Re: [Harp-L] groove vs swing

[Bob Cohen <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sep 9, 2013, at 2:17 PM, Michael Rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> A good start with groove is to recognize it a largely a timing issue.  Can you create a rhythm that will get people's bodies moving?  You want to have practiced tapping your foot with a metronome while you are playing harmonica (and have your playing intentionally start and stop at different downbeats and upbeats) so much that when you play with others, you can quickly emulate their rhythmic pulse.

All good advice Michael. Although, even foot tapping can be controversial. Classically trained musicians are instructed NOT to tap. When I studied with Mike Turk, he wouldn't let me tap either. Go figure. I guess there are as many paths to heaven as there are people.

> Although I appreciate jam tracks and use them, especially band in a box, I feel they are fairly useless when it comes to teaching groove.  

I'm a big fan of the metronome as well but jam tracks can serve the same function. It depends on how you use them. They work like a metronome because each song maintains a constant rhythmic pace. So you can use the tracks for that instead of explicitly for developing inprov ideas.

That said, metronomes make the player personally responsible for knowing the changes and for deliberately playing with rhythm. I like your Rick Estrin quote. We've all observed this phenomenon a zillion times. Guys like him and you can play unaccompanied and establish a groove and either state or imply the changes which separates the men from the boys.

-Bob

Bob Cohen
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