This guitar part is classic Nile Rogers! Great 16th note rhythm, classic triad chords with awesome inversions and movements across the fretboard. Getting the chords moving quickly can be a challenge, but well worth sticking at to get this super cool guitar part together.
The song is made up of a set of really cool chords, which are all drawn out below. Notice how we can take those basic triad chords and change the bass note to make a super cool sounding chord. Nile Rogers uses these a lot, and they are used a lot in this style.
The most important thing in this track is to change the chords at the right time.. Which can be tricky! We are regularly changing chords during the same bars, and sometimes many times within the bar. Simone walks you through this clearly in the video, so be sure to get that first. As for the actual strumming pattern, it looks something like this (remember you can vary this as you like and certainly as you get more confident with it).
Ready to move on? Remember to check out every lesson in this unit first – then try the next unit...
This song demonstrates the power of the funky riff! It has to be one of the most well known guitar riffs for most people, and it's all thanks to that classic Nile Rogers groove! As with most Nile Rogers riffs, it's simply based on triad or minor 7th chords, with cool little extra notes or inversions of chords. It's great fun to play and learn!