Re: [Harp-L] re: playing behind the beat

["bbqbob917@xxxxxxxxxxx" <bbqbob917@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

-- rainbowjimmy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

Just about all Chicago blues is played behind the beat (most soul  
music, and most reggae too). Listen to the backbeat--the two and the  
four. The snare is just a hair late. Builds up anticipation. Adds 
some  
tension and paradoxically makes everything seem laid back and cool.  
Because we love that snare we give it lots of room. So the harp 
player  
starts the riff on the one and usually plays around the back beat--
dee  
dee dee whap do do do whap. If you listen to a really good band like  
Aretha's or the Wailers, the band plays a killer riff that somehow  
fills in around the singer and the back beat without ever stepping 
on  
them. So by playing less notes, the groove becomes much tighter and  
things sound way cooler.

If you hear a rock band play blues and you think there's something  
missing--you're right. Rockers have a hard time with the laid back  
behind the beat groove.

Rainbow Jimmy
http://www.spaceanimals.com
http://www.soundclick.com/theelectricstarlightspaceanimals.htm

Hi,
He's got that ABSOLUTELY correct here and there are many ndifferent 
delineations of it, as just how FAR behind, with reggae being the 
farthest behind the beat, followed by the early 50's Chicago sounds 
ala Muddy, Wolf, Walter, etc.. With behind the beat grooves, there is 
MUCH more space to deal with and most rockers have to seemingly try 
to fill in every hole, and actually for them, the slower the beat, 
the more difficult it is for them to restrain from the rocker's 
mentality, and the one tune that for many musicians not acqualinted 
with this concept is the Ray Charles tune, "Drowning In My Own 
Tears," which not only is played at just about the slowest tempo 
possible on the metronome, it is also played VERY far behind the 
beat, and even an accomplished jazzman like Dizzy Gillespie had 
trouble with this tune because of this very reason.

If you usually play off the 1 and the 3, you're more likely going to 
play ahead of the beat and play considerably more notes and you will 
have an extremely difficult time with it. However, if you take the 
time necessary to do the woodshedding, you can learn it, but it won't 
be easy to do right off the bat.

Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
MP3's: http://music.mp3lizard.com/barbequebob/