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08-25-2008, 07:01 PM
| | | | What Exactly is "The Pocket"?
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Call me a fool, butI've heard the term used in my 3 years of bass playing, mostly online, but I have no clue what it means. Any help is appreciated!
Ben |
08-25-2008, 07:05 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: West Chester, Pennsylvania | | | the pocket will probably have several definitions...mine is when all musicians are rhythmically together to the point where they are comfortable with not only their group sound but with their individual sound. For jazz players, it is when the bassist are in sync enough to make the soloist comfortable enough to begin to experiment with modal and rhythmic ideas.
peace,
greg o
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08-25-2008, 08:30 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: MD | | | I've seen a bunch of people try to come up with a technical definition of "pocket", and they've failed miserably. It's a very subjective term that has to be experienced to be understood - words won't help you there. Pocket is associated with groove and timefeel. Playing "in the pocket" is playing so that your line is synced up with the other musicians in a way that the music "breathes" and doesn't feel metronomically forced.
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08-25-2008, 08:36 PM
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Endorsing: Ampeg | | Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Apopka, FL | | | You'll know when you feel it. |
08-25-2008, 08:44 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Sydney | | | The pocket is where folk singers keep their harmonica. |
08-25-2008, 08:47 PM
| | | | old
I am old, but to me, when I am in the pocket with the drummer...
We own the song 
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08-25-2008, 09:15 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Perth, Western Australia | | Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmyM  You'll know when you feel it. | spot on as usual jimmy. love your posts man.
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08-25-2008, 09:18 PM
| | | | I always thought it was more a matter of playing in the right place. Fitting in musically, not getting stepped on by the guitarists, and not stepping on the guitarists. Keeping in time with the drummer, etc. |
08-25-2008, 09:22 PM
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08-25-2008, 09:24 PM
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EZ Music Co. | | Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Boone, NC | | | Well, just know that you can't carry a groove unless you have a pocket to put it in
just a thought |
08-25-2008, 09:26 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Yonderville Georgia | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Spencer! | I do believe that is a Pino Pocket!
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Its the silence between the notes that makes the music
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08-25-2008, 10:36 PM
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Endorsing: Ampeg | | Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Apopka, FL | | Quote:
Originally Posted by sandman spot on as usual jimmy. love your posts man. | Love yours too, bro! |
08-25-2008, 10:44 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Hamilton Ontario, (60miles wes | | | The pocket.
Do you play pool?
Sorry.......
I'd say its the breathing part of playing with others. Sometimes if the drummer plays on top of the beat with the guitarist I back off and play slightly behind the beat to give it space and breathing room. It makes everyone relax a little because we're not all rushing. If the drummer plays behind the beat I might move it up a little to widen the groove.
The pocket is a living breathing thing. |
08-25-2008, 10:51 PM
|  | I RULE | | Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Washington | | | neck pocket.
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08-25-2008, 11:00 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Auburn, CA | | The pocket to me is when you are playing a rhythm and pull back a bit to create some space to emphasize a particular rhythmic figure. That figure is not anything that can be defined as it would depend on the song.
The space can and does move around and that is the pocket to me.
I don't think you need a band or a drummer.
Despite all the pyro tech, Victor Wooten does a great job keeping the pocket here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuC2Npu3z48 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU4ZFx3OS38
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Last edited by ghiadub : 08-25-2008 at 11:03 PM.
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08-25-2008, 11:01 PM
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08-26-2008, 03:30 PM
| | Bass/Lead Vocals - Dear Dark Head | | Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Philadelphia, PA, US | | | You know, it was only in the last few years that I first heard some say "in the pocket", but I knew exactly what he meant. When you're "in the pocket", everything is "right on", "groovy", "hip"...get it daddy-o?
The term is, in my experience, generally used to describe a state reached by the rhythm section in which there seems to be a sort of mystical link between the drummer and the bassist, where no matter how far ahead or behind the beat you choose to play in order to make your musical statement, you both come back on the downbeat perfectly in time, and propelling the audience and your fellow musicians forward with a spiritual energy that just has to be experienced to be fully understood.
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08-26-2008, 03:40 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Connecticut | | Quote:
Originally Posted by lunker | Exactly!
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08-26-2008, 03:41 PM
| | | | Ah thanks for the replies. I thought perhaps the pocket was like an area near your pickup and if you played in the right spot you'd get a certain tone or something. Thanks for clearing it up. |
08-26-2008, 04:41 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Wallkill, NY | | Quote:
Originally Posted by amper You know, it was only in the last few years that I first heard some say "in the pocket", but I knew exactly what he meant. When you're "in the pocket", everything is "right on", "groovy", "hip"...get it daddy-o?
The term is, in my experience, generally used to describe a state reached by the rhythm section in which there seems to be a sort of mystical link between the drummer and the bassist, where no matter how far ahead or behind the beat you choose to play in order to make your musical statement, you both come back on the downbeat perfectly in time, and propelling the audience and your fellow musicians forward with a spiritual energy that just has to be experienced to be fully understood. | Well said!
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