Before we continue working on all the fancy stuff, ghost notes, syncopated rhythms, etc., let’s take a look at one of the most important subjects, developing a sense of internal groove and a solid time feel. We have to have this no matter what kind of groove we’re playing.

1 - Recipe For A Deeper Groove

Let’s start with an article I wrote for a book called The Drum and Percussion Cookbook: Creative Recipes for Players and Teachers – Meredith Music.

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I have rewritten and edited the article for this course. The following Metronome Track With Spaces will be the Workbook material for this lesson. John Riley originally gave me this idea.

Recipe For A Deeper Groove

by Jim Payne

Questions like “How do I get a deeper pocket, a more organic feel, a fatter groove, a more relaxed groove, a more laid back groove,” are many times treated as mysteries or even as unteachable. Common answers: “You either have it or you don’t.” “You just feel it.” “You’re born with it.” “It’s in your blood.” Etc., etc.

I’d like to offer some ideas that have worked for me in dealing with these questions…

Why is it that when we play a simple rock-type beat, i.e. boom-bap-boom-bap, everybody says, “Okay, alright.” But when Steve Gadd plays the exact same beat, everybody says, “Yeah! That’s what we want! Wow! Incredible!!!”?

Obviously it has something to do with the way he plays it, the sound quality and, most important, the feel. And when you watch Steve play, he has a certain body motion, a certain rocking motion, and you also get the feeling that he’s totally glued to the seat. Nothing’s gonna move him. Let’s see if we can get a little closer to what’s going on here. Steady, relaxed groove making, that’s for sure, and that’s what we’re after.

2 - Song Examples

Here are some examples of very simple beats with very steady and powerful grooves. Probably the two most popular beats in the game.

And some would say the most effective.

A. "Knock on Wood," Eddie Floyd (Stax/1966), Al Jackson Jr., drums.

1 & 3 on the BD, 2 & 4 on the SD, HH in 8ths.

(rear) Duck Dunn, Al Jackson, Jr., Steve Cropper, (front) Booker T. Jones

B. "Shakey Ground," The Temptations, (Motown/1975).

Quarters on the BD, 2 & 4 on the SD, HH in 8ths.

3 - Posture

First, let’s talk about posture. I try to emulate Tony Williams. Basically - sit up straight. Arms naturally at the sides. Sit high enough so the thighs are angled down slightly and the leg muscles are not cramped. If you play the ride cymbal a lot, set it up close enough so it isn’t a strain to reach it. Otherwise just use common sense to arrange the pieces of the kit to make it easy for your arms and legs.

Better posture is the first step in eliminating tension, which we all suffer from. I know I do. Tension in the spine, tension in the neck, tension in the shoulders, tension in the jaw, etc.

When I was learning to play in a big band at the Jazzmobile program up in Harlem, Frank Foster, the famous tenor player who played with Elvin Jones after Coltrane passed away and who led the Count Basie Orchestra for many years, came over to me after a tune and opened up his closed fist. “You’ve gotta open up your a**hole,” he said. After being somewhat shocked, I realized what he was talking about. I played down the chart and didn’t make many mistakes but my tension was coming out in my playing and affecting the feel, making it stiff and nervous. And tension starts down there, at the lowest point, and then works it’s way upward. If you can relax at the bottom you have a chance to avoid tension all the way up the spine, into the neck, shoulders, jaw, etc.

4 - Yoga and Tai Chi

Yoga and Tai Chi can also mellow out the body, decrease tension and cure some of those sore muscles. Tony Williams was into Tai Chi. After all, the Chi or life force is what we’re using to get the job done. Any awareness and control of that has to be good.

Mind relaxation and focus are also important – again Yoga and Tai Chi, and also meditation and chanting – something that calms the mind so its relentless spinning and grabbing of your attention doesn’t divert your concentration. The mind is an amazing machine that loves to work all the time, but what it chooses to work on may not be what YOU want it to work on. It has to be tamed and controlled by the user. It can be thinking about dinner or the girl in the front row when you want to be thinking about, or better yet, feeling, the groove.

5 - Sit down like you mean it

Another image I’ve found useful is to imagine yourself a lineman (or linewoman!) in the NFL - at least 300 lbs or a suma wrestler.

Imagine that you’re this person when you sit down at the drum set. When I see Bernard Purdie or Clyde Stubblefield sit at the set I think of this, not that they weigh that much of course! But the idea is that you’re an immovable object, like a mountain. You’re solid; and nothing, including the bass player, is going to move you. Imagine that one of the principal James Brown drummers, Jab’o Starks, once told me about his approach to soloists: “Those guys can go and do their thing. They can do their tricks and flips, but when they get through, they’ll have to come back, and when they come back, they’ll find me right here just like I was in the beginning, keeping that same groove.”

