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What Exactly is "The Pocket"?

#2
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
 
#3
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.
 
#8
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.
 
#13
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.
 
#15
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:
 
#17
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.
 
#20
amper said:
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.
Click to expand...

Well said!
 

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