Took me 20 years of playing in original and cover bands to learn this. It's taken me another 15 to find other musicians that get it. Thanks for your great teachings 😁
Man, I preached this in every band I played in. That back beat is SO important to humanizing songs/grooves. There has to be a tight relationship between the drummer and bass player to establish the foundation. But … a rhythm guitar player with tendencies to rush can actually wreck the pocket. I love that you’re covering this. Thanks again, Justin, for sharing your wealth of knowledge. 🙏
I think it helps to listen to as well as play music that isn’t guitar centered…Learn how to be an ensemble player, play your part and get out of the way.
Justin, when I saw the thumbnail I laughed so hard. It's classic UA-cam! Bloody brilliant. Also, thanks for sharing all this information... for *free*... with the world! You are a gentleman and a mathematician.
Justin, you have to be the most musical bloke on UA-cam. I am always in awe of how readily your ideas sit straight into what ever you are playing over. Thanks for this clip and the track ... looking forward to playing with it and hopefully using some of your ideas
My weekly gig is video-recorded . . . and I watch it, every time. I was doing exactly as you describe, trying to get my ideas out (using my skill level at the time) and not keeping with my drummer and bass player well enough. Horrified, I made myself get better! That video and my personal discomfort with sucking made for great motivation. Thanks for the 3 years of lessons.
Well, Justin, I'm glad you made this video... for all the other guys that need it, lol. But it has never been a problem for me, even when i was just starting out. I have always played in the pocket. It's not just me, whenever I've played with others, they all say it. I guess I just have good timing? Maybe some folks have it, an' others don't? IDK. 🤪 Great sounds, though. You've got some good triads goin' there. I like how you teach how the chords "pull" toward each other. For me, I like having a good rhythm that inspires my solos. I also like to "leave space." I know some guys play like "run-on sentences." I've never done that. I also don't do "modes." Well, maybe I play 'em, but I don't think 'em. I just play what's in my head, y'know?! Keep on bluesin'...! 👍👍👍. 🤪
how important this topic is... and we always understand it too late 😤 thanks Justin for this video, it's one of those that you have to watch at least once a month 🤗
This is Awesome info.When I’m not singing I’ll play these and when I am singing.I’ll have our other guitar player play this.Sending this to him right now.
What a nice, low stress approach. The track reminds me of a Tracy Chapman song, nice and easy just sittin in the pocket, keeping it simple adding space where it warrants.
I remember reading a Pete Anderson piece years ago. Where he talks about getting gigs due to his locking with drummers on the rhythm details. So, yah, the pros know. Thanks much-O Justin. Just playing along with you and doin' some counterpoint stabs and fills, has already made for a happy morn... 😁
I spend most of my guitar time playing in the box through an interface and DAW. I recently found that 'some' of my pocket issues were due to the latency in the system. If any of you are practicing this way, you might check for ways to reduce latency. E.g. I am using Studio One and it has a low-latency monitoring option you can enable. Thank you JO!
Important information! It can be difficult to stay in the pocket and less is more often. I considering getting a loop pedal in stead of recording using my DAW.
Great stuff, Justin. I have a track I’ve been tapped to develop that’s more experimental than anything I’d normally do. All I got was a simple track with mellow drum machine style beat and 3 major 7 chords, C, D, E. It’s forcing me to do this kind of rhythmic thing with stabby double stops straight out of the chords.
Hmmm. Sounds like a track I was sent. They were maj9 chords. It’s a scam. Search my name and the word scammed. The video will come up. I play the track toward the end of the video. Sounds like it’s the same thing. They’ll “accidentally” overpay you and ask you to refund the difference before their check clears. But it won’t clear. Some guys get only a picture of a check, which should be a massively obvious red flag. Hope that’s not what you have here.
@@JustinOstrander dude… It’s the same scam, and it’s the exact same track! Funny thing is, I saw that video when you posted it, and I just didn’t even think about it. This one came through TikTok, and the guy doesn’t have poor English skills. But the track is entirely the same, and he said to me that he wanted me to essentially play whatever I wanted; he wanted to see what I was going to dowith the track. I’m gonna call his scam, but I’m also gonna finish it and do a “beware” video. I’m not a session player, I don’t have a lot of pro gear, just some inexpensive mics, a Scarlett 2i2, and some headphones. I just post my original music to get it out there and play at church. Thanks for the heads up, bro.
