Not much on this style of guitar playing..help

[Bodom]

I love the guitar playing in Juvenile 400 degreez..It is also used on a lot of west coast rap..just real nice funky playing. Usually the root chord is a min7th, the fills are pentatonic sometimes also..Id like to learn more chords in this key..just those nice real funky soulful styles that are abundant in rap and R&B. I have trouble finding much info on this style online, but it must be somewhere right? if there are any great chord progressions or fills or ideas any of you have in this genre, I'm very open to learning. I have been playing a long time, but this unique funk style loaded with jazzier voicings and soulful fills has alluded me.

it is basically the sound of rap and R&B and id love to learn it better then I have.

[phantom]

Hey Bodom,

what you should do is finding the originals.
Todays Rap and R&B is stuffed with samples of the older days (60's-80's mostly).
So go and check out Motown, Soul, Funk, R'n'B, Jazz-Blues stuff like Steve Wonder, George Benson, even older Bee Gees (i totally love Andy Gibbs "Greatest Hits" album), Temptations, Ray Charles, Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye etc.

Transcribe, grab the metronome, let the right hand swing in time, mute properly and get funky and soulful.
Take a look on syncopations, accents, dynamics and phrasing, rests in 16th note rhythms, double stops etc..

Good luck.
;)

[silent-storm]

I-bVII-bVI-V or some kind of variation on this is used all the time in rap

I agree with Phantom...find the original samples and practice those straight 16th note rhythms. It's all about the bass line so learn the common movements that are employed so you can pick those out at the drop of a hat. A lot of funk uses 3 note voicings on the top strings, so check out your triads and superimposing other triads to get cool extensions. Transcribe some James Brown. Check out some reggae as well. I saw Spearhead a couple months ago and they were putting reggae beats over some of their older stuff...super funky.

Ever see The Roots? Tightest band I've ever seen. Highly recomended as a variant on this style.