Do certain grooves tend towards certain subdivisions?
Wed, 12/05/2018 - 23:01
When I practice scales to jam tracks, I notice that certain grooves tend better to different subdivisions of notes. For example, tramps and rhumbas have that straight eighth feel, and it's easier to play eighth notes and sixteenth notes for me. In a slow blues or a Jimmy Reed shuffle, maybe triplets feel easier. This comes naturally to me.
Do you think that certain subdivisions of notes tend to feel more right in certain grooves?
Or should I be fighting my natural inclinations? Should I work hard to train myself to play EVERY subdivision of notes in EVERY groove?
Hello Marc.
Yes, certain subdivisions of notes feel more right in certain grooves. What you described is dead-on. It is a good challenge, and I would recommend the practice, to put triplets to a straight-eighth groove. Instead of using straight sixteenth notes in a swing, try swinging those sixteenth notes. It will feel like playing four standard swing eighth notes in one beat (obviously faster).
You could try EVERY subdivision of notes in EVERY groove, but I would say it's not practical. If you have nothing else to do, sure, it will make your rhythm better, but you probably do have better things to be working on.