djarrett Posted April 24, 2001 Share Posted April 24, 2001 You will find as many opinions on this as you will ... well, you know! What does playing in the pocket mean to you? For some it is actually playing slightly behind the beat. For others playing dead-to-nuts on the beat. What about you? DJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felix stein Posted April 24, 2001 Share Posted April 24, 2001 For me it's locking in with the bass player. And if the bass player or rhythm sections stinks I can't get into the pocket...all I can do is plow thru the time...then they of course blame me for sucking. If I want the pocket greasy, I'll lay back. If I'm playing metal, I'm in line. I try not to go ahead of the beat too much...sometimes for avantgaurde, freestyle stuff. Thank goodness I have a bass player now where falling into the pocket is like falling out of bed. felix's band Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djarrett Posted April 24, 2001 Author Share Posted April 24, 2001 Felix: "Ding, Ding, Ding" WOW! You said the magic word for me! I wanted to see how long it would take for someone to use the exact word that I drop at about every rehearsal ... GREASY!! You dropped it in the very first post. I am impressed! Some people *get* greasy ... and some do not! Thanks. DJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted April 25, 2001 Share Posted April 25, 2001 Sorry guys, I'm not a drummer, and I only know when my fries are greasy...but for me, it's kinda like hard to define, but I know it when I hear it, and it is without a shadow of a doubt the absolute MOST IMPORTANT THING...to me, anyway. It's the whole difference whether the song cooks or sucks. To define it for me, I'd have to use two words...Carter Beauford, although there are certainly tons of others. To my guitar ears...it's playing on the beat, but to me, it's not playing excessively. It's laying down a groove and sticking in it... "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felix stein Posted April 25, 2001 Share Posted April 25, 2001 I think Carter is terribly over rated and Dave Matthews sings like he has beans in his nose. We always made fun of him being a Dennis Chambers wanna be. But we make fun of every one making money in the music business so it's just jealousy LOL. Has anyone been in those pockets where time "stops" and it's like magic or something where you can hear everything and it's like being underwater or something. You don't want to do anything different for fear of crashing. It's really hard to describe. I have only been there a few times. To me there is a pocket then there is a "deep pocket"...it's really weird and hard to get there at least for me. felix's band Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djarrett Posted April 25, 2001 Author Share Posted April 25, 2001 You are talking about a truly musical magical moment! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif When the music and time mesh into a surreal and undescribable moment! Much liken to a musical orgasm! DJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted April 25, 2001 Share Posted April 25, 2001 Eargasm, as it were... Carter may be what a lot of drummers call "overrated"...but, watching him play, that was the pocket for me. I don't really care how Dave sings... It's like a rhythm guitar player who isn't Yngwie or Pat Martino/Metheny but holds the band together... "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Flier Posted April 25, 2001 Share Posted April 25, 2001 Musical orgasm.... hmmmm... Are you guys in the pocket, or are you just happy to see me? http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif --Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djarrett Posted April 25, 2001 Author Share Posted April 25, 2001 Hey, Lee: We are *always* glad to see you! The terminology was not meant to offend anyone ( I hope it doesn't). It was just the best way I could think of to explain what I meant. Playing in the pocket is an art that can only be developed by reaching into the depth of ones soul. Greasy is a style of playing in the pocket that keeps the song natural and relaxed. Some of the biggest offenders of *not* playing in the pocket are adrenalin, lack of listening, and lack of breathing technique. Others? DJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Flier Posted April 25, 2001 Share Posted April 25, 2001 Hell no you didn't offend me, Dendy!! I'd say it was totally appropriate! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif I agree with all you said about playing in the pocket, too. To me, the consummate example of someone who plays in the pocket AND is "greasy" is Ziggy Modeliste. Damn, that dude can do it every time! Know what y'all mean about the "deep pocket" too. Those times when everybody's so locked in that time just stops. It's almost like you're just surfers riding on a wave of music, it's so powerful and you feel as if you're not the ones creating it. Too cool. --Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djarrett Posted April 27, 2001 Author Share Posted April 27, 2001 Hey, Lee: Ziggy is the grease-meister! There is a special moment when when music seems to just make everyone float! That is when you really realize why it is that you love to play! DJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djarrett Posted May 15, 2001 Author Share Posted May 15, 2001 More Pocket Talk? DJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzz Posted May 15, 2001 Share Posted May 15, 2001 Those times when everybody's so locked in that time just stops. It's almost like you're just surfers riding on a wave of music, it's so powerful and you feel as if you're not the ones creating it. now thats what bands should be practicing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_dup3 Posted May 15, 2001 Share Posted May 15, 2001 This is a subject that really gets ynder my skin, especially in these days of computer edited music. Like overly strict allegiance to a click track (that ignores the occasional ebb & flow of rhythm ),people seem not to realize that it's not just "behind the beat" or "on top", etc.,---the beat ITSELF stretches [& that's where the computer editors lose it when they shift whole phrases ahead/back]. I feel that really effective players (Bootsy Collins is a master at what I'm about to describe) take a phrase/measure & syncopate subdivisions of it.Listen to some James Brown or PFunk (or any masterful R&B players); the drums & bass are NOT locked together the way so many modern players/producers think. They work together but are not LOCKED together.Often one will be moving along evenly & another instrument will slighly shift one beat by a 16th or 32nd; for example a lot of Bootsy's tracks have a fairly straightforward drum rhythm but at certain points the bass will anticipate the "one" by a fraction. This is the element that's missing in the feel of a lot of programmed music---it's not that you can't produce groovin' tunes that way, but you still need to to it with a truly musical feeling ! ------------------ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_dup3 Posted May 15, 2001 Share Posted May 15, 2001 Originally posted by djarrett: Felix: "Ding, Ding, Ding" WOW! You said the magic word for me! I wanted to see how long it would take for someone to use the exact word that I drop at about every rehearsal ... GREASY!! You dropped it in the very first post. I am impressed! Some people *get* greasy ... and some do not! Thanks. DJ This is another point ,especially about funk, it's about LUBRICITY---the feel has to be human,flowing,FLUID---even a lot of the sounds are "liquidy" ! ------------------ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djarrett Posted September 6, 2001 Author Share Posted September 6, 2001 Thought we could re-visit this as well! DJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidereal Posted September 7, 2001 Share Posted September 7, 2001 Interesting read! I wasn't here for the first go round. I know that feeling you're talking about. When you're in it, everyone else is in it, and you all know it. It's strange in that it's an almost scary sensation when it comes on cause it's so cool and you don't want to lose it, but another part of your brain goes 'yeaaahh, it's okay, just go with it.' Or was that LSD? No, kidding... Another thing about groove that I like to trip on is just the idea that drumming is all about placement of actions in time. That's it. You think about time and the subdivisions of time, and your role as a drummer has to be perfect -- not machine perfect, but 'feel' perfect -- in so far as where you're going to place that action, that note. It boggles the mind sometimes. Just for the record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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