Chords + Lyrics | Play That Funky Music
Intro
||: E7 (riff) :|| x4
Hey, do it now.
||: E9 Eb9 E6 E9 | E9 Eb9 E9 Eb6 E6 Eb6 :||
Yeah, hey.
Verse 1
||: E9 Eb9 E6 E9 | E9 Eb9 E9 Eb6 E6 Eb6 :||
Hey, once I was a boogie singer, playin’ in a rock n roll band.
I never had no problems, yeah, burnin’ down the one-night stands.
And everything around me, yeah, got to start to feelin’ so low.
And I decided quickly. Yes, I did, heh. To disco down and check out the show.
Bridge 1
||: E9 | E9 :||
Yeah, they were dancin’ and singin’ and movin’ to the groovin’.
And just when it hit me, somebody turned around and shouted:
Chorus 1
||: G9 G6 Gb6 | G9 G6 Gb6 :||
Play that funky music, white boy. Play that funky music right.
| G9 G6 Gb6 | Bb7sus2 |
Play that funky music, white boy.
| E7 (min pent riff) | E7 (min pent riff) |
Lay down the boogie and play that funky music ‘til you die.
Instrumental 1
||: E9 Eb9 E6 E9 | E9 Eb9 E9 Eb6 E6 Eb6 :||
He he. ‘Til you die? Yeah, yeah.
Verse 2
I tried to understand this. I thought that they were out of their minds.
How could I be so foolish, how could I? To not see I was the one behind.
So still I kept on fighting. Well, losing every step of the way (what did you do?).
I said I must go back there, I got to go back. And check to see if things still the same.
Bridge 2
Yeah they were dancin’ and singin’ and movin’ to the groovin’.
And just when it hit me, somebody turned around and shouted:
Chorus 2
Play that funky music, white boy. Play that funky music, right.
Play that funky music, white boy.
Lay down the boogie and play that funky music ’til you die.
Instrumental 2
‘Til you die? Yeah. Oh, ’til you die. Gonna play some electrified funky music.
Solo
||: E9 Eb9 E6 E9 | E9 Eb9 E9 Eb6 E6 Eb6 :|| x4
Hey, wait a minute,
Verse 3
Now first it wasn’t easy, changing rock-and-rolling minds.
And things were gettin’ shaky, I thought I’d have to leave it behind.
Oh, but now it’s so much better, it’s so much better. I’m funking out in every way.
But I’ll never lose that feelin’, you know, I won’t. Of how I learned my lesson that day.
Bridge 3
When they were dancin’ and singin’ and movin’ to the groovin’.
And just when it hit me, somebody turned around and shouted:
Chorus 3
Play that funky music, white boy. Play that funky music, right.
Play that funky music, white boy.
Lay down the boogie and play that funky music ’til you die.
Instrumental 3
‘Til you die? Yeah. Oh, ’til you die. Come on let’s go! They shouted:
Chorus 4
||: G7 (riff)| G7 (riff) :||
Play that funky music. Play that funky music.
Play that funky music. You got to keep on play that funky music.
Play that funky music. Play that funky music.
Play that funky music, gonna take you higher now.
Chorus 5 (key change)
||: A9 Ab9 A6 A9 | A9 Ab9 A9 Ab6 A6 Ab6 :|| to fade
Play that funky music, white boy. Play that funky music right, yeah.
Play that funky music, white boy. Play that funky music, right.
Play that funky music, white boy. Play that funky music, right, yeah.
Play that funky music, oh yeah. Play that funky music, right.
Play That Funky Music Backing Tracks | Chord Analysis
Above, you’ll find backing tracks to use when learning Play That Funky Music. I’ve used stem separation to extract the guitar while keeping the drums, bass, keys, horns, and vocals intact.
After studying the chords and TAB, use my backing tracks to prepare for playing this tune with a band.
Should you want to play along with the original recording instead, you need to tune your guitar sharp to 445Hz. In the backing track, I’ve done this job for you by detuning it.
Chord Progressions – What’s Going On?
The chords hint at what the riff is and describe the general feeling of Play That Funky Music.
