Today, we'll discuss the groove and its role in music. What makes the groove special in music is that it has the job of helping to establish both the rhythmic foundation and harmonic foundation of a song whereas other roles in music do one or the other.
The groove appears in all genres of music but the instruments used to fill the role differ depending on the genre. In rock music, the rhythm guitar plays this role while in funk music, the guitar also plays it but the wah effect is applied to give it that distinctive funk feel. In techno, the groove role is usually filled by plucks or stabs while in hip-hop, marcato strings or the piano (a al Dr. Dre), are typically used for it. Some good examples of the groove appearing in hip-hop include "No Hands" with Wakka Flocka, Wale, and Roscoe Dash or "Still D.R.E" with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. In "No Hands", you hear the low and dark marcato strings outlining the chords and the pulse of the song while in "Strill D.R.E", you hear the piano providing the chords and a constant rhythm.
Due to it's dual role of establishing both rhythm and harmony, the groove is often times a linking agent that helps both the rhythmic parts of the song and the harmonic parts work together. Often times, if you have a good sound leading part and a good sounding drum part but they aren't working together, the groove may be what is needed to bring the parts together.
One other important function of the groove is to provide motion in a track. Because of it's rhythmic nature, parts that play the role of the groove have a sense of motion that more sustained parts such as the pads, just don't have. Often times, when a track is pretty much fully built but it seems stagnant, the groove is the final part that is missing that will give a song life. Use this sense of motion to your advantage when arranging a track. Often times, you can start out a track without the groove and then add the groove in at a part such as the chorus or to help build out parts in the verse. This provides interesting dynamics to the song by taking it from no movement to movement and vice versa. Combine this by using smaller divisions of notes occurring in the hi-hat (i.e going from 8th to 16th notes), it can be a powerful effect to add energy and motion to your track.
Experiment with incorporating motion into your beats by adding the groove to your track. In the next segment, we'll discuss leads.
The groove appears in all genres of music but the instruments used to fill the role differ depending on the genre. In rock music, the rhythm guitar plays this role while in funk music, the guitar also plays it but the wah effect is applied to give it that distinctive funk feel. In techno, the groove role is usually filled by plucks or stabs while in hip-hop, marcato strings or the piano (a al Dr. Dre), are typically used for it. Some good examples of the groove appearing in hip-hop include "No Hands" with Wakka Flocka, Wale, and Roscoe Dash or "Still D.R.E" with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. In "No Hands", you hear the low and dark marcato strings outlining the chords and the pulse of the song while in "Strill D.R.E", you hear the piano providing the chords and a constant rhythm.
Due to it's dual role of establishing both rhythm and harmony, the groove is often times a linking agent that helps both the rhythmic parts of the song and the harmonic parts work together. Often times, if you have a good sound leading part and a good sounding drum part but they aren't working together, the groove may be what is needed to bring the parts together.
One other important function of the groove is to provide motion in a track. Because of it's rhythmic nature, parts that play the role of the groove have a sense of motion that more sustained parts such as the pads, just don't have. Often times, when a track is pretty much fully built but it seems stagnant, the groove is the final part that is missing that will give a song life. Use this sense of motion to your advantage when arranging a track. Often times, you can start out a track without the groove and then add the groove in at a part such as the chorus or to help build out parts in the verse. This provides interesting dynamics to the song by taking it from no movement to movement and vice versa. Combine this by using smaller divisions of notes occurring in the hi-hat (i.e going from 8th to 16th notes), it can be a powerful effect to add energy and motion to your track.
Experiment with incorporating motion into your beats by adding the groove to your track. In the next segment, we'll discuss leads.
About the Author:
A founding member of the Jam Sonic production team, Frank Lubsey composes beats for hip-hop artists, jingles for small businesses, and instrumental music for film and tv. His love of music began at a young age and never went away. Be sure to visit his website for beatmaking articles and videos and hip-hop beats for sale.
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