Ninth-chord stabs: funk and soul rhythm guitar
Short, syncopated stabs on E9 and D9, with silence between them, then B9 and a slide from E flat 9 up a fret into E9 to lead back. The ninth chord is funk's chord, and stabs, chords cut off the moment they're played, are how funk and soul guitar leaves space for the bass and drums. The skill is the cutting off: the silence has to be as exact as the stab.
Opens in the player looped and counted in, with drums playing along, and speeds up 5 % every 2 loops to 100 bpm. No account or microphone needed.
- Goal tempo
- 100 bpm
- Starts at
- 60 bpm
- Length
- 4 bars, looped
- Tuning
- E standard
- Time
- 4/4
- Level
- Intermediate
- Plays with
- Drums
How to play it
Release the pressure of the fretting hand right after each stab, keeping the fingers on the strings so the chord stops dead.
Every stab is one 16th long, then silence until the next. In bars 1 and 3: E9 on 1, on the a of 1, on the and of 2 and on 3, then D9 on 4 and E9 on the and of 4. Bar 2 moves the third-beat stabs late, onto the e and the a.
Bar 4 stabs B9 the same way, then plays E flat 9 on the and of 3, lets it ring for an eighth and slides it up a fret into E9 on beat 4 without picking again. That slide into the chord is a funk staple.
The diagrams over the tab show the shapes: E9 at the 7th fret, D9 at the 5th, B9 at the 2nd, all with the root on the A string. The hand keeps moving in 16ths, down on the beats and up between them, even when it doesn't hit the strings.
Mistakes to watch for
- Letting the stabs ring into the rests: the chord should stop the instant after it sounds.
- Stopping the strumming hand in the rests, so the off-beat stabs come in late.
- Picking the chord again after the slide, which breaks the glide into E9.
A speed plan
The player starts at 60 % of the goal and plays each tempo twice before stepping up:
- 60
- 65
- 70
- 75
- 80
- 85
- 90
- 95
- 100
That's 16 loops and about 3 minutes before you're playing at 100 bpm. If it stops being clean on the way, stop the ramp there and loop that tempo until it is. With a microphone or an audio interface you can record while you play instead: Demiurg checks every loop and steps up only after two clean ones in a row, and back down after a poor one. Strums are checked for when they land, not for which strings rang.
Questions
How fast should I play Ninth-chord stabs?
The goal is 100 bpm in 16th notes, which is 6.7 strums a second. Start wherever every strum is clean: the player begins at 60 bpm. Signed in, you can set a goal of your own, slower or faster, on the Exercises page.
What is a chord stab?
A chord played and cut off at once, so it sounds like a short hit. Funk and soul guitarists play mostly stabs, leaving room for the bass and drums, and the rhythm comes from where the stabs fall.
How do I stop chords ringing between stabs?
Release the pressure of the fretting hand straight after the chord, keeping the fingers lightly on the strings. The picking hand can help by resting on the strings, but the fretting hand does most of it.
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