Larry Graham - Rockschool

[atthewburns1229m]

This video is a favorite on Kenya

[Cxaxakluth]

ROFL that was awesome. They could just write a song on queue.

[MaggotBrain10]

Cool win of all.  Time.

[six2112]

There is too much coolness in that room....i need to step away for a minute

[BassNewbieNorway]

@six2112 LOL me too

[JoshWMyers]

I remember eating this stuff up as a kid, but always thinking that the whole Rockschool series was really hokey and cheesy. I really was wrong. There's so much win in these videos...

[haziest]

is that a music man bass?

[Apathesis0]

If you dislike this video, you got fucking chowder for brains. Stay inside your caves, you soulless trolls.

[Greenman422]

Everytime i listen to the first riff and watch his right hand strum , i simply cant comprehend wtf is going on with this awesome funk thang.

[thatguyfromny]

is that LeBron on the guitar back there??? LOL

[roscotaco]

@thatguyfromny lmao..that is hilarious..hahaa look just like him

[MrMudclub]

yeah baby this is the biz.

[ragu0686]

I could almost hear percussions in the 1st guitar riff....how the hell does he do that???

[latinoheatwhoa]

@ragu0686 hey man try muting ur strings lightly and play a little more percussive and u will enable the guitar to get that sound

[Venomguitar]

damn. i wish i had a machine that could generate the amount of funk i just heard. it would probably cost alot of money and overload with funk!

[xxxChrist]

Fucking great stuff, guys who can actually PLAY!!!!! No auto-tune, no bullshit.

Thanks for the post.

[iamilocano]

lebron james on guitars hah! kidding!

[dkapone]

Tony Maiden (from Rufus) is simply put: Da Shittt!!!!!

[ragu0686]

black mans got groove

[adebicki]

that ain't no white man sittin' back there playin' on that tele!.. :D

[Catsincages]

@adebicki still a man tho, idiot.

[adebicki]

@Catsincages can't u laugh at a joke? btw, i mean't he's not playing like so sketchy white dude w/ no feel. when he starts playing, he dumps the clutch!. much groove presented here..

[joeeyeless]

I have uploaded the entire first series of Rockschool for everyone. which includes the funk episode that this clip is from. Please see my videos.

[Catsincages]

wow thanks! :)

[caistervet]

I have the complete episode of this on dvd if anyone is interested(and other episodes from series one as well)

[69erthx1138]

@caistervet Nice! Do they do chord breakdowns in the lessons?

[AznKenshin]

Woohoo, a G&L with Stingray tone!

[YamboMuzeek]

amazing players, and check out the drum set!

[InnerBeatDrumSchool]

Man those drums are wild looking! Great show though...

[1985andalive]

something simple.... right....

[obeserobot]

i didnt know Richard prior played drums, jk

[aaronamccoy]

actually pryor played a drummer in the movie wild in the streets check it

[FreakyFloyd]

You gotta love the "funk on command".

And Tony is just too cool.

[bassfeile]

It is a early L 2000. Just saw it in another vid called "rockschool" - you can see the 2 PU's

[linchoun]

I think it's a L2000 G&L...

[1MyUsername]

Holy Smokes!!! Thats a minblasting riff by Tony (the guitar player) at 0:46 ! Larry was spectacular on the bass too. But the guitar riff was really soulful and rhythmic. Anyone know which song thats from, or if there are any songs where Tony plays like that. That riff is so funky my computer screen started to melt!!!!

[SlikkTim]

same here. I know this video for years, and it's still among my 3 ultimate "real funk" riffs. And among the best 80s funk tone too... what guitar is that ? g&l Asat ?

[1MyUsername]

@SlikkTim Gotta be a g&l. Since we both agree on the epicness of this riff I would like to know the other 2 on your "top3 ultimate stankin real funk riffs" list.

[SlikkTim]

Well for 80s funk that is ! #1 has to be Rick James Ghetto Life. Hell there's no bassline in that song !! The other would be Roger Troutmann's Dance Floor. So spankin'. But there's so many more... Nile Rodgers "So Fine"... Prince's "Party Up"... But as for the whole funk&soul thing, 1st place would be any Nolen riff, but I really like "Say It Loud." As obnoxious as it gets.

[allenlevelle]

That's Tony Maiden from Rufus and Chaka Khan on the guitar, people

[defensiveemphasis]

lebron james on guitars, haha

[yu3282]

it's sure is an early G&L, from the headstock, bridge, and the control plate. If it's the Musicman bass, it should have 3+1 pegs on the headstock.

[Theanarchistatheist]

Fuck, ultimate cool.

[Theanarchistatheist]

Also - retarded question.

Is that a musicman or G&L? %90 sure a musicman but yeah, just curious.

[mrstwattysfella]

looks like a musicman body on a g&l neck?