This is interesting the song kinda reminds me of the chicken by James Brown, I dig it. Your playing makes me of think more of rhythm/lead hybrid because you’re adding in little melodic phrases. Definitely more advanced than just learning in the pocket rhythm guitar imo. That being said to play just the rhythm guitar on a song like “more mess on my thing” for 4 minutes straight could be even more challenging to stay in the pocket. Your style is allowing you to improvise and explore the space more.
Like that groove! Hey, if you want a super easy way to get the amp hiss (and any other noise) out of your vocal mic, the VX Clarity plug-in from Waves is pretty great. The cheaper version works well for most voice applications. Saves my projects all the time.
The groove and the beat are awesome. Nice track. Love this! To me, the best players have so much taste and use restraint very effectively. The musical vibe and feeling conveyed are what is important. Guitar fills are cool. I agree the endless noodling or excessive repetitive soloing sounds bad. That might feel good to the player but the listener is most likely not getting it. Gets old real fast. I think those days might be over.
Love the fact you’re in control without having to look at the neck which is something I’m working on as I believe that the musical outcomes are different than if you were fixated on the neck. Do you play live sessions without looking at the neck?
Hey bro..first of all..thank you for what you do..one question..what amp would you recomend for a studio set up pretty much like yours ..i love the Sarge but cant find it anywhere 😥
I find that I play better when I don’t think about it at all, when you start thinking WHILE you are trying to play, it comes across as you being stiff and trying to think about it while you should just be flowing with it Think about it a lot when you practice , but when you are playing it comes across as stiff and insecure or at least for me it does
For someone who startet playing in my late 30’s Im not sure you realize, that learning all the chords over the fretboard, all the notes, and then use them in a musical way, that this is very difficult. You need a lot of knowledge, so either im dumb or this can take years to learn.
I deal with this specifically (anchor notes all over the fretboard and how to find chords around them) in my course. It assumes only that you know how to play barre chords and how to play a major scale. Might be helpful.
Could be id might check it out. Think i have just come to realize, theres no short cut, for learning guitar. Im a decent player, but a pentatonic hero, and that can easily impress the audience, but i often get bored of my own solo playing. I can find all the triads in a song, but trying to remember them when playing, and allso remenber the chord progression, is very hard to me.
@@501chorusecho I won’t lie-it wasn’t easy with the click going. But I muted the click for the track people can download. If your name is uncle Larry or Jack or Guthrie or Jedd, this video probably isn’t aimed at you. 🤠 Drum groove is a piece of something that was originally nearly double the tempo. I slowed it down and yeah it got a bit wider. Didn’t want to grid it. Probably should’ve muted the click. I was hoping more people would comment about the drummer…
I'm working with Robben Ford and trying to improve my playing. I can solo (playing for 58 yrs) but I really fell out of the groove the other day. I found this video tonight lol. Great video Justin. I subscribed. And, I did a retake on my timing mistake here it is ua-cam.com/video/PbDhewhbx0c/v-deo.htmlsi=HiRIxX02jp4yyD7N
Hey that’s a nice recording. Lots of good ideas. Just some unsolicited constructive criticism here-there are a few different rhythms going on that are all kind of hovering around that drum groove without really following it. I would pull way back and simplify. There are just multiple layers of lots of movement. Feels a bit cluttered as a listener, know what I mean?
@@JustinOstrander thank you thank you. Since I've joined Robben Ford's band of merry guitarists, I have been very honest with everyone there and doing lots of listening. That includes honest criticism. I'm very white and I can't dance. My mom (bless her heart) has never thought I could play (since 4 yr old). Maybe I do have a rhythm problem. I do appreciate your reply and the rhythm playing is exactly what I'm currently focusing on. I didn't have any issues when I was playing in bands all over Virginia in my 20s but dropping Terrence Higgin's drum loops from Louisiana and playing my own bass is messing me up LOL. Thanks again!
