What Is Groove Part 2 with Adam Neely | In the Shop Episode #37 | Thomann

A couple of weeks back Andy and Julia asked themselves: What is groove? They wished they had Adam Neely at their side to really explain what's going on - so they got him in for TGU19! In the Shop Episode #37: Microrhythm and more!

Visit our blogs:

[Zdballard]

I'm a simple man, I see Adam Neely I click

[Leo_ofRedKeep]

These two need to make more videos together. They know what they're talking about :-)

[beetlegin]

Two musicians, with instruments in their laps, talking about groove and rhythm and not giving examples by playing. !

[Noone-of-your-Business]

Fun fact: Cubase 2.0 (running on an Atari ST in the mid 1990s 👴) was advertised with "We make computers groove". And indeed they did. This was the first time that I not only saw digital quantization, but _quantifiable_ quantization and even quantization to pre-defined micro rhythms. I keep wondering why some people today still insist that music played by a computer is soulless.
In fact, I used that very Cubase 2.0 to figure out a bass groove of a piece of my band that I could not put the finger on: I thought I played the whole thing very laid back and expected one or two notes in each bar to be delayed by a few (dozen) milliseconds - and was surprised to find out that I actually slightly _rushed_ one note per bar, which gave the others that relaxed feel. And it was all perfectly expressable in hard digital numbers - nothing mythical about it. Any standard DAW will show the offset of single notes once you zoom in enough.
This cemented my dislike for spiritual-sounding bogus statements claiming that a good groove is somehow magical and cannot be _explained_ or - heaven forbid! - played by a computer. Just the fact that _one_ person might not be able to explain it does not mean that it _cannot_ be explained. Enter Adam Neely. 👏 Thank you for your insights, as always!
And since I am ranting away anyway: I truly resent people claiming that analysing something destroys its magic and that it cannot be enjoyed any more once you _understand_ it. To those I say: _I find your lack of faith disturbing!_ Berthold Brecht once said (he said it in German, of course...): "Pick apart a rose and behold: every petal is beautiful in itself". Refusal to learn the learnable is refusal to become a better person. I rest my case.

[robertteisher]

I don't know why anyone would be confused about the definition of Groove, this was answered officially years ago...

...GROOVE IS IN THE HEEEE-EEEEART!

(Couldn't help myself 😁)

[jasonschooler]

On the next episode we will be discussing what air looks like.

[iainmackenzieUK]

Very helpful and inspiring
One of the things that draws me to Julia is the way she moves when playing. Since starting to watch her play I perceive bass differently when listening to songs.And, as a complete novice I also find it easier to play when I engage my body and dance in my chair.
Super video - thank you both

[rchlclr]

Being in marching bands really helped me hone in on my rhythm. I don't even want to know how many hours I've spent marching with a beat and playing together, but this video made me remember something my high school band director said. If you aren't playing in time, there's no way you're stepping in time. It's all one system. I think marching band probably is such a valuable musical experience because it really keeps you honest about your internal clock in a way that I haven't experienced anywhere else.

[nyambe]

Julia is like...are we gonna grove or talk? lol

[invalidusername]

Why is this video only recommended to me now? Thanks guys great chat, and it's funny watching Julia looking like she's fanboying.

[adityanemlekar]

Wonder is Adam and Julia matched outfits for this video :-)

[Bahimo]

The Gnaoua, designate in Algeria, Morocco and other parts of the Maghreb, designate members of sub-Saharan African origin, mainly descendants of slaves, gathered in mystical Muslim brotherhoods in which the trance plays a important role. !
THANK YOU ;)

[bluespig]

As a player of both drums & piano/keyboards, I believe 99% of musicians & listeners cannot pick the slight subtleties that these people are discussing. If it swings, has feeling & puts a smile on your face, then the objective has been met.

[ravingcyclist]

Totally awesome. Gave us some ideas about new things to try.

[elrafa]

What A shop ! And the groove question is fascinating. Thank you guys.

[olovstenlund]

It's cute how Adam is too shy to make eye contact because he's so committed to respecting everyone as individual persons (and in this case as a peer) but also thinks this particular one is hot. "Do you know this because it's how you behave in similar circumstances?" you ask? Well, I'm afraid I can't comment

[larsetom]

Adam Neely, defaults to intellectual, when really he thinks she's just too hot.

[louisbatsford]

I’m sure Rick James was thinking about the micro rhythm of a Viennese waltz when he came up with the groove for Superfreak?

[yaanosh]

"17/24 which ... is a ridiculous polyrythm" Indeed it is lol

[funkencool]

I'm trying to follow the rabbit hole of rhythmic theory down.. but honestly there hardly seems to be any body to support one. I did however find one cool study (after having the thought myself) that compared groove to harmony. They even put it too the test by observing what made people move or groove more. The simplest way I can apply that concept or metaphor is that there's almost a "harmonic series" of intervals in rhythm (1hz, .5hz, etc..) that we are naturally attuned to and along with that comes dissonances, resolutions, etc.

Also in my opinion every attack, release, or "peak" (like a bend) adds to rhythm and all good musicians inherently feel this even if its subconscious. I think this affects people more than they realize. Even muting a string in a "microrythmic" way, say right before a different note can create a lot of invisible feeling. As a drummer I employ flams, swing and similar techniques all the time but a guitarist might not even realize that they're doing a lot of the same things when they play notes "around" the beat. Just because it has a specified pitch doesn't mean it's any less rhythmic than the drummer is.