Hello.
I finally figured out how to play the Stayin’ Alive riff - the notes, anyway. It didn’t sound 100% right so I looked up a YouTube tutorial. They said there’s some strum/picking happening on muted strings. That’s what makes it sound so funky. But they didn’t (afaict) specify which strings to chug on or when. So that’s what I’m trying to figure out. Where do I do those funky chugs?
It’s been a while since I’ve heard that song but are they playing notes or just waka waka waka noises? If the latter, go wild. It doesn’t matter too much.
I mean the waka waka stuff. I can’t figure out how to do it. The guy on the tutorial seemed to be almost strumming them. Maybe you strum multiple strings for the waka waka?
That’s how I do it. Lightly fret (as in don’t push down too hard with your fretting hand) then it’s all in the rhythmic movement of your strumming hand. I just barre as many strings as my fingers can manage. I don’t form actual chords. It’s a kind of loosey goosey thing.
Play around with it, you’ll get it eventually. Combine it with a wah pedal for absolute 70s funk.
Maybe I have to slow it riiiiiight down. Or keep playing it until it’s automatic, so then I can add the waka waka stuff. I don’t know how to change from picking to strumming back and forth so quickly. I’ll see what I can do.
Can’t say whether it’s what they do for this song, but two things:
- you can mute with either hand. I usually mute with my strumming hand, and turn with my wrist to strum while keeping part of my palm near the wrist on the strings. The cool part about this is you can adjust the sound depending on how far your hand is from the bridge–the closer to the bridge, the less muted the sound.
- for switching between strumming and picking, I’ll strum with my index fingernail. It generally sounds better to me than trying to use the side of my thumb or scrambling for a pick.
Good luck!
