The way I think about "A Deep Pocket"

[pringlw]

Ok, I don't know if this will work for others, but I thought I would share how I think about the "pocket" when establishing a groove in a song.

Lots of folks talk about having a pocket meaning that you're in sync with the drummer and the rest of the band and have a nice groove going on. That's absolutely true. But it still sometimes seems hard to describe exactly what it is. Here's how I think about it.

Imagine a song starting with a nice strong drum beat, maybe guitars or something but no bass. Lots of songs start this way. If you stick to rock music you can imagine "Fat Bottomed Girls" by Queen or "Shook me All Night Long" by ACDC.

Each time the drum hits the beat - I almost think of it as a machine stamping out the sides of a pocket on a pair of jeans. Thump. Thump. Thump. Almost like a heartbeat on a heart monitor. A series of spikes - each one hitting with the beat. But because there's no bass, there's no bottom to the pocket. There's nothing knitting together the beats from one to the next. If a machine stamped out sides to a pocket on a pair of jeans, but had no bottom to the pocket - you couldn't put anything in it. And that's kind of what those songs are like before the bass kicks in. The "thump thump thump" kind of gets people's feet tapping, but they're not quite grooving yet because there's no bottom to the pocket.

Then when the bass kicks in - it knits together the sides. Creates that foundation between the thump of the drums. Now the "pocket" has a bottom and it can hold a groove.

A deep pocket for me is when the bass is thumping with the drums to make that beat even stronger, and perfectly knits together the beats by creating that bottom. Everything in sync. Not a stitch missing. Nice pocket to hold the groove.

Anyway that's how I think about it.

[Soul Power]

I like to think of it as a place you go when everything you play can be FELT. When a song ain't grooving, it's more like people just "hear it".
But when it is grooving, it can make someone who's been constipated for three days empty their bowels with more efficacy than laxatives.
It's almost like the music literally has a life of its own, as if it is talking.

[enjoi1018]

Originally Posted by Soul Power

I like to think of it as a place you go when everything you play can be FELT. When a song ain't grooving, it's more like people just "hear it".
But when it is grooving, it can make someone who's been constipated for three days empty their bowels with more efficacy than laxatives.
It's almost like the music literally has a life of its own, as if it is talking.

x2! I read somewhere on TB that most of your average joe's single out the guitar solos or the drum rolls, but it's the bass that makes people dance. I find that to be very true.

I have a set of electric drums and a guitar in my room alongside my bass setup. I invested in these mainly to educate myself on how collaborative music works. Even when I fiddle on the guitar, I find myself playing very simple licks. I guess deep down, the bass is just my calling.

Once you have truly "felt" a song, there is no going back. Almost all the time I am constantly judging music based on feeling it.

IMO, what makes good music is when you feel it. Physically and/or emotionally. It's doing what it's supposed to do. That's the difference between noise and a groove.

[mambo4]

IMHO...

"pocket" is one of those slippery, vague terms (like "groove") that people tend to describe with platitudes like "you know it when you feel it," and "either ya got it or ya don't."
such definitions bother me because there isn't any concrete, useful, teachable content -you can't learn from them.

Like "Groove" it's really a sum of multiple discreet disciplines that are concrete and teachable. "Pocket" playing comes from:
accurate tempo,
command of rhythmic subdivisions,
control of playign ahead and behind the beat,
a solid understanding of the genre's rhythmic style,
& above all listening and responding to the drum pattern (especially the snare on 2 and 4.)

no magic sauce here.

[Mark Wilson]

My best advice was from Chris Tarry. I had a lesson with him, and i IMMEDIATELY felt like I became a better player.

I asked him about locking in with a drummer, and when to lay back, and when to stay on top of the beat and asked him about exercises I can do.

He looked at me, and said "Man, when the drum goes "ping", you go '"ping"