Joel Van Dijk has the funk in his veins. His style tutorial on Funk will teach
you the ins and outs on the genre, and he does a great lesson on Cisco Kid. He
also makes an appearance in the Rock Level 2 course, presenting lessons on
hammer-ons and pull-offs, and finger exercises for dexterity. Check it out!
In this series of lessons, Joel Van Dijk will teach "The Cisco Kid", as made famous by War. Joel will give a song overview and talk about the funk tone before he digs into the opening lick. Then it's on to the main wah-based part and the chorus; we'll follow up with some bonus lessons on the theme licks in the tune. We'll cap it all off with a play along performance, then a jam along.
If you're looking to be more expressive and dynamic in your lead playing, then learning about hammer-ons and pull-offs is a great technique to get under your fingers. The basic concept is fairly simple: a hammer-on is hammering your finger onto the fret without picking it, creating a tone. The pull-off is the equal and opposite. We'll work on building finger strength, using the pentatonic and dorian scale, playing legato, using open strings, and how to "pull-hammer-slide".