Shake That Thang!

by Dave


Welcome to the Shake That Thang! webpage. The purpose of this document is to give you some idea of the partly-formed music that has been going in my head- which is my idea for a funk or funk adjacent tune, which is an excuse to play that thing we wanted to put into Get Up but didn't fit. I think this fits better.

Section I: Poorly Executed Demo

Here is a demo I made when the idea first came to me, so this is a very raw and less thoughtful form than I think we can achieve. Note that I used a random "funk" drumbeat I got off of looperman.com which might be better than the thank you beat, (see below) but I defer to our expert rhythm section to decide what might be better

Please note that during this poorly executed demo, the chords that I was playing were Am7 and D9, but due to my sloppy playing and because there’s only one note difference between the chords, they sound very much the same. But we want to play: Am7 to D7, which will have a better variation in sound between the two chords.  

Section 2 - Influences and Inspiration

For ease of explanation and clarity I have included here some videos as illustrations of the concepts I am trying to convey. I don't expect anybody to watch every part of all the videos, just watch it enough to get the idea. 

Chapter One:

A song that influences my concept: Tighten Up. The relationship between the Bass, Drums and Guitar is the focus here, especially the rhythm of the guitar part. The two chords used here are major 7ths, but I want to use a minor 7th chord.

 

Chapter Two: drums and funk drum rhythm


Speaking of looking for funky drum patterns, here is an example that I can actually play.  I thought maybe I should include it.


Sly and the Family Stone: Thank you (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)



Here is a breakdown and tutorial of the Thank You beat. It's very simple and seems like a good starting point, however again I leave it to our funky drummer to decide if this actually fits well or not.

Thank You clip starts at 52 seconds

 

Section III - The Nitty Gritty

Chapter 1: Two guitar parts:


I have designated a left guitar part and a right guitar part since they are  both rhythm guitar parts. Of the two, the left is more important to the drive and groove of the piece, giving the right guitar an opportunity to funk out with some pentatonic or dorian melody lines. Or they can switch off.

Shake That Thang - Left Guitar Part

Shake That Thang - Right Guitar Part

My belief/hope is that these chords will sound good together. There are 3 easy/basic voicing of D7 we can use, and two familiar shapes to play Am7 as well as F#m7b5 which seems like an exotic weird jazz chord but really it is another voicing of Am7: A C E F# (or Gb if you want to think of it that way) but F# is the bass note.

After jamming on this two chord vamp for a while, when it is time to play that interlude, on some predetermined signal ( yet to be determined) we can resolve the whole thing to E7, (I imagined a punchy bar bar bar bar bar! (1+2+3) and after a short drum fill also TBD) then we can go into the interlude part.

During the interlude, the left guitar can hit the Am7 Bomp-Bomp!

(Note: I would like to try A major here) at the beginning of the phrase, then switch to a muted chicka-chicka strum thing doubling or taking the place of the hat until the walking up portion that goes A C C# D D# E. Left guitar can play this part at first position ( essentially doubling up the bass) while right guitar plays it starting at the A on the 14 fret of the G string. Or left doesn't have to play anything there, you can just rest your hand from the previous 37 minute jam of barre chord madness.

Chapter Two: lyrics

I don’t have actual lyrics, but I do imagine repeatedly shouting  "Shake That Thang!" as well as a list of places one can shake it for example, "in the street, at the grocery store/ In the hallway, out the door, / at the beach, at the library/ In the parking lot, of the DMV/ In the sun, in the rain/ on the platform of the downtown train" etc.

Another possibility: 

"Got this feeling,
 can't get loose
I just want to, 
  shake my caboose

my friends and family, 
  think I'm insane
 I just want to,
 Shake that thang!"

Anyway maybe y'all can think up something more clever. Either way, I don't think it requires super well crafted lyrics if we can play it tight with a good groove, and repeatedly shouting "SHAKE THAT THANG!" 

Part F: Bass line.

I have something but I wonder if it is too complex. I will play it for you, but I didn't make a video about it. I will have to coordinate with Michelle on this.

Conclusion

I hope you understand and are inspired to help create this funky song. I think we can do it in a way that is not too technically challenging, is fun and sounds good. I hope I have laid this out in a sensible way and am eager to hear what you guide think about it.

Additional funk info resource for the guitar players: 

Paul Davids How Anyone Can Play The Funk
https://youtu.be/ADR4-sIXoPE