Bonus Round #1
The most essential things when soloing over funk music is timing and the ability to play with and against the beat/rhythm.
In this first example, I have taken the A minor pentatonic scale and played it straight through, sort of like a scale exercise. But, even this "scale exercise" can be made interesting by using groovy rhythmization.
In the first bar, you will see how I target the accents in the rhythm guitar (which is example no.1 by the way). This creates a tight, but not particularly groovy line. In the second bar however, the secret to funk lead is unlocked for you! Here, I’m targeting notes between the accents of the rhythm guitar, and thereby playing against the beat. This is an extremely effective way of creating groovy solo lines.
Try it out, then try to apply this concept to ALL of your own lines and ideas!