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!
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 next step is to understand the timing. The basic strumming continues through every single chord, but you must remember that the chords generally 'push' in. So rather than starting on the beat number 1, they start on the "4 and" beat, as you can see below. The first pattern is just to demonstrate where the very first hit comes in, but all you then need to do is loop the second rhythm.
As you progress through the song you can vary up where you play the A and G chords, as well as learn a few more chords for the chorus of the track. These chords are all shown below.
All done?
Congratulations
You've now completed Song Jukebox: Nile Rogers and taken a huge step forwards in your guitar playing journey.
Feel free to bask in glory for a while, or go ahead and try another course if you're hungry for more.