Good Times - Chic

Community Recordings Audio-Video Of You Playing
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I know it’s not the usual sort of music played on here, but I’m a big fan of the great Nile Rogers. I was listening to the extended version of Good Times recently and after hearing the funky and infectious instrumental break in the middle I thought it would be a good new challenge to replicate it. Here’s my attempt to do that and I found the whole experience really enjoyable, although the bass part was so tricky that I gave up trying to learn it finger style and grabbed a pick!
Neil
Good Times by Chic - cover

16 Likes
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It was great
Very enjoyable

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Really good, great vibe.

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Neil

I agree with Deborah and Adrian: well played and really ‘in the groove’!

Brian

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Wow, Neil, that was great. Really enjoyed the video and watching you play the different parts. Being so accomplished on drums, keys, bass, and guitar. And the whole production.

Only thing that maybe to think about is the balance of drums and bass in the mix. I am assuming that the drum beat and claps continued throughout but I think the bass buried the percussion a bit in the mix.

Cool project, bravo. Always good to get a production from you.

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Wow that was great. You are really talented - playing all those different instruments. Loved the bass line and lovely in the groove strumming on guitar too. Thanks for posting.

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Love it Neil, great job!

I’ve been playing with Nile’s guitar part on that myself recently. It’s a really interesting triad study.

1 Like
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Neil that was great, well played and super production. Nice to hear some Nile Rodgers being posted. I love his funk grooves and try and work some into my practice routine, quite challenging but lots of fun. :clap::clap::clap:

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Hard not to be a fan of Nile Rogers :slight_smile: I was listening to him play on Daft Punk’s “Lose Yourself to Dance” the other day. Nice job on the cover and the video.

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This is the kind of music my parents played every day when I was growing up. Love it! Im impressed with how you played the whole arrangement, every instrument. I hope you do another one! Thanks for posting this!!

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Thanks for listening and commenting!

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Thanks Adrian, it came out better than I expected.

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Thanks Brian, appreciate it!

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Thanks David, you’re always very supportive. Re the bass, an interesting observation. The thing is about this song, the bass is the probably the most important element, so much so that it’s been sampled on various other songs (Rapper’s delight I think being the earliest). I listened quite carefully to the way the original is structured and the drum in particular is way back in the mix - the claps a bit more evident. The bass was also the most difficult as it’s the instrument I practice least - one of the reasons I wanted to try this as it was an opportunity to spend more time on bass. I also reduced the volume on each instrument as a new one was introduced, again as per the original, to “showcase” the latest instrument. Thanks again for listening and commenting.
Neil

1 Like
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Thanks Paul, I’ll be interested to see your rendition of Nile’s guitar - the guy is just so distinctive. I didn’t really see it as a “triad study”, rather I tried to vary the impact on different strings based on the bar chord shapes.
Neil

1 Like
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Thanks Alan, it really is great practice for tightening up the rhythm playing. Thanks for commenting.

Thanks Dean, I agree, great guitar player and all round human being!

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Thanks Sonyal, I enjoyed it and learned a lot!

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I’ve not recorded it, as I’ve only really been playing with the guitar riff, but that in itself is facsinating…

Here’s how I see it …

There are really only two chords - Em and A. Although it’s in the key of D - the I is never played.

It’s all triads of course. Starts with Em, but with the root back a tone - so it’s an Em7 with no root (but that is played by the bass). However, that’s exactly the same as a G major chord. Then it moves to E sus 4 by raising the flat 3rd a tone. Then it moves to the A chord, but this is played as sus4 by raising the 3rd a semitone, finally the A chord is modified by moving the 5th to the 6th - however it now looks like a F#m chord.
So although it’s only two chords Em / A if you leave out the bass it sounds like G Maj, Esus4, Asus4, F#m.

EDIT - OK, I just recorded the riff, although you’re playing it a lot better than I do :slight_smile:

The 4 shapes I’m using are …

x x x 7 8 7 (Em7, no root)
x x x 7 10 7 (raising the flat 3rd to a 4th)
x x x 7 5 5 (Asus4)
x x x 6 7 5 (A with the 5th raised to a 6th, so I guess its A6, no 5th)

I am really enjoying playing with triads at the moment and this is a great case study :slight_smile:

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Really great production Neil - very enjoyable watch and listen!

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That was an interesting and enjoyable listen. All the instruments! Well done!