way are called double stops. That’s like a slang word in guitar for two strings. The technical word is called an interval. So you have an interval like this note in this note. So you are going to use the first string, and then the second string, and I’m on pentatonic in the thirteenth fret. I offer intermediate lessons in Miami. So the pinky, if I played both of those notes and then I go back to the thirteenth fret first string, and the twelfth fret second string, and you notice that’s in the Dorian mode. This hand, the right hand of the funk never stops. This is always going. So this is chunking up and down constantly and then you’re just choosing when you want to push down the left hand to engage. So you either engage the note or you can not engage and let it flow over the strings and don’t act as a cut, like this. And you can move that note like this. I just moved it. So that’s one example. That’s one phrase I just showed you. It’s the funk phrase. It is delicious, isn’t it? And you can also do another one which is here. I offer guitar lessons in Miami. And this is one of my favorites as well. This is just the octave of the first one. The first note we were doing, I just had my pinky on thirteenth fret on the first and second string at the same time. And then you bring back that second string one fret to the twelfth fret where you continuously play that first string thirteenth fret. I offer guitar lessons in Miami.

Intermediate Guitar Lessons in Miami

Dyce Kimura Guitar Instructor

Now this note is a F. It is the thirteenth fret first string. If I play the lower octave of that F, which is here on the 3^rd string 10^th fret, and I can play that 12^th fret 2^nd string at the same time. Again this is in Dorian. So I’m going to start from here, keeping that first finger on the 3^rd string 10^th fret, and then I’m going to put the pinky on the 2^nd string 12^th fret, and I’m going to slide the pinky up a fret and continue to play the 3^rd string with the 2^nd string and I come back (I offer intermediate guitar lessons in Miami). So the interval is changing, the double stop is changing. So the 3^rd string is constant and the 2^nd string changes. Let me show you how to apply these concepts. I offer intermediate guitar lessons in Miami. So we have…. And then we got the lower octave. With that cutting up and down, and then engaging whenever I want. I’ll bring you back to the O’Jays. I’m playing this song “for the love of money”. I’m coming around the 1 minute 1:04 mark. Here we go.

Intermediate Guitar Lessons in Miami Advice

They do a little break down there so I’m going to end it here. That was the application of that phrase. Pretty simple. I offer intermediate guitar lessons in Miami. You’ve just got to find that groove. You don’t want to be too early, you don’t want to be too late. You just want to sit nicely in the groove. And you’re really at this point, the key to funk is to let the bass player and the drummer do all the work. Like they are laying it down, and the people are clapping and dancing and you just need to be the cherry on top. You don’t need to do any heavy lifting. You don’t need to play that baseline, you don’t have to do any of that stuff. You just have to put a little ding-a-ling-a-ling, it’s easy. A little funk guitar for you. And I offer intermediate guitar lessons in Miami.

If you want to see a blog that show you how to get my electric guitar tone click here.  Now, if we can go to level two. I’m still kind of in the Pentatonic /Dorian, and I’m using both concepts. So there is this thing I can do which is a double stop on the 2^nd and 3^rd string on the 10^th fret, just one thing or just mash it down. And then I can go to the 3^rd finger that can also mash it down on the 12^th fret 3^rd and 2^nd string. Notice that rhythmic approach where I’m coming in and out of engagement but I’m moving in 8^th notes or 16^th notes. That’s kind of cool. I teach intermediate guitar lessons in Miami. Let’s see if I can apply that. I forgot to do that mean green section that just goes to G minor, and an A minor and then it goes back to D. And that’s it. That’s really basic. This is kind of intermediate in the introductory funk. But it’s also kind of an intermediate lesson. I teach intermediate guitar lessons in Miami.

Just a recap, Dorian, let me use this note, which is that 2^nd string 12^th fret, so it’s basically, here’s your mode. So this note, the octave is here. So the pentatonic goes into that Dorian, which I can use. Let me jam for you on this concept. I’m going to play kind of some freestyle and we’ll see what comes out of it here. Here we go. You see me kind of applying some of these principles. It’s kind of difficult just there because the track got exceptionally busy, so I might have another pass at it in just a second. I teach intermediate guitar lessons in Miami. One thing I want to really leave with you is the concept that if it is not broke don’t fix it. That’s really true with funk. I think so. They just keep doing the same thing over and over. And it’s not about being profound and different every time, it’s about saying “hey man, that thing I said earlier was great. I’m going to say it again. And that thing I said earlier was great. I’m going to say it again.” It’s like they don’t apologize for doing the same thing over and over, and it kind of forces you to dance. It kind of forces you to funk, it forces you to groove. So if it is not broke do not fix it. Don’t keep trying to fix it. Don’t keep trying to add more mojo and flavor and phrasings and new interpretations of things, and just be cool with doing the same old thing. I teach intermediate guitar lessons in Miami. Watch me funk out a little bit more before we wrap this up. Check it out.

You know, I heard Bruce Lee say, “You must be like a water”, and he said, “You must be where your opponent is not”, and I don’t know anything about Kung Fu but I tell you, that’s kind of true with funk. I offer intermediate guitar lessons in Miami. You must be where your opponent is not, the guitar player must be where the drums and bass is not. You have to think of that. You don’t want to be on top of each other. You guys have to be syncopating and complementing each other constantly. We are always just somewhere else accenting something different or maybe you are at the same time for a second and then you diversify and you are also late to change, so there’s a lot going on with some good funk playing. I teach intermediate guitar lessons in Miami. What I did was I tried to keep it as basic as I could, but just funking out in the key of D in either D minor pentatonic or if you know the mode D Dorian, and I’m jamming to the O’Jays “for the love of money”, that’s a cool jam. Just find it on YouTube and start jamming to it. So check it out. Leave your comments, subscribe, like if you liked it. Hit me up if you want to get a skype lesson, I also teach intermediate guitar lessons in Miami, and I’ll see you at the next video.