Groove Transcription: "Cissy Strut" by The Meters

The grooves Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste played on "Cissy Strut", by New Orleans funk legends "The Meters", are among the most renowned and influential funk grooves of all time. The tricky syncopations and funky hi hat accents of the main groove have baffled many a drummer, including myself.

As I stated in a previous post, I had the opportunity to watch Zig in action, live at B.B. King's in NYC, in May of 2005. Seeing Zig play "Cissy Strut" live gave me a new insight to these grooves, and actually made it much easier to reproduce.

Here is a quick transcription of the main "Cissy" groove. Keep in mind, there is a good deal of improvisation at work, here, so the groove varies throughout the song. The notes in parenthesis are sometimes played, and sometimes implied.




Click Here to Listen to the Cissy Strut Groove