A common "Funk" style of playing involves the use of octave notes, e.g., instead of playing this:
Play this:
To avoid the notes overlapping (i.e., both octave notes sounding together) be sure to play each note for only its eighth note value. This can only be achieved by releasing pressure of the left hand fingers after each note is played, resulting in a "see-saw" motion of the first and third fingers. Here is turnaround two using octaves.