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Groove Archives

The Brown’stone: The Groove Exercise You Need Right Now
The Brown’stone

The Brown’stone: The Groove Exercise You Need Right Now

This week in The Brown’stone on No Treble, Rich Brown is here to improve your groove with a great exercise that will challenge your ability to lock with the 16th-note subdivision. This exercise will also get you moving and grooving in no time.

Keep It Groovy: How To Play The Bass Line To Lady Marmalade
Keep It Groovy

Keep It Groovy: How To Play The Bass Line To Lady Marmalade

Today we’re keeping it groovy by learning the classic funk bass line to LaBelle’s “Lady Marmalade.” Ryan Madora walks us through a simple part that perfectly outlines the harmony and creates a particularly memorable and easy-to-play bass line.

The Brown’stone: Fonk! And the Power of “a”
The Brown’stone

The Brown’stone: Fonk! And the Power of “a”

This week in The Brown’stone on No Treble, Rich Brown is talking about FONK! That’s right, people. This lesson is an exercise in groovin’ and adding some ‘stank’ to your funk game.

Talking Technique: The Magic Behind “Steal My Kisses”
Talking Technique

Talking Technique: The Magic Behind “Steal My Kisses”

You probably already know “Steal My Kisses” by Ben Harper, and the excellent bass line by Juan Nelson. In today’s “Talking Technique” lesson, Ari breaks this down with a focus on “Tenths” over I vi IV V pattern.

Finding the Groove Vs. Letting the Groove Find You
Ask Damian Erskine

Finding the Groove Vs. Letting the Groove Find You

Q: When making music, i.e. improvising, making a song, creating a groove, etc., I find myself sometimes approaching it from what I hear while fiddling around, and at other times approaching it more cerebral, as in “let’s create a groove that has a flat nine in it.” I like to call these the bottom up (let the sounds guide me)...

Talking Technique: Sting Groove Workshop
Talking Technique

Talking Technique: Sting Groove Workshop

Inspired by a Sting bass line, I’m bringing you a groove creation workout today. We’ll cover how to create your own bass line using a simple formula that will have you coming up with ideas for workable grooves every time. We also shine a light on the correct use of pentatonic scales and top it all off by learning Sting’s...

Developing a Solid Groove
Ask Damian Erskine

Developing a Solid Groove

Q: So right now I’m trying to hack out my sense of groove and time, really trying to come down on that. I’ve noticed I can’t stay on a groove too long and start to play a lot of lines or rhythmic fills, not really being able to lay down a solid foundation and can’t stay tight? How do I...

Creative Bass Lines: Beat Displacement
Creative Bass Lines

Creative Bass Lines: Beat Displacement

Here we have the second installment of the Creative Bass Lines, and this month, it’s “Bass Gruv”. For this we’re looking at a Headhunters-esque bass groove I wrote. This would fit the harmony of an E dominant 7th chord, or for a crunchier sound, try setting up a vamp with an E7?9, too. I wanted to introduce some of you...

Talking Technique: Groove Creation Workout
Talking Technique

Talking Technique: Groove Creation Workout

Want a formula to create grooves over a chord progression? We’ve got you covered in this lesson with an exercise that bolsters our technique while building grooves with triads. We’ll tackle a I-vi-IV-V chord progression using a formula that has two main ingredients: triad notes and rhythm. The triad notes are already laid out for us, but we can pick...

Advanced Bass: Groove Follow Ups
Advanced Bass

Advanced Bass: Groove Follow Ups

This challenging lesson outlines a musical tactic called “follow ups” to add to your groove tool box. We’ll go over some cool ways to create call and response follow up patterns using all of the components of music – helping you to play great lines over chords that will render tasteful musical ideas! Be sure to download the transcription for...

Talking Style: Oh Freedom
Talking Style

Talking Style: Oh Freedom

I’ve been wanting to do some Gospel episodes but wasn’t sure where I wanted to start until now. The first song that we’ll look art is the post-Civil War spiritual, “Oh Freedom”. In particular, I’m going to show you some ideas on how to “hear the changes” , an extended Gospel-style turnaround and how you might approach this song if...

Talking Style: Rhumba Blues
Talking Style

Talking Style: Rhumba Blues

I was back home in New Orleans recently hanging out with my mom and attending my @* year high school reunion. Where did that time go??? Yeah, that’s a tale for another time! While I was there I sat in with the Marc Stone band down on Frenchman at a club called 30/90. My buddy Thomas was the bass player...