[Theanarchistatheist]

You could certainly still be right - but I just saw the bridge - Think it's G&L actually?

Pretty awesome if it is, I love G&L haha

[RUBENATER25]

whats that song

[francoboy100]

i think it is hair(that is the song) that is his song and it sounds like it

[defensiveemphasis]

hoooooo...funky.

[conordion]

Rad as fuck.

[pietrocalgremio]

TOO FUNKY

Btw, -THAT- can be called teaching people about playing music. No matter how many scales, chords, exercises etc(all the stuff normally show on instrument classes) you learn, without this concept of base/lead(or what could be called 'musical space') you can't really make good music.

[latinqueenslander]

Totally Agree with you !!!!

[elevatedclown925]

God damn...THIS IS HOT SHIT NIGGAAAAAH

[cupolove1]

i never noticed how much he looks like the lost Wayans brother. anyway.... my fav bassist EVER!!!

[that1loser]

haha the guitarist just plays amazing shit on cue

[cupolove1]

i know right!!! not many guitarists have that kind rythym. you know in a live show that he will be DEEP in the pocket. "let the funk linger, hear the music and smell my finger"

[skuzboll]

"let the funk linger, hear the music and smell my finger"

Brilliant!

[cupolove1]

yeah i kinda stole that partly from mr clinton... not word for word though. it still makes laugh when i think of it!

[skuzboll]

Makes me laugh too!

[phektus]

@that1loser no effort and suddenly it was epic... darn black guitarists

[bigtoine45]

Pure wisdom...

[jbrun009]

Why don't we have stuff like this on tv today?

...probably because people would say, whats that noise coming from? Whats that thing with the strings?

[3Deity]

Naaa, it would be educational and that would mean it was 'elitist' and therefore banned from television!

Rockschool, despite its detractors, was good for its time.

[jbrun009]

Yeah, plus they'd just have crap like Pink and Kanye on it, nevermind

[ikecot3rd]

father of the slap technigue

[PurpleFunkLover]

This man is a "off the hook" bassist. Str8 funky

[grammarcop]

LEGEND

*removes hat*

[terryusa]

yeah it does

[Holygasoline]

The drummer's looking on thinking... 'let me play now !!!!' lol

[Bucketheadhead]

wat i was thinkin lol

[steinber]

brilliant

[almostlikable]

Whats with all the racist hate?

I have a dream that all bass players will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their bass playing.

[Bucketheadhead]

I knew another guy who had a dream too

[Antonchik1987]

@almostlikable the judging by the content of their bass playing is another form of racism, isn't it?

[Moiez101]

@Antonchik1987

Everyone's gotta play some devil's advocate and act like a smart-ass, no? guess what? do you even know what racism is? judging someone by their bass playing isn't racism. It's perfectly normal actually because you can back it up. You can critique all bass players by how they play.

[Bucketheadhead]

no it's bassism moron

[zonwuka]

lol:P he bops on the beat

[sanchorb]

Ha, ha, love how at 1:15, when he speaks about locking the guitar part, he goes oom, pa, oom pa, oom pa on his lap, and when Larry moves his head the drummer and guitarist also move their heads in rhythm...nice to have these locked reactions between musicians.

[gleventhal]

Whats yo point?!

[fiansomusic]

Who's this guitar player behind Larry Graham?

Is it Wilton Rabb ? His riff is so funky !!!

[dangelo5]

That's Tony Maiden, he was in the band Rufus.

[Peppermolly]

borat behind the drums haha

[jangofettish1]

I liked this show. They broke it down even for the people who may not even play an instrument but loved music.

[Holygasoline]

THE Funkmeister !!!

[MUN7001]

i get what he's saying, you cant have two leads, someone has to do something simple, and someone else has to do something complicated

[nivicious]

musical genius

[jangofettish1]

Loved this segment of the show when it was on.

[DrShrinker]

Holy shit, I remember seeing this on TV when I was a kid!

Thanks for posting.

[GhenghisKen]

Anyone know what kind of bass Larry is playing? Looks like a fender jazz, or copy, I'd love to know...

[greenysfleetwoodmac]

i think thats a musicman bass

[throlando]

It's a G&L... The L-2000. I like the tone of the old SB-1 and SB-2s too.

[shiftymeister]

a musicman stingray

[geosh78]

I'm glad you know the model, they were some of the best instruments made by Leo Fender and George Fullerton, but his previous name "Fender bass" had already taken over the bass industry.

[zanatany974]

That riff is insane !!!!!!!!!!!

These groove like no one else

[firefloyd]

the master of funky!!!!!!!!

[frozenmouse76]

wise words alot of musicians out there could benefit from what was just said then,LG the master.

[grazer770]

are you watching kiddies, this called STYLE!

HOPE YOU ARE PAYING ATTENTION!

[astiagogo]

I wish people would pay attention more.

