Now that you have some experience with basic R & B bass lines, it's time to take the leap into funk music. Once R & B emerged from the blues and began to take on a life of its own, R & B gradually began to get a little funkier. R & B bass originally relied on grooves such as swing and shuffle. These styles employed more of a walking bass line. But as R & B evolved away from these grooves, bassists began to play more sophisticated rhythms.

In essence, the quarter-note walking bass line was now spiced up with more notes and more rhythmic variety. However, most funk uses the same note content as early R & B. Figure 9-5 uses the same chord changes and scales from Figures 9-3 and 9-4; however, you will ornament them rhythmically, or funk them up. Play the eighth notes in this figure straight. In other words, do not give them a swing or triplet feel.

There has to be some other harmonic material that bassists use to enliven the music. An interesting addition to the basic framework is chromatics. Remember, chromatics refer to half steps or semitones on the fretted electric bass. (Upright basses do not have frets so they can subdivide pitch almost infinitely. The same is true of fretless bass guitars.) On your instrument, a chromatic means that you will move up or down the frets in a consecutive manner. In other words, you will not skip any frets in your movement along the fretboard.

Figure 9-5. Three chords funked up.

Chromatics are used to connect chord tones and scale degrees. A common place to see chromatic movement is in between the third and fifth scale degrees or the sixth and the eighth (octave) scale degrees. This is assuming that you're working off of a major pentatonic. Also, inserting a small chromatic passage between the second and major third scale degrees is common. In reality, you can use chromatics any way you see fit as long as it sounds right. Check out some chromatic ideas in Figure 9-6.

Figure 9-6. Using chromatics

Be careful of the syncopated rhythms!