DJ Phillips starts out his funk guitar series with an overview of what he'll be covering in lessons to come. He provides a few helpful bits of information to get you thinking about funk as a style.
Taught by DJ Phillips in Funk Guitar with DJ Phillips seriesLength: 2:38Difficulty: 1.0 of 5

DJ Phillips profiles the guitarists that created and nurtured the funk sound.
Lesson 1
DJ Phillips starts out his funk guitar series with an overview of what he'll be covering in lessons to come.
Length: 2:38 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 2
In this lesson DJ profiles guitarist Jimmy Nolan, one of the original members of the James Brown band.
Length: 34:58 Difficulty: 2.0 FREELesson 3
DJ introduces Catfish Collins and begins to profile his sounds and technique.
Length: 10:03 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 4
DJ takes another in depth look at Catfish Collins' playing style with "in the style of" licks.
Length: 14:55 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 5
DJ begins to talk about Leo Nocentelli, the guitarist for The Meters.
Length: 3:57 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 6
DJ breaks down an "in the style of" lick made famous by Leo Nocentelli.
Length: 5:06 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 7
DJ provides yet another look at a famous "in the style of" lick from guitarist Leo Nocentelli.
Length: 4:02 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 8
DJ provides another "in the style of" lick from The Meters' guitaris Leo Nocentelli.
Length: 4:37 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 9
DJ provides the final lick in the style of Leo Nocentelli.
Length: 5:05 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 10
DJ begins lesson 10 of his funk series by going over one of Curtis Mayfield's signature licks.
Length: 4:10 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 11
DJ returns with another look at a signature look from guitarist Curtis Mayfield.
Length: 5:25 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 12
DJ returns with another "in the style of" lick from Curtis Mayfield.
Length: 6:26 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 13
DJ demonstrates an "in the style of" lick from Curtis Mayfield that centers around an F#m7 chord.
Length: 3:56 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 14
DJ demonstrates the fifth "in the style of" lick from Curtis Mayfield.
Length: 3:38 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 15
DJ offers up the final "in the style of" lick from Curtis Mayfield.
Length: 5:28 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
About DJ Phillips
View Full Biography
Like many guitar players who began playing around the same time, DJ began plunking out Nirvana and Soundgarden tunes when he first picked up the guitar in the mid-nineties. While these grunge-y roots certainly have their merit, it wasn't until DJ's eldest sister took him to a Led Zeppelin laser light show that the full potential of the guitar began to come into focus.
With Jimmy Page's Les Paul pyrotechnics as his inspiration, DJ began fervently practicing for hours on end in the suburban jungle of Southwestern Ohio. This newfound passion (combined with his complete lack of athletic prowess and physical coordination thus completely ruling out all sports) led him to form rock bands in junior high and high school. He grew to love the performance aspect of music and soon decided on it as a career path.
College led him to Nashville, Tennessee where he began to pursue a degree in Commercial Music at Belmont University. He also started another band and got his first professional theater gig the following summer. Since that summer, DJ has spent nearly every waking hour finding ways to play music and avoiding a real contribution to society in any other way.
He moved to Minneapolis after college, rocking out between theater gigs with his current rock band Brother Big Bad. He has now convinced the band to move to Nashville where music flows like water.
DJ is elated to be a part of JamPlay and is thankful for everyone's warm welcome and says "Now, let's ROCK, people."
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Member Comments about this Lesson
Discussions with our instructors are just one of the many benefits of becoming a member of JamPlay.very cheesy
To me, good funk music is as "hard" or as "heavy" as most rock or metal.
yeaaaaahh
Finally!! a funk guitar lesson!!
nice intro dj
that was probably the best start to a series i'll ever see :D
DJ, This is great, I'm so grateful that someone is teaching this stuff on JamPlay! I look forward to working through these lessons.
ON THE ONE!
Nice!!! Looking forward to this series and ready to get my groove on!!
this is going to be amazing. can't wait! :)
Im really going to dig this daddyo..Love the shades HA HA!
This will be fun. Looking forward to it.
JAMES BROWN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can't wait to start playing funk and wear star-shaped glasses like that!!! :D
But, will you both be wearing the platforms?
Please do throw some Prince in there.
He already mentioned the Minneapolis sound! YAY!
I am excited to see your lessons book marked!!
Now that's fresh, fresh, exciting! ;-)
DJ, It so happened that yesterday I was listening to both of these songs" This is man's world "and "I feel good" from the legendary James Brown. Can you include both songs in your lessons. It is so hard to play and sing " I feel Good" as there are some stop/ break and yet have to be on the beat. Thank you Rama
Bootsy Phillips, y'all
This series is going to be AWESOME!!! DJ is just straight up FUN as well as a great teacher.
This lesson is totally trippy.
Oh my lord those glasses...
im SOOO EXCITED