What makes a bassline funky? The one, Chic and Bernard Edwards

What does funk on the one mean?

The one is the first beat of the bar. In funk everything leans on it. James Brown built his bands around that accent, and bassist Bootsy Collins carried the idea on into the world of Parliament and Funkadelic.

For me funk does not start in the head but in the body. You hear the first bars, the bass comes in, the guitar plays its rhythm, and suddenly your upper body goes down on the one without you thinking about it.

What makes a funky bassline?

Less than you think. Bernard Edwards of Chic could set off more with a handful of notes than others with a whole orchestra. Listen to Good Times from 1979: the line is simple, it repeats, and it leaves air between the notes. That air is where the dancing happens.

Next to him stood Nile Rodgers with his rhythm guitar. Together they showed how much power sits in arrangements that look simple on paper.

How do you know a groove is right?

When the groove is right, nobody has to tell you to dance. Your body knew long before. Earth, Wind & Fire proved that funk can be big and orchestrated without losing that feeling.

That is my only real test for a song by The Soulcatcher. If I am still sitting still after eight bars, the bass is not finished.