Finding the Groove: Playing Behind, Ahead, On-Top

So there's these concepts of playing behind, ahead, or on-top of the beat. It has never come up in real life for me before, it's just been something I've read about in magazines. But last night someone asked me to play "behind the beat" (note to myself...this was for the second half of "Movin' On"). I guess it's time to start thinking more about this.

Here's a decent video:


Honestly, this is a very advanced concept. I'm not sure that it is necessary in the situation it was brought up to me. What I really think was happening last night was that the guitar player was rushing and that I was playing inconsistently (not staying one tempo) because I'm not used to playing slowly and because I was unfamiliar with the song. That stuff needs to get fixed first...and then...yeah...laying behind the beat would be ideal for the song in question.

I don't feel like we are rehearsing the tunes hard enough to get to that point, though. We basically play through things once...once a week. That's not rehearsing, that's playing. To get to a fine point like playing behind the beat...we need to be working more...like take an entire 3 hour rehearsal on one song and really work it rather than just play it. Right now most all of the advancement I am making with these songs is in my private practice by myself. Working on groove in that situation (where I'm playing with a recording by myself) is tough. If we really want to groove as a band...that's a group effort. We have to know the songs stone cold like the back of our hands...and then we can work the finesse. I think musical communication is pretty strained in this situation, though, so I'm not sure how we'd get to that point. We don't all have the same language or means to communicate. So we can't just talk to each other or write something down and have it be resolved. If we aren't able to communicate musical concepts well to each other in those ways, there needs to be more room to explore and screw up together. Jam it out...change things...jam it out more...fix it...come together. For now, that isn't happening.

So I think the main thing I have to do is learn the songs inside out the best that I can under the circumstances. That's the best shot I can have at getting to a groove point. For now, I'm still just barely holding on to the basics. Groove is a good prize to keep my eye on...but I kind of have to be patient with myself and acknowledge that beyond me just needing more practice and experience...the situation isn't ideal to foster such subtleties either.