Verse
I’d like to describe the verse chords like this:
||: E9 Eb9 E6 E9 | E9 Eb9 E9 Eb6 E6 Eb6 :||
Bridge
For the bridge, we just play an E9, or perhaps more appropriately, a single note-picked line.
I’ve designed some TAB showing you how to play both the verse and bridge, find it further down this guitar lesson.
Chorus
The chorus starts the same as the verse, just up a m3rd, like this:
||: G9 (G6 Gb6) | G9 (G6 Gb6) :||
| G9 (G6) | Bb9 |
| E7 (min pent riff) | E7 (min pent riff) |
We then go to Bb9 before the iconic minor pentatonic riff (there’s TAB for all this too!).
The actual guitar parts are more intricate than I first suspected when I sat down to transcribe it. I had to design the TAB to work on one guitar (the original recording has two) in a band.
Having studied my TAB, use this chord chart (same as in backing tracks) to remind you of Play That Funky Music‘s chords and structure.
Play That Funky Music Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
Should you want to download my chord chart, here’s a PDF: Play That Funky Music chord chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Play That Funky Music iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key although I’ve never seen that happen!
Speaking of key changes, the one you hear at the end of the original recording is hardly ever included by working bands, don’t expect it to happen, but be prepared it might.
Play That Funky Music | TAB
The cliché with funk music is that we just jam over one chord. This likely stems from the rumour that James Brown would ask auditioning guitarists: “Can you play an Eb9 all night long?”
While Play That Funky Music does have more than one chord, the progression is almost static. We sit on E9 for a long time, move up to G9 for the chorus, and use Bb7sus2 to lead into the riff, before returning to E9.
Let’s look at what the guitars are playing—and more importantly, what you could play when asked to perform this classic. Here’s the first intro/main riff:
This riff kicks the tune off and must be played as is. You can experiment with different articulations: slide in, hammer-on, slide both, or simply pick each note.
After playing it twice, the second guitar part enters. If you’re the only guitarist, consider switching to the chord riff and sticking with it, as it forms the backbone of the verse.
On the original recording, both parts are played simultaneously. Here’s the verse riff:
You can play this chord riff a couple of different ways—try finding variations. Add muted strums, or remove hits to change the feel.
Next up is the bridge. Again, there are two parts. Try both, but settle on one—it sounds odd to switch mid-section.
Now for the chorus. Notice how the rhythm part differs from the verse—it has a rhythmic displacement similar to a clave. The hits fall on 1 e + a, 2 e + a, 3 e + a, 4 e + a. Skip the “1 e” and you get a dotted 8th note pattern over three beats.
After the Bb chord, the riff drops into the E minor pentatonic, like this:
There’s a second guitar part here too—you can play that instead if you prefer.
Finally, there’s a key change at the end to fade. I’ve never heard bands actually play this. Instead, most end with the chorus—Bb7sus2 into the riff—using a ritardando to close over the descending riff.
So, the question is—what will you do?
Will you learn to play the end section using the verse part in the key of A, following the vocalist up a whole step for the final chorus?
Will you shift the main riff into the new key?
And most importantly—will you be ready for all this, even though no band you play with is likely to go there?
Play along to the backing track above and see if you can play the complete tune already now. If you can, you’re ready.
Wild Cherry’s only hit
One-hit-wonders Wild Cherry wrote and released Play That Funky Music because they wanted to be successful. They chose to adjust to what was happening around them, rather than dig their heels in and remain what they were (a white rock band).
The lyrics for Play That Funky Music are simply a reflection of what Rob Parassi (lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the band) saw happening around his rock band in 1976.
As they showed up for gigs, the crowd would ask them: Are you white boys going to play any funky music? In the end, the answer was yes!
The tune was so huge, that Rob retired on the back of it to pursue a musical life of instrumental jazz and general leisure. If his band mates had to keep working is unknown, although I suspect it to be the case.
Since its release, Play That Funky Music has been a standard on the party band’s setlist. If you want to be a pro guitarist, you won’t be able to avoid learning Play That Funky Music’s chords – of that I am certain.
If you’r not interested in making a living playing guitar as it’s songwriting that tickles your fancy instead, you should still study Play That Funky Music, and compare it to Superstition!
Play That Funky Music Chords: Continue Learning
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