If I weighed in I would have to say. And I mean absolutely!!! no disrespect! at all! But although I understand what! you're saying. I dont understand at all how you're saying to do it. I get the resonance thing but if you have to wait till the groove catches in your mind instead of counting..
None taken! However, resonance happens near instantly when you are open to it, and counting is IMMENSELY HELPFUL. Just don't let the groove catch your mind - let it catch your *body*. Rhythm has more to do with moving than sound.
OK - so at this point I think I need to explain the ideas in more than a simple thumbnail. I haven't been asking about whether the ideas were accurate or whether they help people - both are true. Check out the review, jsut so I don't have to discuss proof-in-the-pudding questions. I get that you guys don't understand what I'm trying to say and that I'm just some guy on the internets. Hopefully this will help.
"I received a review copy of this book from the author many months ago and keep coming back to it. The main reason is there are so many thought-provoking nuggets of information that I could not assimilate them all in a reading.
First off, this may be written by a drummer, but it's intended for all musicians. What I love is the way this book focuses on seemingly simple concepts such as rhythm and time, then delves deeply into them and provides an explanation that covers not only the physical elements, but the psychological and physiological factors as well. Along the way Lamb defines and explains pulse, meter, groove and a number of other interrelated terms that we tend to use, but until I read this book did not realize that I was wrong. An example is what I thought was pulse turns out to be something different.
My first introduction to some of the concepts in this book was from a brief video segment by New Orleans drum legend Johnny Vidacovich. He was very aware of the same factors that Lamb explains in this book, but was not nearly as articulate of as thorough in explaining it. For years some of what Vidacovich discussed nagged at me. When I read this book it was like having a grand unification of all of the moving parts. Everything fell into place and I now have a clear understanding rhythm and time - and the constituent parts.
This book has helped me to be both a better drummer and musician by opening my mind to subtleties I can use to enhance music I am playing. One example is how I can greatly alter a groove just by playing slightly behind or ahead of the beat (or directly on it). I also came away with a clear understanding of how I can stretch or compress time to actually change the meaning of the music. A clear example of that concept is given in a lot of Charles Mingus albums in which Mingus on bass and his drummer Dannie Richmond do just that. I was always puzzled by the fluid way Mingus and Richmond played around with time, but after reading this book it made perfect sense.
Above I have given only a few examples of why I love this book. There are many more reasons and you may find some by using the Look Inside feature at the top of this page. For me personally this book is one of the few that have made a profound difference in my awareness of and how I approach music
I can teach beginners to groove, and while I don't use a metronome, I use other things that replace it, such as a drum machine.
This version is still very condensed. With students and in the book I obviously go step-by-step. And these are jsut the first steps. I start by explaining that we resonate with music. For example, when we hear a clock, we hear it go "tock tock tick tock." It doesn't. The clock goes "tick tick tick tick tick" but WE go tick tock. We swing back and forth as a result of hearing the clock. This is because we hear the clock's ticking as music.
And yes, counting is very very very helpful. When you count, you are counting the main beats, a.k.a. the tick tock, and when counting the subdivisions you are counting the faster layers of time. When playing super fast stuff you'll want to count the slower layers. About 100 bpm is the resonant speed of the brain.
There is a reason why top performers do what they do. I include quotes and interviews with top players throughout the book. That's where many if the ideas come from. Note the interview with Zigaboo Modileste and JR Robinson above. I could have filled an hour with the same kind of thing, and that is just drummers. Check out Snark Puppy Family Dinner video, or any other music performance. See how both the musicians and the audience are moving in the same way? That is a feature of the groove, and it is something that becomes much easier to learn when it becomes tangible.
Some people innately think by feel. I was chatting with Mike Byrne from the Smashing Pumpkins about this. He told me what I was saying was obvious. It is to him, and that's why he got that gig at 17. It is to me now, and when it becomes obvious to my students, their groove improves immediately and tremendously. This doesn't make them monster players overnight, and they still have to work on the other skills, but it immediately helps them make music that matters instead of simply playing notes in a row.