[radcam69]

I never knew Larry's head was such a mega-goliath.

[erickliddell]

These brothas are out here beatin em in the head with the funk

[itstimetodie]

is that the ocean back there?....geez

[level42funk]

Yeah right on, funk is keeping it sweet, heavy and keeping it liquid, hold down the groove and cradle the other instruments tones.

[bigbenhillman07]

nice! I used to LOVE this show back in the day! :)

[lusciouslady73]

you know what his bass slap reminds me of....stanley clarke in we supply....does anyone have that song???

[Rasmarker]

The song: "We Supply" is from the album "Rocks, Pebbles and Sand from 1980

[exnewsanchor]

stanley clarke got his style of bass playing after seeing Larry Graham play " THANK YOU ( FALETTINME BE MICE ELF AGIN ) " actual spelling of the song. that 1970 hit brought THUMPIN & PLUCKIN aka SLAP BASS to the national forefront. Larry Graham invented that style stanley clarke talks about it on his website .. peace

[devo1Q]

louis johnson played bass on the song "We Supply"..

[PrettiBoy]

the guitarist look a little like Lebron James

[Postp1]

Brilliant sound and cool performance, ten times.

[ergtunmor]

god larry is gread!

[BigRickSharpe]

this is dead-on right! keep it to the backbeat, got enough Wooten wannbe's!

[jizl]

play the funk. SIMPLE!

haha, this is so gold.

[DrSalvadore]

Ahuh

[sloothsnoop]

ya no shit he is like " ojh...play somthing in e...and it is the best music ive heard since 1992!

lolo hahah *smacks hand to forehead*!!!

[Bishop3121]

That drummer looks like Richard Pryor!..LOL

[pretaanluxis]

the thing in E is the most funky thing I have ever heard! lol

[rodcrippler]

good lord this is great, if john entwistle had never born i would say larry graham is the greatest musician ever, but he REALLY is the best musician alive right now so its kinda cool to say so...

[iplaybass77]

ITS OLD

THATS Y ITS AWSOME

[Zillorecords]

This is the real deal !

[moneymasterjet]

Yo...this is cool. Thanks for posting! "keep it simple"

[NoGoats]

meatflowers is completely right

[phil73008]

nogoats you are a retard as well

Meatflowers:"it's far easier to say start on E-5 and then play 1 fret up, then 3 frets up etc. than it is to talk of steps and half steps, since they are less specifically linked to the instrument" You and meatflowers can come up with your own musical theory if you like, I could care less.

[meatflowers]

I did think about what I said and what I said was a constructive comment about why I don't understand why the term is used. You've just replied by insulting me on the grounds of not knowing any musical theory which you should be aware of wasn't even linked to what I said. Now who's ignorant?

[phil73008]

okay dumbass frets don't make a shit. I mentioned whole step, whole step, half step. You act like all guitar players play on one string. When you want to play a pentatonic scale on one string and describe it to someone by counting frets, be my guest. An "A" is an "A" no matter what fret or string it is on. I think you just like to spew ignorance. What in the hell is it exactly that you are trying to say? Yes I insulted you! Next time don't be stupid!

[phil73008]

meatflowers here is the original question...

fullnelsongrip:"How do you construct a minor scale in a given key?"

Please bless us with yo' wise fret countin' and answer the question...

[meatflowers]

In relation to a fretted instrument, it's as simple as- decide on a key, I'll suggest for this example A.

With the starting note as A, you simply go up the scale by playing up 2 frets, 1 fret, 2 frets, 2 frets, 1 fret, 2 frets, 2 frets (the last note being the octave). In the lowest possible octave on a 4 stringed bass this can translate as

E5, E7, E8, A5, A7, A8, D5, D7

Have a nice day :)

[phil73008]

I bet you had to google that didn't you asshole... LMAO!

[meatflowers]

ye of course I did. my terminology is so complicated that even i struggle to understand it :)

[meatflowers]

I for one taught myself almost everything I know about bass and I had never even heard of the term 'step' until recently when somebody mentioned it to me. When trying to tell someone what to play it's far easier to say start on E-5 and then play 1 fret up, then 3 frets up etc. than it is to talk of steps and half steps, since they are less specifically linked to the instrument.

[Bishop3121]

Jeeeez thats FUNK

[fullnelsongrip]

Is key of E the pentatonic scale? Or major? I dont get it.

[dangelo5]

The pentatonic scale is just a scale/combination of 5 notes that you can base other scales on, by adding and omitting certain notes. The major blues scales is an ideal example.

[MATTTHEMOP]

'the key of E' means E major. the whole scale. if you play E major pentatonic, you're still playing in E major, your just not using some of the notes.

[fullnelsongrip]

That helps. So then, the pentatonic scales only uses notes from the major scale in the corresponding key?

