Describe "Groove"

[wild4oldcars]

How do you describe it? Is it a front thing or a back thing? Is it a drums thing? Is it tempo-specific?

And please none of that "its what makes the booty shake" bs, this is for seriously serious tb'ers only.

The only reason I ask is to settle a debate. My friends feel groove is a forefront thing, based around riffage. Kinda like this:

I just feel like it's too sparse to be considered groovy, and I think a lot of that comes from the drums.

I, on the other hand, like a backbeat with almost hypnotic groove. Not unlike this:


What do y'all think?

 

[ggunn]

It's like the old definition of obscenity. I can't define it but I know it when I hear it.

 

[mark beem]

 

[10cc]

How do you describe it? Is it a front thing or a back thing? Is it a drums thing? Is it tempo-specific?

And please none of that "its what makes the booty shake" bs, this is for seriously serious tb'ers only.

The only reason I ask is to settle a debate. My friends feel groove is a forefront thing, based around riffage. Kinda like this:

I just feel like it's too sparse to be considered groovy, and I think a lot of that comes from the drums.

I, on the other hand, like a backbeat with almost hypnotic groove. Not unlike this:


What do y'all think?

They both have a groove. I'm all in on the Godzilla groove. Seriously though something this serious though shouldn't include fictitious monsters

 

[hrodbert696]

The way I see it, every piece of music has a groove. The question is what kind. Groove is the interplay between rhythmic elements in the song to create a sense of motion, or of tension and release. There always is such an interplay - Mozart has it, folk songs have it, yes, Blue Oyster Cult's Godzilla has it. I think we notice it more, or call a song "groovy," when there's much bigger, more dramatic tension. Mozart, or marches, tend to tread along steadily with straight quarter notes or eighth notes or whatever. A funk tune, on the other hand, will have everyone hit together on the "one" and then syncopate their way through the rest of the phrase, only to converge together on the next "one." That's groovy.

 

[KenHR]

Ability to stretch and manipulate tempo to impart a dynamic sense of motion in the music.

 

[48thStreetCustom]

Groove is when you... er... uh... y'no, like... ummmmmm... ... ... aw, never mind.

 

[megafiddle]

Ever hear a computer generated rhythm? Groove is what what keeps it from sounding like that.

-

 

[Jarobi]

It's all 'bout the one, baby!

 

[bswag]

Ever hear a computer generated rhythm? Groove is what what keeps it from sounding like that.

-

But, confounding this perfect definition, there was New Order- even at their most "computer"-ish, still grooving like an MF'er!