Re: [Harp-L] Re: using a metronome

[Ken Deifik <kenneth.d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Elizabeth wrote:
> > By the way, I mentioned Al Jackson, the Stax drummer, in the previous 
> > post.  Stax music was typically behind-the-beat music, but if everyone 
> > played behind the beat all the time, the music would've slowed down 
> > noticeably in the 2:30 of a record.  Jackson solved this problem by 
> > playing the ONE of every eighth bar dead on on top of the beat.  This 
> > kept the beat kosher all the way through.  Clever, no?

> Okay, here is my point of confusion:  If everyone played behind the beat 
> all the time, wouldn't the "behind-beats" (if you will)  *become* the 
> beat, such that the piece would have ended one behind-the-beat's-worth of 
> time later, but not an accumulated piece's worth of behind-the-beats later?

> How is playing ahead of the beat or behind the beat to be distinguished 
> from sloppy rhythm playing?  I mean, it's obvious from the discussion that 
> it's something way better and cooler than sloppy playing (I/he/she/they 
> MEANT to do that!), but how does that work?

The different sections on these recordings, horns, rhythm are doing all 
kinds of different 'behinds' and in fact there are always some very spicy 
hits coming before the beat, just when you don't expect them.  (Those are 
often referred to as 'anticipations.')  Listen to Soul Man by Sam And 
Dave.  The rhythm section is ever so slightly behind the beat, while the 
horns are playing these staccato hits in front.  You can hear it in the 
second verse, starting after the phrase "the hard way".  Those subtle hits 
coming ahead of the beat while the rhythm section is playing behind really 
keep things moving.  (Frankly, the horn section was often a second rhythm 
section.  Amazing.)

And because these players all had sensationally good time, they are all ** 
implying ** the metronome beat, they're playing in reference to it.

The 'behind-the-beat' feel of Stax records, and many, many funky records 
beyond Stax, feels behind the beat because **you** feel the metronome, and 
you feel it because these sections are referencing it.  Like much of music, 
you feel it even when you don't know you do.

When musicians are merely playing sloppily you don't feel what they're 
playing in reference to a beat, you hear the musician or group trying to 
keep up with each other or not even trying.  Listen to any Stax record and 
you'll see that it doesn't sound sloppy in the least.  (I must admit that 
the first really funky music I ever heard, Howlin' Wolf's recordings, 
sounded sloppy to me at first.  Within a few weeks I had become acclimated 
to the sound and all it sounded like was pure pleasure.  I'll never be 15 
again.)

Now, this notion of playing in front of the beat or behind or on top of it 
is the whole reason you feel like dancing when you hear it.  Your body is 
keeping a secret pulse, but the music is not going where you are expecting 
it to go.  You are experiencing the pleasure of micro-syncopations.

Swinging is another form of micro-syncopation.  I have always envisioned 
the idea of the metronome beat in swing music being these stationary poles 
that the musicians are swinging around. Swing and funk are very close 
cousins.  In both 'feels' you are dragged along with the music, just about 
helplessly, as the musicians keep fooling your body and your ears very 
subtly.  Your body keeps wanting to 'beat' here but the music hits just 
before or after where you expect, and just when you expect things to hit 
behind or ahead of the beat a good musician hits the beat dead on.  Keeping 
it all very surprising to body and ears.

Listen for this phenomenon - it's everywhere in popular music.  And as you 
grow your inner metronome by practicing with your outer one, and you focus 
more and more on how the great musicians are playing with your expectations 
of time, the better you'll get at doing it too.

Various musics have various before or after-the-beat characters.  Bossa 
Nova drummers rush the beat, meaning they play ahead of it much of the 
time, giving it an incredibly bracing feeling, while the guitar is often 
dead-on.

Ringo Starr played ahead of the beat on many of the most exciting Beatles 
records, often being the secret key to all that excitement.  (Ringo is 
criminally underrated, though other people also drummed on those 
records.)  Ringo helped the Beatles records 'breathe' by playing ahead or 
behind the beat where appropriate.

For that matter, listen to any era of the Stones.  Charlie Watts plays with 
unbelieveably hip swing, sometimes behind the beat, sometimes ahead of it, 
sometimes within the same figure.  He's driving the rest of the boys 
because he's messing with ALL of their expectations and yours, too, as the 
audience.

So this is a good project for anyone who is interested.  While working on 
your metronome, daily, choose a couple of your favorite records and tap out 
the time while listening for who is playing behind or ahead and 
where.  After a while you'll hear this stuff naturally, and begin to think 
in terms of doing it yourself.

Ken