© Bluestronomical Publishing Inc. 2007

By Jackie Don Loe

~ Funky Blues ~

Next time the bandleader says, ‘Make it funky now!’ you can be sure and slide some of these dominant chord voicings in the song and establish a solid groove. The first two D9 chords work well in a James Brown style of tune, the third D9 chord has the T-Bone Walker grip that he used in "Stormy Monday" and the fourth D9 employs the famous Freddie King "Hideaway" voicing.
The D11 holds the first finger on the fifth fret for a Keith Richards feel while the two D13 chords have an inside grip used a lot by Robben Ford. The D7#9 is the classic Jimi Hendrix "Purple Haze" voicing and the D7sus4 sounds cool when you resolve it to a D7 chord. Experiment by sliding the grips above and below the chord by half steps and whole steps.

Dominant Chord Voicings

* The numbers following the chord letter are where you fret your fingers on the string.
If there is a "0" then the string is open, if there is an "x" then no note is played.

Solo Strategies
Thinking in modal terms, when improvising over a dominant chord you can use the "Minor Sub Approach" by substituting a minor scale starting a fifth above or a fourth below the root of the dominant chord.
For example in the key of G, the D7 is the fifth chord of G major, so the second chord would be A minor which uses the dorian mode. So while vamping in D7 you can solo in A dorian. The D mixolydian mode is also a good choice. Put some funk in it and get busy!
Enjoy, and always keep your ears open.

     - Jackie Don Loe -

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