Christmas is coming and I'm the rhythm guitarist for our school production of 'The Wiz'. I'm not amazing but I consider myself quite good at guitar but I can't get funk. It just baffles me!
I am a lead guitarist, which is part of the issue. I play high level pieces, all of which chord-less and fast paced. Now that I come to do laid back, funky, chordal guitar, I am falling to pieces. The lead guitarist ironically is far better at the chords. There is something about what he does that makes them sing and song far nicer than mine. This is really hard to explain so you'll have to forgive me but my chords just sound like I've just started learning. I know pretty much all the necessary chord shapes, my strumming and muting is up to standard, I'm using a good guitar but it still sounds bad.
I use strumming patterns like follows:
I have a stratocaster with a Marshall amp using neck-mid pickup and a slightly distorted tone. Am I doing something wrong. Help would be great. Thanks :)