Space, The Final Frontier….

I went to see a gig recently on the invite of a friend. It had been recommended that I should go check out a player who’s come in and established himself as the hot bass guy in town. I texted him a few times to say hi and find out where and when he was playing, hooked up with an old student of mine and headed on down to catch the gig.

Upon entering, I was pleasantly surprised (you never know – even when people make recommendations to you, you may have to watch a good player in an otherwise pants band, grooving away as the last bastion of musicality in a shitstorm of bad playing.) This band sounded great! The guitar player was very tasty and had a great sound, the singer was great and the bass and drums had a lovely tight pocket. The bass player in particular had a really solid, robust command of the time. The drummer grooved along with a great solid tempo and some tasty fills (once I clocked his face, I realized this drummer was someone I had taught a few years back!!)

The band started into the next song (I shot the Sheriff) and played a nice re-arrangement of the tune. Again, tasty guitar work, impassioned vocals and a lovely driving groove from the drums and bass. As the band continued playing, I couldn’t help but feel something was a little… wrong. Well, not wrong, but something wasn’t happening – then I clicked. At the end of some very fine performances, the crowd barely made a peep. This venue was fairly full, so they should be making a fair old noise…..

I watched as the band continued, and listened, trying to put my finger on it. The hidden problem. The mystery. The band was good, and the audience were out drinking and having fun, but they just weren’t engaging. As a musician, I love to see a great band play – I love to see great musicians, even when they play simple songs and to learn from how they perform. How they connect. Because this, after all, is the whole point of performance. We stand up in a room and we say ‘Listen to me! Hear what I have to share with you.’

How is it that when the message is clear, and the delivery is good, people don’t get it?

Often, they aren’t drawn in. That’s the problem. They start the night as strangers, listening from a distance and it’s our job to bring them closer. Think about that for a minute. Bring them closer – if you want someone to move closer to you, how would you go about that?
It’s all about dynamics. You have to leave space, you have to create gaps that grab their attention. I believe it’s called ‘manufacturing desire’. You give people a taste of something that they may like. Then you take it away. Then they want more.
Before you started, they didn’t care much either way. Now they desire it. You have created that desire in someone.

The problem this rhythm section had, was that they were just grooving all night. That sounds mad, but the problem was the relentless nature of the groove. We are all taught (especially as rhythm section members) that groove and consistency are the first and most important fundamentals in our job. This is certainly true. But, as with all rules in music… they are counterproductive if taken too literally.
What does it mean to be consistent, to groove all night? Does it mean that we set up the maximum level of groove and stick to it throughout every song? I’d say… no. It’s important to be able to break down a groove into its component parts and present it at different levels.
If the rhythm section lays down an ultra-consistent groove all the way through every song, nothing rises or falls. No chorus explodes, no guitar solo bursts into life. It all trundles along with great feel, but after a while, the ear begins to tune out.
It’s important that at times the band can sound small, it can shrink away. They play less, the volume drops, you lean forward to hear them, to catch the details. They draw you in close to them, speak to you in an intimate way and just as you feel comfortable….. BANG! They crank up the volume and blast off into a chorus that nails you to the wall.

Dynamic playing can be an issue of volume, but it can also be affected by the things that we use to create excitement in music. I played with a drummer recently that habitually opens his hi-hats at the end of every 8 bars. This has the effect of creating a build, a steady crescendo that feels like we’re heading toward something new. The problem was, often, we weren’t actually building to anything –we were just grooving around a vamp for 32 bars, but 4 times in that vamp he created a build, when we actually only needed one on the very last bar. By the time we got to it, the effect was totally lost. We’d played that card 3 times already and the audience didn’t trust it any more. Like so many simple ideas, it can be extremely effective, but when used inappropriately…. it can work against you.

The register and range that you play / sing in, the use of rhythm and syncopation, the busy-ness of your parts – these are all things that we can use to move up or drop down a gear. People make common mistakes:
1.    Always using the same busy, grooving part but just playing it quietly. This creates a bubbling, energetic feel at low volume. It gives the feeling that the band could explode into life at any moment. It can be awesome, but sometimes we need to create a feeling of space, of air in the groove. This could mean dropping out completely, playing hits with space in between or simply taking the main groove and extracting a few notes from it. It’s good practice to write out grooves and try to figure which notes you could remove and still maintain 80% of the feel. Then 50%, then 30%, etc….

2.    Playing fewer notes over a chilled section, but still bashing them out at full volume. This kind of playing opens up space in the groove, but makes your playing feel aggressive and overstated. A lot of people play like this, because they simply aren’t comfortable playing quietly. It’s really important to develop your touch when playing lightly on your instrument, and to develop a vocabulary you can use at low volume. (Many drummers play the same way but use hot rods to drop the volume level. It will help you grow so much as a player to have a good touch at loud, medium and quiet levels. Check players like Chris Dagley, Neal Wilkinson and Ralph Salmins. 3 great drummers that I’ve played with or seen around London who groove and fill at low volumes with confidence and authority.)

Think of the elements we have in our arsenal.
•    Volume / touch: How we hit the instrument and what kind of sound that touch generates.

•    Sound vs. Absence of sound: This is the most dramatic effect we can create in music. Think about rests!

•    Rhythm: The smaller the subdivision that we use, the more frantic and active our playing will sound. Think about balancing out an energetic approach to the groove with long held notes. When that groove kicks back in… you’ll really feel it!

•    Syncopation: Think also about how heavily you play on the pulse and also, how much of your playing is accenting away from the pulse. Syncopation can create excitement and complexity in music. Playing right on the pulse can create a heavy, driving feel. Be purposeful when you choose each approach.

•    Register: Stay aware of the size of the notes you play. Low register notes sound rich and full – they take up a lot of sonic space. Playing a bass note up the octave will still give the root note, but in a much lighter way.

•    Melody: Think about how much movement there is in the part you play. Is it 1 note repeated? Root / 5th? Or a busy funk part with 8 or 9 different notes? Melodic playing is interesting but will definitely draw attention toward your playing. Being very melodic all the time is counterproductive.. balance it out with repeated notes and less melodic parts.

It’s a very delicate, but essential balance to strike. We can help to steer the direction of the band by knowing when to drop things down, how to stop playing at just the right time, what’s the smallest number of notes that you could play while still maintaining an authoritative presence.
If you play with good musicians who are sympathetic and have big ears, the whole ensemble will rise and fall together. They will groove, rock and chill in a way that keeps an audience excited and wanting to hear what comes next.

Sit down and talk to the musicians that you play with. Discuss these concepts and aim to sound like a good band, not 4 good individual musicians. If it helps, think of it like a good soup. You need fine ingredients, but the blending is where the real magic happens. If you have too much of one thing or not enough of another, the overall taste is bad. If you don’t believe me, just try adding too much salt the next time you cook up a broth.

Tagged as: band, bass, drums, dynamics, funk, groove, guitar, lesson, music, pocket, pop, rock, space, vocals