Playing with records to develop great feel.

Toby_Jackson

Senior Member
Hi folks,

I've been focusing a lot of my practice time on playing along with specific tracks to master their feel. I thought I'd share a general list of the songs I've picked out, in hopes that either some of you guys can flesh it out a little in case I've missed some burners, or that some of you may be inspired to check them out yourself.

In no particular order after the first one, which is my holy grail of the moment:

Billy Jean - Michael Jackson
Handle With Care - Travelling Wilburys
One Headlight - Wallflowers
Babylon Sisters - Steely Dan
Home At Last - Steely Dan
Black Friday - Steely Dan
Josie - Steely Dan
Kid Charlamagne - Steely Dan
Cissy Strut - Meters
Funky Drummer - James Brown
Cold Sweat - James Brown
Payback - James Brown
Think - James Brown
This Old Heart of Mine - Isley Brothers
Uptight - Stevie Wonder
I Wish - Stevie Wonder
Modern Love - David Bowie
Got My Mind Set On You - George Harrison

Throw some more at me!
 
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Here are some of my "groovy little tunes" that I sometimes play to with varying degrees of success.

Let It Be - The Beatles
Thorn In My Pride - The Black Crowes
Wiser Time - TBC
Tied Up & Swallowed - TBC
Off The Wall - Little Walter
Peter Gunn Theme - The Blues Brothers
Broken Hearts - Living Colour
Frosty - Albert Collins
Six Inch Heels - Duke Robillard
When The Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin
Hey You - Oz Noy
 
Only been playing 4 months. I'm mostly just working on my grooves alone, but my play-along list right now is:

Your funeral and my trial - Sonny Boy Williamson
Spoonful - Howlin Wolf
Summertime - Big brother and the holding company
Mushroom - CAN

And I've recently started playing along to T Igoe's funk grooves
 
Here's some songs that I play often and mastering their feel and groove are part of my practice sessions.

Don't Take Me Alive - Steely Dan - Keep the pulse but play the stops soft, don't slam them.

One Head Light - Wallflowers - Concentrate! Do not hit a crash once. This is a "Kick and Snare 201" class.

Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane (any) - Great for learning how to smoothly go from swinging on the high hats to straightening it out and keeping it simple.

Down By the Riverbend - Gov't Mule - Must song for me to practice. You have to drive the beat along and the offbeat accents will make you want to get triplety. Keep it straight.

I'm In - Keith Urban, Defying Gravity - Master this song and it will help you with learning to ride your crash at lower volumes. Practice drumming to this all out but softly and when it's starts rocking out you will be practicing keeping control. Then when playing with others you can control your volume in the mix even when everybody wants to crank it up.

40,000 Headmen - Dave Mason - not the original version. You can download the live version for free - Google - Dave Mason Sirius Satellite Radio Concert Series. It's the one with Alvino Bennett on drums. It rocks and this song is superb for practicing playing heavy with big open spaces in the groove. Especially during his guitar solo. Great feel.

Snake Farm - Ray Wylie Hubbard - Greasy, funky, dirty and fun to play. Learn it, live it, love it. The drummer is the glue.
 
Quite a few Steely Dans there - all on my play list. I'd recommend any of their songs, even Aja (I substitute much easier solos) ... and don't forget Black Cow.

These days Dan is the only group I drum along with (which is probably wrong on a number of levels), but it keeps me 1) playing lightly with feel 2) focused on grooves and 3) is always challenging. There are a number of tracks that are easy to play with but to play them right ...
 
In my life, it took playing with others to develop feel. Playing with records is like paint by numbers in my mind. Or training wheels. Playing with records are good to develop basic coordinations and getting around the set, but feel? The sooner you play with others, the better it is for your feel. You can't do that with records, because the feel is already established. As opposed to a band where YOU are establishing the feel. Big difference, huge.

My first band, I thought I was hot stuff because I could play to Kansas records....What a rude awakening when the training wheels came off lol. I pretty much fell flat on my face.

Try playing those songs with a band without a click and then judge your feel.
Not knocking playing to records, that's how most of us learn, but don't spend too much time there. Get into the real world where YOU are responsible for the ENTIRE feel.
 
Larry, I agree that playing with others is by far the best. However, playing along with songs is great if you're alone at home. Guitarists and pianists can just sit down and play songs by themselves (which may explain the tendency of some to play over, rather than with, the band) but for us to play songs we need either other people or records.
 
In my life, it took playing with others to develop feel. Playing with records is like paint by numbers in my mind. Or training wheels. Playing with records are good to develop basic coordinations and getting around the set, but feel? The sooner you play with others, the better it is for your feel. You can't do that with records, because the feel is already established. As opposed to a band where YOU are establishing the feel. Big difference, huge.

My first band, I thought I was hot stuff because I could play to Kansas records....What a rude awakening when the training wheels came off lol. I pretty much fell flat on my face.

