At a gig recently, the guitarist started pretty much every song by himself and then the band would join in. He was playing an acoustic steel string guitar and had a piece of wood on the floor with a microphone on it. He would tap his right foot to the pulse and that tapping sound could be heard through the sound system.
When I listened to his guitar, I felt the beat (or the pulse) in a slightly different place than he did, based on what he tapped with his right foot. If I started to play with his guitar without taking his tapping into consideration, it sounded fine. However, when I really listened to his tapping and even watched his right foot, I was able to make a very slight adjustment to where I would place the beat. We were both playing in time, but we felt the pulse a bit differently. I had no problem making this adjustment and it’s not something we talked about – I just did it.
This brings up a great way to practice. Take beats and rhythms with which you are already familiar. Try playing a simple drum beat and see if you can play right with your metronome or click track. Make sure that it’s not a complicated pattern – simply a click. You will know you’re right with it when it basically disappears. It’s a bit disconcerting at first, but I find that if I trust myself, then I relax and it’s usually good. The more complicated the drum beat, the more you may end up hearing the click – which is fine.
Next, try playing slightly behind the click. This has been called “chasing the click.” The feel ends up changing because of this approach. I remember reading an article where Harvey Mason talked about this laid back approach and how the Los Angeles studio producers wanted him to have this feel most of the time.
So, now try playing on top of the click – slightly ahead of your metronome. This will give the groove more of a sense of urgency and forward momentum. Quite a few jazz players tend to play this way – check out Tony Williams and listen to his ride cymbal, especially.
Regardless of where you naturally feel the beat or the pulse, it can be very beneficial to be able to make adjustments when needed. You may be asked to chase the click (play behind the beat) or play more on top of the beat, or you may feel that it’s the right thing to do at the time. Try practicing these things first and it should make it much easier to do when the time comes. I have lots of fun doing this and then feeling the difference it makes.
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