Chanking is a guitar performance technique infunk music that involves both "choking" the guitar neck and strumming the strings percussively to create a distinctive-soundingriff commonly associated with the genre.^[1] The technique was popularized by the music ofJames Brown, later spreading to other genres and performers.

The name "chanking" is either aportmanteau of the words "choking" and "yanking", referring to the procedure involved in the technique, or simply onomatopoeia - a word that sounds like what it describes.

Chanking was developed by James Brown band guitaristJimmy Nolen as a part of his signature "chicken scratch" sound. The technique appeared first with a double-chank on the firstbackbeat of each bar in "Out of Sight" (1964),^[2] and in "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" (1965), a song that typified much of Brown's subsequent work.^[3] "Chicken scratching" itself differs slightly: the fretting hand lightly squeezes the chord on the neck, then releases suddenly to produce a scratch chord.^[4] In particular, Brown used chanking against syncopated bass to produce a unique blend of sounds.^[1]

The technique of chanking spread from funk toreggae music.^[3][5]Alan Warner, then ofThe Foundations, also utilized the technique, which left its sound legacy inEuropop.^[5]

• Gress, Jesse (2009)."How 2 Play Like Prince". Guitar Player Magazine]. RetrievedJanuary 10, 2012.
• Scofield, John (May 1998).A Go Go. Jazz Times. p. 101.