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Episode 137: “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” by James Brown

A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs

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Can You Play Any 9th Chord All Night?

As brown's style got more experimental in future years he would often build songs with no chord changes at all, just with nolan playing a single ninth chord throughout. The original studio recording of papa's got a brand new bag actually sounds odd if you listen to it now. It's slower than the single and lasts almost seven minutes. That guitar sound is what every funk guitar ist after him based their style on. He'd also sometimes mute all the strings while he strummed, giving a percussive scratching sound, rather than letting the strings ring. And that is the nd that became funk guitar.

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