Jimmy Nolen
Everyone knows James Brown essentially created
funk. And if Brown was the Godfather of
Soul, then the late Jimmy Nolen was the groovin’
don’s 6-string consigliere. Nolen played with
Brown from 1965 to 1970, took a two-year
break, and then joined forces with him again
from 1972 until his death in 1983. Before
hooking up with Brown, Nolen paid his dues
playing blues on the Chitlin’ Circuit and being
the house guitarist for traveling acts coming
through Oklahoma, Arizona, and California.
Gear-wise, Nolen used a variety of tools
during his career. The guitars he was most
often spotted with included Gibson ES-175
and ES-5 Switchmaster hollowbodies, a
Japanese-made Stratocaster copy called a
Fresher Straighter, and a Gibson Les Paul
Recording Model with single-coils. To achieve
his signature sound, he ran the guitars
through a Fender Twin Reverb with the treble
cranked. As any live version of “I Got the
Feeling” proves, Nolen’s tone was clean and
full, and despite playing in such a large band,
you can hear every note.
Nolen first played with Brown in 1965,
and the stylistic elements he brought from
blues, jazz, and R&B helped make James
Brown one of the most successful soul
acts of all time. His first session with the
Godfather was for the race-barrier-breaking
hit “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag.” On it he
pioneered the use of hip jazz voicings, 16thnote
strumming, and alternating single-note
lines with funky 9th chords. But that was
only the beginning. On songs like “I Got
You (I Feel Good),” “There Was a Time,”
“Cold Sweat,” and “Mother Popcorn,” Nolen
laid the foundation for funk guitarists of
the future with muted string scratching,
dominant-9th-to-13th hammer-ons, and a
sense of time that was both hypnotic and
infectiously grooving. The combination was
so compelling that it became the blueprint
for every funk guitarist to follow. In fact,
whether they know it or not, anyone who
plays funk today either purposely or inadvertently
gives props to Jimmy Nolen.