Is this groove??

[gizmobltd]

Ok now I know I'm going to get somebody in here that says read the other thread on groove, but that isn't what I'm looking for. As some of you know some people are naturals and some need to work. Now i've been playin around 9 months give or take and I come to relize I may not be exactly "grooving". Now is this one of those things your born with or can you learn it with like a metronome. Right now i am learning Rebel Rebel by David Bowey and I am wondering,with the slides and steps the bass is doing,is that groove. Like going from one string and stepping up and down the notes. Any youtube videos that help?? Please respond cause I want to learn "groove" and I have no clue what it is Thanks

Tom

[Phalex]

Groove has everything to do with time. You can groove on a single note, or you can groove on a bunch of them. If you are playing it right (And I'm not talking about CORRECTLY) then yeah, it grooves.

[gizmobltd]

I don't get it on one note?? Is there a video of you doing it or of someone??

[gizmobltd]

Do you need a jazz bass

[kaiser_sosea]

groove in my opinion is more of a feeling than a right or wrong thing, if something grooves it kinda makes it impossible to just sit still, and i dont mean in an ADD bounce off the walls way, just a sway or a tap of the foot, you just feel it

[playibanez]

groove isnt really someone can teach you its not like you can say here play like this. you need to feel it.

and if you type "bass groove" in youtube you will get tons of diffirent stuff. in any good bassists peice theres groove. even if its the fastest flashiest peice ever the groove holds it together. i used to think taht groove had to be those slow mellow lines. it is that but groove is pretty much a tool all bassists should use all the time.

a couple minutes of youtubing and you should know waht it is. some guy has "bass groove lessons" you can listen to and try and play them by yourself, he plays them real slow and they arent taht hard.

good luck man.

[PocketGroove82]

if your drummer is smiling and people are dancing, then there is a good chance you may be grooving.

[00Funk]

Heres some groove
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev-h109tmk4

[colorblindbass]

its easy to grove on one note if you know how.

you just have to listen and play all kinds of music, and youll be grooving before you know it


and when you do, YOULL KNOW IT.

i get the feeling of, "OH MAN THAT IS GANGSTA." or, "OHHHHHHHHH YEAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

[mutedeity]

Groove is arbitrary [edit; in my opinion]. I can't believe how many people use it as a way to analyse a technical approach to anything. Think about what the word groove means. It is a depression that tends to make things sit in place. So in otherwords if you are "grooving" you are in your place. Nice to know you are meeting everyone elses expectations right? What happens when your place is to challenge expectations? Oh no!!! You aren't groovy any more. So does that mean you are less a bassplayer?

In general I see the term "groove" as a way to predefine and limit the role of what a bassplayer should and shouldn't be doing, "grooving, in the pocket". My interpretation of that is playing non-intrusive lines that don't interfer with the consonant continuity of the ensemble.

What is most important, I believe, is understanding when it is appropriate to play non-intrusive, ostinato based lines and when it is appropriate to do something else. Understanding how timing and swing work as well as staccato, and syncopation in a functional sense and learning how to apply these concepts is far more important than clinging to subjective and arbitrary words like "groove"

[rduckwor]

"Groove" to me is when you and the drummer are locked together so tightly that its almost like you are one person playing two instruments. It's being "in the zone" in other things. It spreads because it is contagious and the other players feel it too. The people on the dance floor know it before anyone else finds it. It feels good, I want more of it. You'll know it when you feel it.

[bigbass94]

In my opinion, groove is less about when TO play notes, rather, it is about when NOT to play notes. This is grooving

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjxFu_NXET4

This is not grooving


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSYrTKXLYH0


Groove is where the person that you would least exspect to dance, is dancing. I dont think there is a way to explain what grooving is. Listen to songs like "war pigs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtqy4DTHGqg " "dammed blue collar tweakers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gYu13uVL_4 " and " the OX solo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVl39LBZGMw

[mutedeity]

The last two posts reitterate what I am saying about groove being subjective.

[Jazzdogg]

When I think of "groove," I fondly recall times when the rhythm section has provided a framework in which soloists (including bass and drum solos), vocalists, and dancers feel effortless, at ease, comfortable, well-supported, and in-synch with the music.

I don't think of being in the groove as being restrictive, any more than a surfer feels restricted by a great wave, or a skiier feels restricted by a perfect blanket of fresh powder.

I've played my very best solos when the band was able to sustain the groove, leaving me free to play virtually anything I wanted to.

My brother, a brass player, waxes rhapsodic when he and other horn players are able to spontaneously create a groove-within-a-groove by improvising harmonies and counterpoint that flow with the music.

Other forms of groove I enjoy are fluid drum solos that provide vicarious pleasure for those who are listening, and horn solos with phrasing that provides a sense of flow and contunuity as pleasing as a magic carpet ride.

Of course, these comments are IME/IMO: YMMV...

[colorblindbass]

once again,

you KNOW when you hit the groove.

you never want to come off the stage when you hit it.

[mutedeity]

Originally Posted by Jazzdogg

When I think of "groove," I fondly recall times when the rhythm section has provided a framework in which soloists (including bass and drum solos), vocalists, and dancers feel effortless, at ease, comfortable, well-supported, and in-synch with the music.

I don't think of being in the groove as being restrictive, any more than a surfer feels restricted by a great wave, or a skiier feels restricted by a perfect blanket of fresh powder.

While the concept doesn't have to necessarily be restrictive, for me it still comes down to the fact that it is a subjective way of looking at an umbrella of concepts and approaches that are probably better analysed for what they are.

Originally Posted by colorblindbass

once again,

you KNOW when you hit the groove.

you never want to come off the stage when you hit it.

How do you know? What are the parameters? Once again this is a subjective statement.

Take this as an example; Ever watch Jimi Hendrix play live at woodstock? That guy beating on congas sure thought he was in the groove, I bet. But watch what happens when Mitch Mitchel plays his drum solo. I'm pretty sure Hendrix's words weren't "yeah man you are groovin'." It would have been more like "shut the ....."

If a student says to me "Hey teach me to groove". First thing I am going to ask is "Do you understand the concept of the terms ostinato, staccato, legato, syncopation, clave and swing, for example?"

[trtrzenified]

How to groove?

feel it!!!!

Most of groovy songs are easy if you can feel the music. Mostly it's about playing with feel

Groove generally mean rhythm pattern, it is actually playing good rhythm that make people move.

Some very technical musician cannot groove, while the one that may have less technical skills, but more feelings can groove. Listen to Limp Bizkit bassist and you will know what i mean. His bass line is not that hard but it is really groovy and get people to move.

[cnltb]

First off, I think -Everyone has to work on it.

But as to groove...you know it when it's good!
It's note pacement, dynamics,how your contribution relates tho those of the other players to create a unified whole.

[JimK]

Originally Posted by gizmobltd

I don't get it on one note?? Is there a video of you doing it or of someone??

Check out "Everyday People" by Sly & the Family Stone.

[gizmobltd]

Thanks cause i am getting a idea of what it is. Right now I am thinking groove is just another word as to feel the music. Am I right??