[MATTTHEMOP]

thats right. major pentatonic has the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th notes of the major scale. a lot of people use it because those notes fit well when played against most chords in a major key.

[fullnelsongrip]

what about the pentatonic in key of A minor

[MATTTHEMOP]

well, a minor pentatonic is the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th notes of a minor scale. much more used than the major pent, since the notes compliment diatonic chords easily. but dont limit yourself to pentatonics, experiment all over a scale and even with notes outside of it.

[fullnelsongrip]

How do you construct a minor scale in a given key?

[phil73008]

flatten the 3rd and 6th note of a scale. an easy way to remember the scale is... whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step.

[meatflowers]

I always find the idea of referring to 2 frets as 1 step as needlessly confusing and unhelpful. It makes more sense to say exactly what it is, 1 fret, 2 frets, 3, frets etc. rather than saying exactly the same thing but making it out as though 1 fret is not a whole 'movement' as such.

[phil73008]

Thats because there are no frets on bagpipes, French horns, trombones, saxophones or pianos. The C Major scale uses none of the "little black keys" on the piano. You have just demonstrated you know nothing about musical theory asshole. Next time think about what you say before you spew ignorance.

Cheers :)

[meatflowers]

Actually that's not true. I've demonstrated that I know nothing about most other instruments (which I have no obligation to anyway). If somebody is commenting on a video like this including guitar and bass it's logical to guess that they also play either guitar or bass. In which case using terms which are more confusing for newcomers to those instruments it's as helpful as making it 100% clear as it can be.

[Chutney58]

I can follow what he's saying. Back in the day, funk was the language after spending a day in the orchestra class. And yes, we stretched! Bass, guitar, horns, drummers, timbale, conga, organ, and woodwind players would hang out in somebody's basement and JAM! Graham Central Station, War, Mandrill, EWF, Stevie, Buddy Miles... ah man! Rockschool was where I hung out. Lord knows I miss it! :-)

[bossudude420]

his explanation of lead bass is perfect

[Bishop3121]

Damn..now that is F.U.N.K.!

[kellyddennis]

I marvel at the ability to see his genious shared by technology. Can you imagine what Mozart of Einstein may have shared! Thankful to be living in this time.

Kelly D

[SamanthaDawn4Prince]

I love Larry Graham. The only person I think is any better at the bass would Prince himself.

[syaowolf]

prince is good but he's no larry graham and brown mark also helped do a lot of prince's material for bass althogh prince did contribute to every instrument

[SamanthaDawn4Prince]

but the reason I believe Princ eis good at bass is not from what I hear on cd's but what I have seen him do.

[SidewalksOfNY315]

Thanks what you called a trained musician. One raise of the hand and you get silence! LOLLL!

[Bazizti93]

funk.

[Drugsofthefuture]

He's teaching how to be cool

[madmk]

Thats awesome :-) So tight, he just raises his hand and the guitarist stops. Have to love a bit of a funkiness.

[Thatguy301]

i know lol. *Hand* *silence*

[Copifunk]

one of my first funk lessons back in 86 :-)

[Klastek]

BTW It's an early G&L L2000 not L1000 (you can see there's two pups).

[dreadtodred]

tony maiden is a really good rthym guitar player which is needed in playing funk,larry knew

[silatyogi]

PIMP PIMP PIMP!!!!

[xdux]

the man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LG

[rohan316]

man he knows how to play.

[groovetronic]

Tony Maiden from Rufus on G-tarr ... chop yo axxe bro !

[Gerdin91]

I love the first riff!!!!!!

[sageali]

I would love to get a copy of this video... where can I find it ? Thanks...

[groovetronic]

@ sageali ,

It was a UK tv-documentary back in the 80's .

As far as i know never released on VHS-tape .

[tvrowdies]

It was available to order. I recorded a few episodes when it was aired on Public TV in the states.

[arikthefreak]

i LOVE Larry Graham....wit Sly...wit G.C.S. but this kinda funk wuz corny then...and even cornier now...i know he's keepin' it simple to show folks what's up...but...if ya wanna see some stripped down bass funk school wit out a 3 on it..check out Bootsy's segment!

[Brilliantbeing]

Sorry I missed what was "corny" about this. Graham is a pioneer of funk; inventor of the slap/thump technique.

I think he was only trying to describe the indescribable in this clip. As such he was trying to make it as elementary as possible. And he did a fine job, at that.

He demonstrated the rudiments of "the Pocket" concept of groove creation.

[arikthefreak]

yeah...you're right...but if someone who played bass wanted to know about THE FUNK (as opposed to 'the funky') i would tell them to check out out Bootsy's lesson over this one. Funk is depleted of its power and magic when reduced to this 'by the numbers' type

of lesson. But that's just me...i guess i'm bias seeing that i stood next to Bootsy's amp in '79 at the L.A. Coliseum when i was 11 years old!