Teach me how to groove

[AmazingGracePlayer]

I was just sitting by a bonfire last night with some friends after playing a gig in a church with HORRIBLE acoustics, and we were talking about grooving... I realized, that no matter how much more technically advanced I get, and I don't think I can get that much more technically advanced, I'm somewhat of a useless funk bassist if it takes me an hour to come up with a decent groove.

So, here's the question, how do you groove? What can I do so that I can come up with new grooves easily? I've listened a lot of old and modern funk bassists, and I think I listened a bit too much that most stuff I come up with is just a rip off of some song... So I don't think listening more will help much.

[DocBop]

I can't be taught it has to be absorbed. Listen to lots of simples grooves like James Brown. pick a tune and listen to it over and over. Clap the rhythm of the bassline. Sing the bassline. Listen to have the bass and drums are working together. Do all this over and over until you internalize the groove. Then work on playing the bassline. Start with James Brown's tune The Payback. After the intro its a two note bass line. Learn to make two notes groove then your on your way.

Keep reminding yourself Groove is all about rhythm not notes. That every style of music has to groove to sound right. Sometimes its called Swing, or Rocks but its the same thing.

[RiddimKing]

Sing a line to accompany a song--hum it if that's all you can do--then apply it to your bass. Your brain knows a lot more songs than your hands do.

[Lowtonejoe]

To groove you have to first feel it and then play it. It's about developing a connection between your heart and your hands.

Do this:
1. Unplug.
2. Set up 5 songs that groove to your liking.
3. Play air bass while they play.
4. Don't listen to what you play or worry about hitting any note in particular.

The idea is to naturally develop 'groove' timing through body mechanics. Once you can feel and move to the groove plug in and start very simple. Play one note per measure or less, just play it to the groove that you have in your head.

When you lock in that one note, add another. Lock it in and add another. Just keep adding.

No, you will not become a groovemaster in one sitting but if you do this exercise regularly, it will happen.

Just do it!



Joe.

[ibnzneksrul]

At the risk of sounding blasphemous, sometimes the groove is below your waist. Let your hips feel it.

[Kruton]

Originally Posted by RiddimKing

Sing a line to accompany a song--hum it if that's all you can do--then apply it to your bass. Your brain knows a lot more songs than your hands do.

Hear, Hear.

[peetey]

Man, that part about "playing one note per measure and then adding", by lowtonejoe,

I think I'm going to go and try that right now. I want to improve my groove too. My problem is I tend to keep playing the same pattern over and over again.

So "Payback" by James Brown. Any others?

I want to be a Funk Machine!

[uturnbass]

Like everyone else said groove is not taught.
It's something you'll have to discover.
It's what you feel.
When I groove, I usually am really relaxed, and shut my eyes and let my playing flow.. and that's when I create the best bass lines.
I just play what I feel, the many bass lines and licks locked within me mix with emotion and feel and pour out through my fingertips.

Pretty cool feeling.

[AmazingGracePlayer]

Do any of you find singing the bassline while playing the bassline sometimes gives cool new ideas?

Originally Posted by uturnbass

Pretty cool feeling.

Yeaup.

[DocBop]

Originally Posted by AmazingGracePlayer

Do any of you find singing the bassline while playing the bassline sometimes gives cool new ideas?

What I do is just turn on a metronome and then start singing or clapping basslines. Which evolves into making up new lines. Now when I hear a metronome click and I hear and think about grooves.

[morf]

Play like you're having sex. You'll groove.

[refbassist]

Grooving is a reflection of your personality,i develop it by listening to lots of music and jam as much as i can!

[Booneman]

Originally Posted by DocBop

What I do is just turn on a metronome and then start singing or clapping basslines. Which evolves into making up new lines. Now when I hear a metronome click and I hear and think about grooves.

+1 or use a drum machine/ drum loops

[RiddimKing]

<<Play like you're having sex. You'll groove>>

That could get really expensive...

[Deacon_Blues]

Rule #1: You groove only when you dig what you're playing and your body feel it.

Listen to songs that you know makes you wanna dance. Then play over the songs, and lock into the beat without loosing the feeling that you want to dance. If you lose that when you start playing the song, you have to practice your timing, technique, the bassline or a combination of those.

You can do the same with only a simple drum machine too: Then you get more freedom to play whatever you feel and you can jam for 10 or 20 minutes or more while experimenting with different basslines. Always when you find a bassline that grooves, stick to it for a few minutes. Then go on and find some new lines....

[nirvanafan13]

I went to a drummer workshop with my band's drummer yesterday and a guy named Jose Aponte- an Afro-Cuban drummer primarily, and he said something really cool.
A drummer was doing a lot of moving while playing, and he said erratic movement produces erratic sound. Simply listen to the song or the drum pattern, and move with the groove. Just kinda move your hips or bob your head or shrug your shoulders simply with the groove. But make sure it's TIGHT. Learning to dance (even if you're not a dancer-type) will help you internalize the groove too. I get a lot of my groove ideas from the drummer's kick and hi-hat. Listen to how other guys do it, but don't think of it as a "ok, he plays the sixteenth notes on the beat 4-e, and then a half on the beat 2" but just dig it, feel why the line is grooving.
A good groove song that I like is "Are You In" by Incubus. Pretty simple bassline with very tasteful fills added in, but pay attention to the ghosting of the main line, and how it interacts with the drums.

[Deacon_Blues]

Originally Posted by DocBop

What I do is just turn on a metronome and then start singing or clapping basslines. Which evolves into making up new lines. Now when I hear a metronome click and I hear and think about grooves.

Originally Posted by Booneman

+1 or use a drum machine/ drum loops

+1 here too. Add the blinkers on the car too and any other repetive sound... Even the washing machine can make me feel a groove...

[morf]

Originally Posted by RiddimKing

<<Play like you're having sex. You'll groove>>

That could get really expensive...

Only if you're a messy lover