Try playing those songs with a band without a click and then judge your feel.
Not knocking playing to records, that's how most of us learn, but don't spend too much time there. Get into the real world where YOU are responsible for the ENTIRE feel.

Great advice.

I meant to add something similar to my post. I couldn't have said it better though.
 
Liebe - welcome to the world of groove, dude - and respect for tackling some Can so early on.

TTNW - Don't take me Alive is on my player right now too, really most of the Dan stuff is on there - it's all so slick. And I'm such a big fan of the groove on One Headlight. I'm gonna check out the others you mentioned for sure (caught Gov't mule live last year!)

DJ Magic d - More Purdie-inspired shuffles - these are definitely on my radar. I didn't mention Bonham really because I've been trying to play his stuff since I was 14 - and there's really way too many to list!

Larry - Don't worry man, I'm out there working with five groups right now ranging from hardcore post-punk to country blues - but I would be interested in hearing what tracks you may have played to that have that great feel we're talking about here.
 
Great advice! When I used to play to tunes (which i should start up again but my kit stays at practice...) i played to funk and 50s/60s oldies so that i'd be playing OUT of my preferred genre. it taught me a lot about timing and fills that i didn't realize before.

It's a wonderful idea to play to tunes.
 
By accident the other day I came across a great way of developing my feel and technique. I was working on some material out of a John Reilly book so I turned on my TV and went through some great music channels. I have cable TV, so I have genre related channels available. I can switch from standard jazz to swing jazz to mainstream jazz and surprisingly, where I live the channels are pretty good. So from there I started switching the channel to R&B, funk, 80s, 90s, pop, hip-hop, you name it. And because you have know control over which song that comes up next. It forces you to adapt to whatever music is playing. Another thing I noticed which made me feel great is that I can tell when a drummers speeding up and slowing down, and it drives me nuts. Wait I take that back. We do not know if it was the drummer that was speeding up or someone else in the band. I've seen some performances in which the guitar player is so loud I don't know how he can even hear the drummer. Well back to what I was saying I guess all that time with the metronome actually did pay off.
 
i have REALLY enjoyed playing to some full albums lately.

my short list:
houses of the holy - Led Zeppelin
harvest - neil young
beginnings - allman brothers band
all kooked out! - stanton moore
seed of memory - terry reid
out louder - medeski, scofield, martin & wood (im getting there.....)
band of gypsies - jimi hendrix
 
Great advice.

I meant to add something similar to my post. I couldn't have said it better though.

True. But even session great Anthony Jackson said, where are you going to get top-flight musicians like that to play with you? And for the most part, he's right. It is good to play with a band and learn how to make it all groove, but sometimes a bad band is more detrimental to your development. I can't tell you how many times I go into a situation to find guys just not up to it and it becomes more of a headache filled with times of dread. I even got this in college - imagine that - older guys who should know, who don't know.

Surely, you can apply what you learn by grooving to records to grooving with bands. In fact, usually in this instance it takes the drummer to teach the band how to groove.
 
Have you recorded yourself playing to these great grooves?

I've done that in the past and many times I thought I was happening and really had the feel only to listen back and realize how lame I sounded.

My best advice --- record yourself. You will be amazed.


Yep, I thought I was cooking until I hit the playback button and found all kinds of trouble. Recording yourself will open your eyes.
 
True. But even session great Anthony Jackson said, where are you going to get top-flight musicians like that to play with you? And for the most part, he's right. It is good to play with a band and learn how to make it all groove, but sometimes a bad band is more detrimental to your development. I can't tell you how many times I go into a situation to find guys just not up to it and it becomes more of a headache filled with times of dread. I even got this in college - imagine that - older guys who should know, who don't know.

Surely, you can apply what you learn by grooving to records to grooving with bands. In fact, usually in this instance it takes the drummer to teach the band how to groove.

It's the only way I will ever get to jam with Randy Rhoads or have my butt handed to me by John Bonham.

Although I did find myself telling band mates "That's not how that part of the song goes". because I've played to it over and over again.
 
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Have you recorded yourself playing to these great grooves?

I've done that in the past and many times I thought I was happening and really had the feel only to listen back and realize how lame I sounded.

My best advice --- record yourself. You will be amazed.

Yes and no. However, having my eyes opened up by hearing a particularly bad performance on my part did not make me run and hide from working on it. Being a performer (for me, anyway) means you're brave enough to put yourself out there, warts and all. If it's bad, make it better. I would never have put up videos on YouTube if I didn't think I could cut it, and if it scared me that bad, I got no business being out there ;)
 
I tend to playalong as a reward or for fun. Friday night after a hard week - yup it's just playalong. But whilst it all helps I doubt it does your playing much good.

However, listening to Steely Dan and then playing the same song to a click - is a different kettle of fish. Or try turning the music right down so you can barely hear it, then you can focus much better on your own playing and feel.

Just thoughts
Davo
 
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