What's that music style? Gettin Jiggy wit it

May 27, 2009 6:05 PM

Is there a name for the guitar riff style in Gettin' Jiggy Wit It by Will Smith

...bonus points if you verify that this riff is a distant relative of Pass the Dutchi by Musical Youth (wild hunch of mine)

posted by lapsang to media & arts (12 comments total)

Will Smith used a sample from the song "Sang and Dance" by the Bar-Kays:

http://www.whosampled.com/sample/view/556/Will%20Smith-Gettin%27%20Jiggy%20Wit%20It_Sister%20Sledge-He%27s%20the%20Greatest%20Dancer/
posted by JibberJabber at 6:23 PM on May 27

Oh...and that's your "standard" disco-wah-pedal effect on the guitar, I believe. See here for more info:

http://www.discomusic.com/forums/disco-music-70s-80s/8279-how-do-i-make-disco-wah.html


I promise I'll try and remember to get it all in one post next time. :-)
posted by JibberJabber at 6:25 PM on May 27

Not sure if there's a specific name for it, but it is a style used in a lot of hip hop-style songs, and older disco-ey songs... Justin Timberlake stands out in my mind as someone with a lot of this style in his songs. Here's one as another example...

Basically, the idea is to take the root position triads of different notes in a scale and play them on the first 3 (most often, in this style) strings.

Anyway, I'm not sure if that answers your question, but as far as I know, there isn't a name for this "style" of playing.
posted by nitor at 6:40 PM on May 27

That's a funk strum.
posted by The World Famous at 6:45 PM on May 27 [1 favorite has favorites]

Isn't that sampled from Sister Sledge's 1979 hit He's the Greatest Dancer? Wikipedia seems to think so.
posted by hangashore at 6:57 PM on May 27

Actually, I can't hear any wah-wah at all in there. Anyway, this is fairly typical funk guitar in the style of Jimmy Nolen, who started playing this staccato, percussive style with James Brown in the late '60s. It was common in funk to have this kind of guitar arrangement, with one guitar playing staccato 16th-note chords, and another playing the riff, picked hard to give it that 'popped' sound, similar to slap bass. I'd recommend listening to some good funk anthologies; you'll find this kind of thing all over the place.
posted by Zero Gravitas at 7:05 PM on May 27

Zero Gravitas is right: There is no discernable wah wah guitar.

There are two guitar parts that I hear: One is a funk strum doing chords and the other is doing a funky plucking thing (which is the out-of-phase Stratocaster thing that I have previously ranted against on MeFi). The plucking thing is mixed a little more forward than the funk strum.
posted by The World Famous at 7:08 PM on May 27

Palm-muted riff that's fooling around with arpeggios played on the middle of the neck with a clean, high-treble setup on the pickups and amp.
posted by bardic at 7:24 PM on May 27

I would bet that that's Niles Rogers playing that riff. I love his playing and he tended to play clean, impeccable lines. If anything, I hear a touch of chorus but no wah.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:28 PM on May 27

I promise to eat my children if hangashore hasn't nailed it.
posted by ouke at 12:07 AM on May 28 [2 favorites has favorites]

Well, I'd say that's a riff which uses pizzicato technique (or palm mute), putting more emphasis on the upbeats (when you're counting time listening to the riff, the hardest strokes occur when your finger is up, isn't it ?)
posted by nicolin at 7:05 AM on May 28

Just to clarify; Which guitar part are you talking about - the plucked one or the strummed one?
posted by Zero Gravitas at 10:01 AM on May 28