The Funkmasters - The James Brown Rhythm Sections - Book Review

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This is a review of the book 'The Funkmasters' by Allan Slutsky and Chuck Silverman. This book is not just for those learning how to play bass, it also includes drum parts and guitar parts. So it can serve as an instructional source for a rhythm section.

So What's The Funkmasters About?

The Funkmasters is a book/CD package chronicling some of the best work of the James Brown band rhythm sections during the period 1960 to 1973. 23 songs are discussed and each song has individual mini lessons on the bass line, the drum line and the guitar line. Additionally there is brief biographical and stylistic information about all the players involved.

How Is The Funkmasters presented?

The book is hard bound, around 140 pages long and comes with two CDs that reproduce every single note in the book. Each song is presented as a master score - that is all the instruments are together - and the accompanying CD track has all the instruments played. Then each individual part has its own mini lesson - which is also reproduced on the CD, often at slower tempos to facilitate learning.

The songs transcribed in the Funkmasters focus heavily on grooves. So for individual songs there might be mini lessons on the verse groove, the chorus groove and the bridge groove. The songs are presented in a chronological order so that you can trace the development of the James Brown sound over time - and each song is presented in its historical context.

Songs transcribed include Think, Papa's Got A Brand New Bag, Out Of Sight, I Got You, I Got The Feeling, Licking Stick, Funky Drummer, Sex Machine, Super Bad, Hot Pants, Make it Funky, The Payback and more.

How Could The Funkmasters Be Better?

The Funkmasters book could be improved in the following ways in my opinion. Firstly, as I never tire of saying the book could be spiral bound. That way if you are going to use it for lots of studying - and there are lots of grooves to work on in this book - it will lie flat on your music standing without sustaining any damage.

Secondly the book is a rhythm section study. But if you are working on it with a fellow drummer and guitarist then each of you have to own the book, and you each have to damage your binding to get it to lie flat on a music stand. A better way might have been to have a 'Rhythm Section Practice Version' where the individual instrument parts for each song are printed on detachable pieces of paper so that the musicians can put those on their music stands.

Thirdly some interviews with some of the surviving rhythm section members would have added some additional background material to the book that would have seriously enhanced it. Bass Player Magazine did an issue with interviews with the surviving James Brown bassists which was both illuminating and inspiring. That could of material - repeated with the drummers and guitarists - would have made an excellent addition to the book.

Summary

If you're interesting in adding funk to your how to play bass journey then this is a great primer. James Brown was about grooves - and this is a thesaurus of sweat stained grooves that is essential vocabulary for you to learn. This book gets 4 and a half stars (it loses half a star for the solid binding).

If you want more bass related info, head over to my how to play bass website where you'll find video lessons, articles, reviews and much more. There's also a monthly ezine you can sign up for - in return for signing up you'll get a PDF file with 5 cool bass lines in - and each month's ezine features a bass line in music notation and bass tab. http://www.how-to-play-bass.com/

Bass Grooves by Jon Liebman

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What's Bass Grooves About?

Jon Liebman is the author of several highly respected bass tuitional books covering various styles of bass guitar. His latest book - subtitled 'the ultimate collection' - is a collection of riffs, licks and grooves in various styles.
The grooves are collected into various sub-styles. Those styles are:

(i) Blues
(ii) Jazz
(iii) Rock
(iv) Funk/R&B
(v) Reggae
(vi) Country
(vii) Latin
(viii) Other Grooves (gospel, hip hop, disco, etc)

The author's aim is to provide you with a source book for licks and grooves in different styles that you can master and add to your bass playing 'idea' book. These are practical licks that you can in working situations - ranging from jams, working bands and original bands.

How Is It Presented?

Bass Grooves is 96 pages long and published by Hal Leonard. Hal Leonard have pretty high production standards, so the printing is very clear and very readable. All of the musical examples are presented in notation and bass tab.
Additionally there is a CD that accompanies the book that has all of the licks recorded on it so that you can hear how the bass licks sound. The bass is panned to one channel, so it's very easy to pan your stereo and then play along with the drums and the chordal backing (guitar).

Production standards on the CD are also really good - the CD sounds good and the separation of the instruments is precise, so the CD really does work as something you can practice along with.

What Topics Are Covered?

The different areas of bass grooves that are covered were summarized briefly above. Most styles of music are covered here - even if only briefly.

How Could This Book Be Better

There are some areas that would make a good back outstanding in my opinion.

Firstly - and a pet peeve of mine - the book has a hard binding. This means it won't lie flat on your music stand. I don't know why Music Publishers won't publish books that are meant for working bass players in spiral bound format - or give us the option to have that, even if it costs extra. If you use a book with this kind of binding a lot you'll end up damaging the spine and the book will fall apart. I have a number of books in my library where this has happened - and yet my copy of Standing In The Shadows of Motown (which is spiral bound) and I have had for nearly 20 years is still in really good condition.

The second area the book could be improved is in some guidance for beginners. Most beginners won't know how to take these grooves and adapt them to different keys. Or how to adapt them to different chord progressions.
Or different styles of music. A detailed tutorial on how to do that would have been an excellent feature.

The third area where the book could be improved is with the CD. Some of the grooves will be too fast for beginners to play along too. The provision of backing tracks at say three different tempo levels would have made the grooves far more useful for many beginners.

Review Summary

Although I've pointed out some areas where this book could be improved I have to be realistic and probably the first and third areas I pointed out would probably substantially increase the cost and decrease the profit margins. So there's little likelihood of that ever happening, at the end of the day it's the Publisher who sets the rules on these kind of decisions.

This is a very good book though - and I highly recommend it. Working through each groove will give you a vocabulary of ideas that will really help develop your playing. Additionally I'd recommend that you learn to read music if you can't - these examples are provided in all keys so they are good reading practice too. You can never have enough 'good stuff' to sight read. If you only buy the book for that you'll get your money's worth.

I'd rate this book at 4 and a half stars. (The half star deduction is for the binding - I loathe solid bound music books!). This is a good addition to the library of any one who wants to learn how to play bass.

If you want more bass related info, head over to my how to play bass website where you'll find video lessons, articles, reviews and much more. There's also a monthly ezine you can sign up for - in return for signing up you'll get a PDF file with 5 cool bass lines in - and each month's ezine features a bass line in music notation and bass tab. http://www.how-to-play-bass.com/