Just a motivational one liner.

Rhythmic accuracy is the one thing that will keep me grounded as I try to get my sound together.

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Count me as a member of that club.

So.. I'm not talking about a metronome ... at all.

I've just finished a big day of teaching, so don't mind me if I speak Frankly.

You can't take a metronome to a gig, instead as Bernard Purdie said this month in MD magazine, "you become the metronome"

What I'm really getting at is.. As a band leader now, I find I'm still getting into character with how strongly I state the groove. As I get better I'll be able to look up at my members more and really engage them. For now, I can only do that a little, though the music is usually ok cause we/they can all play.

I feel that becoming a good performer is really about creating confidence through musical and rhythmic spacing, not rushing things but being able to exert positive musical control over my hands through honest and easy rhythm and phrasing. When I'm confident of not rushing or scrambling for everything then my tone and overall sound improves.

Pretty much the opposite of "Digicide"

Now it's the morning and perhaps I can say this differently ....

Have you ever noticed that most times when you're practicing, after a while everything starts to speed up. What happens then is a low level of digicide where the fingers take over and it starts to get messy.

= poor muscle memory.

Anyways. After some really good gigs I just want to start to make my playing more and more real overtime I sit down. So I'm keeping my rhythmic intensity up so I don't fall back into drabulous practice rhythm mode.

You know how it goes. You don't necessarily need gigs to experience this, just playing for people at home or wherever can really help the performer come out.

Words to live by. When you're done with your album, write a book.

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Hi Jaye.

Yep, there a lot of people happy with the click and I wouldn't do a session without one for over 20 yrs now.

I think the click debate can go off the rails very quickly if the individuals preferences for using it aren't laid out. You've made clear how you use it and if it's helping then that's a good thing.

I'm really talking about developing deep internal groove that is all about being able to deliver and focus my groove, to make it more of a physical presence.

Clicks don't make your groove better, they just give one a reference point (like you said) from which I can hear and tweak my internal sense of meter. The one thing they can do is create a temporary muscle memory, but this too fades after a while and you're back to your own convictions of timekeeping.

It's all good, I definitely enjoy practicing with a metronome sometimes, it's a healthy thing to do.

Digging a little deeper, I think what I'm really concerned with is how rhythmic timing affects everything, my phrasing, groove and overall confidence in playing an arrangement. I don't want nothing to tell me where that is coming from, not even a click. It's gotta come from inside.

I would go so far as to say the art of playing super quantised in real time is getting lost on some kids. Referring back to the vid that Gene embedded on my Stickrad Trio post and you hear all the musicality and intensity of good timekeeping being compressed, if you will, into a constant rhythmic and emotional wave. Successfully playing to the click isn't just playing as loud as you can all the time and smashing every note onto the grid.....Talking more about drummers here.

Anyhoo...Jaye, congratulations on your improved health. Sounds like it's been a long and fruitful journey.

That phrase hit me - "deep internal groove" - it's been eluding me all my life. I can keep time, but this is a different thing, a difference in kind, not degree.
I think that in a great musician, it's actually a series of tiny distortions in time - parts are in the pocket, and other tiny parts are a little rushed. It involves complete muscular mastery, combined with good time, and maybe other things like an intuitive feel for how the drum head responds, or maybe the tube amp that the guitarist or stickist is playing through.

It's when everything, all the musical elements, become one. And, practically speaking, when the player has many years of playing under his/her belt.

My two cents.

R

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