Funk
Funk is one of the basic styles of music invented by Afro-Americans. The term denotes a musical genre which, along with soul music forms rhythm and blues, as well as a style of dance to this music. The formation of funk began in 1960 in opposition to the constantly growing commercialization of rhythm and blues. The founders of funk were James Brown and George Clinton. The name of the style comes from the word "funky" which means "fanciful, intricate manner of playing". Funk is dance music in the first place and this defines its musica" peculiarities: the extremely syncopated character of all instruments' parts (syncopated bass is actually called "funky"), pulsating rhythm, shouting manner of vocals, multiple repetition of short and melodic phases. The invention of the unique manner of playing the bass guitar is often attributed to Larry Graham. The technique is called slap and it has become a distinctive feature of funk. Guitar players playing in funk bands usually have a rhythmic style of playing and often use the well known wah-wah effect. In riffs are usually played in muffled notes in order to emphasise the percussive elements of the music. The most famous person who played in this style (and particularly in funk-rock) was Jimmy Hendrix who is considered to be the pioneer of funk rock. In modern days such world famous stars as Michael Jackson, Prince, George Michael in 1980 and Dr. Dre as well as many other hip hop performers use elements of funk in their songs as this style is able to attract the attention of people who may like completely different genres of music.