Groove and Playing in Time

At a rehearsal today, we recorded a song that’s going to be tracked and recorded in a nice studio next week. This was just a reference recording – some people refer to it as “pre-production.” Before the song started, we listened to a metronome to get the tempo in mind and then played the song without any click or metronome. The groove felt nice while we were playing, and we decided to listen back. What was interesting was the fact that we had slowed down – just a bit – while “locking in” the groove. It wasn’t bad and certainly wasn’t slowing down a lot, but it did slow down. Once the tempo settled to where it wanted to be, we stayed there. There was about a four click difference – it was counted in at 82 bpm (beats per minute) and we ended up playing it at around 78 bpm.

So, we were playing in time and the groove felt nice, but it was at a different tempo than what was counted off. Next week, we’ll use a click in the studio and see how it sounds at the original tempo. It’s still going to groove, but it may feel different than it did today. I practice with a metronome quite often, so I was surprised that this happened. It seems to come down to a number of factors, including the other musicians in the room. Nevertheless, I will attempt to be even more aware of these slight changes as they happen. I do believe that the push and pull of music was at play here. I think that I was letting it get played where it felt like it wanted to be played. What will it want next week?