Funk 49 Joe Walsh | The James Gang

Funk 49 Joe Walsh: Introduction

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“I’d like to let you know that I’ll be running for President….and here is an industrial love song” said Joe Walsh as he launched into Life’s Been Good whilst on tour with The Eagles.

Not sure why we’ve mentioned this, but Mr. Walsh is such a quirky character that Andy blurted this out as he started to record this lesson on the intro of Funk 49 by Joe Walsh.

Joe Walsh’s lead guitar sound and style is instantly recognisable, but his rhythm playing and the riffs he creates are outstanding and have an individual funk/rock quality of their own and Funk 49 is definitely no exception; combining both lead and rhythm patterns that are not only fun to learn, but probably something very different to any of the “standards” you will have mastered to-date. Unless you know how to play it already – in which case you can ignore what we’ve just said.

The key signature of this piece is the way the constant percussive strumming mixes with the hammering on of the chords to create a raunchy instantly danceable riff, especially when the extremely talented James Gang bassist and drummer join the “melee”.

Once you have the lead intro and chords mastered, you will need to really feel the groove to completely nail this, but it will be worth any time you need to spend listening to the intro to achieve this. Funk away!!!