Tritones in Funk

[ricoche]

Hello everyone,

I have been spending some time with tritones lately and I notice that they are quite frequent in Gospel music. This is great, but I also noticed that there seems to be a debate about how much they are used in Jazz, Gospel, Blues, and Funk. I would like to hear from anyone with ideas about how to add tritones to funky progressions such as passing tones, substitutions, bass lines, triads over tritones, etc. My ear is telling me that tritones are not exclusive to Gospel music.

Thanks,

Jim

[place]

Hey Jim,
Not sure if you mean tritone substitutions, melodic tritone material or just the interval itself. Certainly the interval is part of most musical styles (but not gregorian chant). Every dominant 7 chord contains a tritone and if you use shells or guide tones for your chord voicings (3rd and 7th) then tritones are part of the music. I think the dom7#9 chord is one of the classic funk sounds and a typical rootless voicing for, say, an F7#9 would be A Eb G# which is a tritone and a perfect 4th. You're ear is the guide and I would agree with you perception that funk, jazz, gospel, blues, rock, etc. all use the tritone. It's really a staple of modern music.
All the best,
Mark

[wmyette]

Hey Jim and Mark.

You are right on Mark...well said.

Tritones substitutions are used a lot in...well...what I'd call "thick" harmonic music. Styles like Jazz, Gospel and Funk that use some rich chords will use more tritones than say a rock or folk song that uses just 1-4-5.

Now, there are cool renditions of songs from all styles, so your ear is always the guide. Remember the differences that I (and Mark) pointed out between the melody interval of a tritone and a tritone substitution. They are different.

Great questions!!

[ricoche]

Remember the differences that I (and Mark) pointed out between the melody interval of a tritone and a tritone substitution. They are different.

I think this is what I needed to wrap my head around and I think I'm finally getting a handle on it. Thanks so much for your replies. Much appreciated.

Jim