6 - Relax the mouth and tongue

Another indication of whether you’re really relaxed is if your tongue is relaxed. The tongue, some say, is one of the centers of creativity. It’s relaxed if the tip is touching the front of the palate where it meets the back of the front teeth, and the teeth are just lightly touching. Also, no jaw clenching, something I’m unfortunately really good at.

7 - Body Motion

Now we’re set up and relaxed. This is where the fun begins.

I’m sure you’ve noticed what I call the “body motion” of different drummers. Some, like Bernard Purdie, have a left leg pump - bouncing on the ball of the foot as that foot sits on the closed hi hat. Ringo sways his head back and forth. Other drummers have other motions. I’m not recommending any of these but just mentioning that we already use our bodies to get ourselves into the groove, whether it’s conscious or not.

If we’re sitting at the drum set, and we’re sitting like a mountain, very relaxed, not playing, we should feel a body motion, a back-and-forth motion from the butt to the head. This is the natural rhythm of the body. I’m not talking about the heartbeat. I’ve done some research on that too, trying to play with a stethoscope in my ears, etc., but I find that this natural body motion is much more useful. For now we’ll just go with whatever tempo is happening naturally. Just practice feeling that pulse.

Breathe normally. Don’t worry about when you take each breath. Just make sure you’re breathing and not holding your breath.

Music, especially the rhythm of music, and especially the rhythm of the drums, reflects the rhythm of nature, the world, the universe. Elvin Jones said he used to try to capture the rhythm of a thunderstorm or the rhythm of the wind or the rhythm of a river or a waterfall. The pulse of drumming is so universal and so primordial, it seems as if it’s always been and will always be. This is the pulse we are generating. We’re expressing OUR pulse, which is really an example of the pulse of nature or the pulse of the universe.

Check out some YouTube videos of Vinnie Coliauta or Steve Gadd and look at their body movement.

So… how to get a better groove without playing from our minds or expressing our tension…

8 - Metronome Track with Spaces

The metronome will click quarter notes for 8 bars of a medium slow tempo, about 80 BPM. Then you will hear a crash on the downbeat of the next bar, and nothing (NOTHING) for 4 bars. This cycle will repeat and you will continue to hear the crash on the downbeat of each 4-bar section followed by 4 bars of silence for a total of 32 bars. Then the metronome will come back for 4 bars, which will help you get back on track just in case you happen to get off! (which you and I and everyone else will definitely do). The cycle will then repeat for another 32 bars.

While you’re in that “no man’s land” where the time is going on but you’re hearing nothing, it will be like playing a gig. You’re on your own. And you can check yourself by seeing if you can hit that downbeat every 4 bars.

I’ve found that the easiest way to hit it is to tune into the body motion and TRUST IT! I hit more downbeats that way than by concentrating real hard, or by subdividing. This really works.

9 - Metronome Track Exercise

A. Relax

Go through the relaxation process as described above, consciously relaxing the various parts of the body - spine, shoulders, tongue and jaw. Feel the pulse of your body motion.

B. Listen and clap

Listen to the Metronome Track With Spaces and clap at the beginning of each 4-bar section along with the crash. Feel your body motion in the spaces and let that guide you and tell you when the next crash is coming.

C. Play

Now play the world’s simplest (and probably most popular) beat: boom-bap-boom-bap. In other words, BD on 1 & 3, SD on 2 & 4, with 8ths on the closed hi hat. Feel the pulse as you play. You have to play something incredibly simple to be able to use part of your concentration to feel this pulse. Don’t add any fills or play a complicated beat.

While feeling the pulse, use that as the tempo and coordinate the beat with that tempo. Play a four bar phrase, but STOP on the downbeat of the fourth bar, and for the rest of the fourth bar, don’t play, just feel that back-and-forth pulse. Play the next four bars the same way, stopping to feel the pulse in the fourth bar.

This is the whole idea of this recipe. I’m not saying you can immediately do this while on the gig, but if you practice it, eventually you WILL be able to feel it while you’re playing the gig. It will deepen your groove and make it more laid back. If you know the material really well and you know what you’re playing really well, you can feel this pulse at the same time. AND if you TRUST this pulse it will really help to deepen your groove.

If the song tempo is slightly different, don’t worry, you can will the pulse to a different tempo. It’s not that hard. It pretty much happens automatically.

Workbook

1. Listen to the Metronome Track With Spaces 80 BPM and clap at the beginning of each 4-bar section along with the crash.

2. Play BD on 1 & 3, SD on 2 & 4, HH in 8ths to the Metronome Track with spaces, 4-bar version, 80 BPM

Don’t stop as in C. above. Play continuously through the 4-bar phrases.

Don’t crash at the beginning of each 4-bar phrase. If you do, you won’t be able to tell if you’re on it or not.
And, stay with the same beat throughout. Good luck.

3. Play to the Metronome Track, 8-bar version, slow.

4. Play to the Metronome Track, 8-bar version, med.

Lesson 3

Ghost Notes 2

Lesson 5