Mel Bay's Percussion Sessions | Nucleo Vega - Understanding Groove: Part 1

Understanding Groove: Part 1

by Nucleo Vega - author of Mel Bay's Book/DVD: Understanding Groove www.understandinggroove.com

The essence of being a skilled drummer is having a deep awareness and understanding of groove. Every band has a slightly different groove (or "feel"); it is our job to be able to match and support it in order to create a deeper, danceable, and more soulful groove in the specific musical setting.

Developing this awareness and being able to control one's groove is an ongoing process. The following articles are excerpts from the book/DVD Understanding Groove. Hopefully they will equip you with tools and systems that will help you find deeper enjoyment and understanding in any musical situation and will allow you to effectively communicate your ideas to your fellow band members.

Concept #1: Understanding the difference between Quarter Notes of Various Styles
Why is it that if 30 drummers were to play straight quarter notes on a drum set, all of the drummers would sound different?
What's the difference between jazz quarter notes, rock quarter notes, samba quarter notes country quarter notes, hip-hop quarter notes, and urban gospel quarter notes?

An inability to know and/or play the difference makes it close to impossible to control one's groove. After years of hit-or-miss gigs and rehearsals, I finally got fed up and decided that I need a better way to approach groove.

Concept #2: The Limitations of Notation
Which of these measures best interprets swing for you? Which measures represent a certain eras of swing or the stylistic interpretation of certain drummers?

Concept #3: Verbalizing and Interpreting Groove
How you verbally interpret groove greatly determines how you understand and replicate groove. Standard notation is good to get the basic groove but lacks nuances that make the groove have feeling. Play each measure 20 times while singing the words below. Exaggerate the words and make your hands emulate the rhythm words. Do you feel a difference in your swing pattern?

Concept #4: Whip- The Foundation of Character and Authority in Groove
The syllables or rhythm words you say influence the character of your stroke- authority, emotion, beat placement, shape of groove, attack, tone and lilt of groove. In groove, the greatest influence in your character is the whip or acceleration of your stroke. Acceleration or whip is the rate at which your stick increases speed towards the drum. Having whip in your stroke is essential for having a danceable, confident and clear groove. In addition if you can control the acceleration of your whip, you can determine the character of your stroke. Here are some exercises to help you build awareness of the whip of your stroke. There should be a flick in your stroke to produce the accents. Keep the non-accented notes very soft.

Play each measure 50 times until you internalize the feel of the whip. Then, play a basic swing ride cymbal pattern. After each measure, feel and internalize the whip (fast, slow, or medium rates). Keep the same whip when you enter your groove. Do you hear and feel a difference in the character of your groove? Do some feel funkier? More swing-like? For better results, try recording yourself. Enjoy!!!