The Funkmasters -- The Great James Brown Rhythm Sections 1960-1973: For Guitar, Bass and Drums, Book & Online Audio

by Chuck Silverman, Alfred Music

In this unique rhythm section workbook, 23 James Brown classics have been transcribed, broken down into individual lessons, and meticulously recreated on two one-hour CDs. Featuring legendary grooves from the guitarists, bassists, and drummers who ignited the Godfather of Soul for over three decades (including Jabo Starks, Bernard Odum, Clyde Stubblefield, Bootsy Collins, Jimmy Nolen, Country Kellum, and more), this book will enlighten and challenge your soul.

Genres: Music

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[AP · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book analyzes, transcribes the drum, bass, guitars of 23, classic James Brown hit songs. The 2 accompanying CDs contain separate drum, bass, & guitar tracks and one with all three instruments, for 4 separate tracks per song. The brass/horns, keyboards, vocals are not included in the transcriptions or CD tracks.

I got this book to use JB's funk grooves to improve my rhythm guitar playing. Briefly sight reading through the book, I'm impressed by the guitar & bass transcriptions-- they sound accurate and look accessible (to the intermed guitarist). I can't comment on the drum transcriptions since I can't read drum notations. I'm looking forward to learning to play a few JB classics. I'll find out in a few months whether this book has improved my rhythm guitar skills.

James Brown is heavily sampled by hip hop artists; this book gives a fascinating, detailed analysis of funky grooves.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great transcriptions (tab+traditional notation) of bass, guitar, and drum parts for 20+ quality James Brown tunes.