Learn to Play: The Bass Techniques of Bootsy Collins

Bootsy Collins. Photo by: FinCostello. Getty Images.

Bootsy Collins' basslines for James Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic are seared into funk history.

Joining The J.B.s and backing James Brown when he was still a teenager, Bootsy contributed the low-end to cuts like "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" and "Super Bad."

By 21, he was with George Clinton, living and breathing the afro-futuristic funk lifestyle and helping create some of the funkiest songs of all time.

In our video lesson above, Jake Hawrylak shows you how to play Bootsy's parts on James Brown's "Soul Power," Parliament's "Give Up the Funk," Funkadelic's "Into You," and Bootsy's Rubber Band's "Bootzilla."

Follow along with the video above and the tabs below to bring some of Bootsy's bass techniques into your own playing. In addition to the songs featured in the video, we've also included tabs for Brown's "Super Bad," Funkadelic's "Cholly," and Parliament's "Do That Stuff."

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