Took me 20 years of playing in original and cover bands to learn this. It's taken me another 15 to find other musicians that get it. Thanks for your great teachings 😁
My story too. If all starts to think: we are here to serve the song. I find it helps, a bit 😀😀
Man, I preached this in every band I played in. That back beat is SO important to humanizing songs/grooves. There has to be a tight relationship between the drummer and bass player to establish the foundation. But … a rhythm guitar player with tendencies to rush can actually wreck the pocket. I love that you’re covering this. Thanks again, Justin, for sharing your wealth of knowledge. 🙏
I think it helps to listen to as well as play music that isn’t guitar centered…Learn how to be an ensemble player, play your part and get out of the way.
Justin, when I saw the thumbnail I laughed so hard. It's classic UA-cam! Bloody brilliant. Also, thanks for sharing all this information... for *free*... with the world! You are a gentleman and a mathematician.
Nice, playing bass changed my whole approach to rhythm playing on guitar. I started hearing things I was previously glazing over. 🤟
Me too.I learned a lot more about my guitar playing when I started playing bass at diff gigs.
Your channel is hands down one of the informative and most inspiring channels on YT. Thank you for your time, honesty, and wisdom. Cheers
Justin, you have to be the most musical bloke on UA-cam. I am always in awe of how readily your ideas sit straight into what ever you are playing over. Thanks for this clip and the track ... looking forward to playing with it and hopefully using some of your ideas
Thanks for the kind words. With any luck, I’ll get better myself as I try to help others
My weekly gig is video-recorded . . . and I watch it, every time. I was doing exactly as you describe, trying to get my ideas out (using my skill level at the time) and not keeping with my drummer and bass player well enough. Horrified, I made myself get better! That video and my personal discomfort with sucking made for great motivation. Thanks for the 3 years of lessons.
your chord memory on the board , never seen someone do that without looking.. that is mastery on another level
He found triads and inversions quicker than we reach our ear to scratch it
Great stuff as always!
@@MichaelWWestbrook when are you in town next?
Well, Justin, I'm glad you made this video...
for all the other guys that need it, lol.
But it has never been a problem for me, even when i was just starting out.
I have always played in the pocket.
It's not just me, whenever I've played with others, they all say it.
I guess I just have good timing? Maybe some folks have it, an' others don't?
IDK. 🤪
Great sounds, though. You've got some good triads goin' there. I like how you teach how the chords "pull" toward each other.
For me, I like having a good rhythm that inspires my solos.
I also like to "leave space." I know some guys play like "run-on sentences." I've never done that.
I also don't do "modes."
Well, maybe I play 'em, but I don't think 'em. I just play what's in my head, y'know?!
Keep on bluesin'...!
👍👍👍. 🤪
Thanks for the free stuff Justin! You ROCK!
how important this topic is... and we always understand it too late 😤 thanks Justin for this video, it's one of those that you have to watch at least once a month 🤗
This is Awesome info.When I’m not singing I’ll play these and when I am singing.I’ll have our other guitar player play this.Sending this to him right now.
Yes, my pocket does suck - thanks again for the excellent lesson! Back to learning...
What a nice, low stress approach. The track reminds me of a Tracy Chapman song, nice and easy just sittin in the pocket, keeping it simple adding space where it warrants.
I remember reading a Pete Anderson piece years ago. Where he talks about getting gigs due to his locking with drummers on the rhythm details. So, yah, the pros know.
Thanks much-O Justin. Just playing along with you and doin' some counterpoint stabs and fills, has already made for a happy morn...
😁
Great lesson Justin
Always count in 8th notes and you will rarely lose your timing dudes.
Cool vid bro!!
I spend most of my guitar time playing in the box through an interface and DAW. I recently found that 'some' of my pocket issues were due to the latency in the system. If any of you are practicing this way, you might check for ways to reduce latency. E.g. I am using Studio One and it has a low-latency monitoring option you can enable. Thank you JO!
Important information! It can be difficult to stay in the pocket and less is more often. I considering getting a loop pedal in stead of recording using my DAW.
Hell YA ....thanks man!
I love this so much. