Get Started With: How to Play Acoustic Funk

Funk guitar might be most commonly associated with the scratchy electric rhythms of a player like Jimmy Nolen, in support of James Brown, the Godfather of Soul. But the acoustic guitar lends itself just as well to these cool percussive sounds, as evidenced by the guitar on the 1972 Bill Withers hit “Use Me” and more recent work by such artists as Ben Harper, India.Aire, and Ed Sheeran. So, how do you make your acoustic guitar sound raw and funky?