HIP-HOP, R&B, URBAN CONTEMPORARY, rap, drum-n-bass, nu-jazz—call it what you want, but it’s got to be funky. The term “funk” has become a blanket description of anything with a booty-moving bass. You know it when you hear it, but what is it exactly? Let’s look at some funk basics: the must-know music, the players, and their techniques.

IT’S MASTERCLASS, EVERYONE, WHICH means a detailed dissection of a bass line played by a high-level pro, along with insight from the player who gave us this amazing thing to learn from. But this one’s different in that our featured artist, Nashville-based A-list producer/bassist/ songwriter Tommy Sims, consciously sought to emulate someone he’d been studying for years: the immortal James Jamerson. And when someone who’s written, played, and produced for Eric Clapton (“Change the World,” anybody?), Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Kelly Clarkson, CeCe Winans, the Neville Brothers, and Garth Brooks says he’s studying someone, it’s best to just listen to what he has to say in full.