Raynier...
Groove and time are very individualistic things. Everyone feels things differently. So your problem could be that your 'feeling' where the time/groove is slightly different to the other guys in the band. I play with a lot of different guys, and a lot of different styles of music. The placement of the notes in accordance to whether your playing behind, in the middle or in front of the beat varies enormously between different players (it's most apparent in drummers too me) and specifically different styles of music.
So there's a few different elements to take into consideration...
1) Where do you feel the beat naturally? I feel it right in the middle, whereas the drummer (a gospel guy) I was working with last night for instance feels it waaay behind the beat - which happens to be very stylistic of gospel anyway. So maybe due to exposure over years of listening to gospel music my friend has had the 'behind the beat' feel ingrained within him.
2) Once you've figured out where you feel the time/groove you've got to take into consideration the style of music your playing. Contemporary rock stuff is generally right on the beat. So if your naturally feeling the groove behind the beat this might be why things are feeling a bit weird for you. Understanding stuff like this is the key though... then you can try and do something about it. For instance when i'm playing R&B/gospel type stuff I have to make an effort to try and feel the groove behind the beat. This is because I naturally don't feel it there, i feel it right in the middle. On the other hand, if the gospel drummer I worked with last night was booked to do a rock gig he would have to remind himself to be a little bit more pushy and not lay back so much. I also do gigs with a tabla player who likes the bass to be super in front of the beat, really pushing the groove.
3) So once you've figured where you 'feel' the time/groove and you know what style of music your playing and whether the bass sits behind, in the middle or in front of the beat... you then need to immerse yourself in whatever time feel your trying to get down. Listening to CD's/bass players who 'feel' it differently to you, playing along with those records etc etc. After a while you'll be able to switch between feels depending on what playing situation your in at the time.
And one last thing... Sometimes players just don't sit right together 'feel' wise. One of my best friends, a great great drummer, done loads of big high profile gigs etc... In other words he's not crap! Well, we just don't sit together nicely. We don't feel it in the same place. It's a strange thing, no one else would be able to tell but we can feel it. Who would have thought... a millisecond can make a difference lol!
Hope thats of some help man,
Easy,
Scott.
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