Like Pedro the pooch there are some guitar licks that just make you want to scratch behind the ear with your hind claws...read on...
In Indie music the rhythm guitar player is the friend of the bass player and does what he is told, see Bone Head from Oasis...strummy strummy AAAA GGGG DDDD all the way to the bank...In Funk and Disco rhythm guitar is a vital itch inducing ingredient to a funky brew, here are me n' Pedro's favs...
Sly and the Family Stone - In Time
Great opening lick from the under rated Freddie Stone on a track that was a favorite of Miles Davis. His spidery interlocking riffs can be heard to best effect on the albums "Fresh" and "There's a Riot Going On".
See also: " You Can Make It If You Try".
James Brown - Funky President
You could pick virtually any classic period James Brown track and find a wealth of brilliant guitar work but this is my favourite!
See also: "Brother Rapp/Ain't It Funky Now" medley live.
Talking Head - Moon Rocks
David Byrne was always an overlooked player, despite being nominally a punk group his playing had little of the bar chord blasting of his contemporaries instead drawing inspiration from such source as Bohannon, Fela Kuti and Parliament.
See also: "Found A Job".
The Temptations - Shaky Ground
Great scene setting riff that sounds like it was played on barbed wire, then leads into one of the best bass riffs of all time. In an attempt to make the suit wearing Temptations catch up with the new psychedelic funk movement of Sly Stone their producer simply hired Funkadelic, the freakiest and most spaced of the competition to play the backing track. The guitar player is Eddie Hazel, the bassist Billy Nelson.
See also: "My Girl" intro riff.
Fela Kuti - Zombie
Talking of Fela Kuti here is a groove as long and strong as a python and guitars as needling as a tsetse fly. All of his music features crazy guitar that sounds like the meeting point between Funkadelic, Captain Beefheart and Steve Reich minimalist music.
See also: " Lady".
Cameo - Freaky Dancing
Before they became a synth driven new wave act Cameo had ten members and vied with the mighty Ohio Players for the worst hair and silliest vocals in funk. None of this would have mattered if they had not also cut some shaggy haired monsters from the funk lagoon like this..
See also: "Rigor Mortis".
Norma Jean - I Like Love
The shimmering opening riff is the work of legendary producer/songwriter and session player Nile Rodgers. Having worked with Bowie, Madonna and Duran Duran, he also produced this little know gem from a former singer with his band Chic.
See also: "Lost in Music".
Betty Wright - Clean Up Woman
Perennial classic riff, one of those songs, like "Satisfaction", where the riff rather than the song is what people remember.
See also: "Shoorah Shoorah".
Chaka Khan - Fate
Infuriatingly I can't find this track on Youtube so you will have to make do with the introductory guitar sample as robbed by Stardust. Spotify the original as its great!
So also: "Clouds".
Average White Band with Ben E. King - Star in the Ghetto
Again no joy on Youtube, but I first heard the opening lick as used by N.W.A on "If It Ain't Ruff", see below, and then spent years looking for what it was(before Whosampled came into my life) then stumbled onto it on this obscure AWB collaboration..
See also: "Cut the Cake".
Main Ingredient - California My Way
As sampled on "Things Done Changed" by Biggie Smalls, an absolute killer cut...
So also: the rest of the album "Euphrates River".
Jean Knight - Mr Big Stuff
Nice 'fro and trouser suit Ms Knight! I feel sorry for Mr Big Stuff, I bet he didn't get any good loving that night...Classic riff sampled by Beastie Boys and Heavy D (the real life Mr Big Stuff) and a hundred others..
See also: no more hits for Jean unfortunately so we will go for the similar "Shame, Shame, Shame" by Shirley & Company.
Defunkt - Make Them Dance
Cult band who virtually invented "punk funk", they played their quirky free funk in mainly punk and new wave clubs in New York, they were lumped in with the "No Wave" movement rather than funk, and had lyrics written by a Hungarian poet in exile from Communism, three things that probebly held them back. Amazing guitars though, one of them is Vernon Reid later in Living Colour but don't hold that against them...
See also: two great albums on one CD, "Defunkt-Thermonuclear-Sweat"
Can - Moonshake
Lovely German disco from the band that specialised in lovely German disco...and horrible prog rock freakouts...brilliant weaving guitars and a middle that sounds like someone playing with a lighter and one of those bird calling thingermyes...
See also: "One More Night".
Marvin Gaye - Got To Give It Up
Sounding weirdly not unlike the Can track above, the first half of this disco epic is dominated by the almost avant garde musings of James Jamerson's bass line, then at about the 7.00 minute mark the dueling guitars come in. Gaye himself say "don't stop, this is the best part of it" as the players wiggle around the groove. As none other than Lou Reed said "most players would give their left ball to play like that", I wouldn't necessarily go quite that far, maybe just my little finger?
See also: "I Want You".
Mandrill - Fencewalk
Some righteous swaggering wah wah action from these latin funk masters, like Santana but ermmm good...Managed a rare fusion of funk and rock that actually worked. Would also make any list for most shrieking guitar solo...
See also: "Ape is High (and so and I!)
Slave - Slide
This is a bit of a cheat actually, while it features a master class of slinky interlocking rhythm riffs its the mental guitar solo that so unexpectedly leaps from the funk strumming that makes your hair stand on end!
See also: "Drac is Back".
Betty Davis - He Was A Big Freak
Girlfriend of both Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis, she introduced Jimi to Jazz and Miles to rock...nuff said...
See also: "Your Mama Wants You Back"
Jimmty "Bo" Horne - Dance Across The Floor
Got this from the sampled used in Da Lench Mob's "Freedom Got An AK", one of my all time fav rap tracks. Written by KC of Sunshine Band fame...
See also: everything else he did was rubbish so go for "Get Down Tonight" by KC and the Sunshine Band.
Maingrey with help from Pedro de Dawg
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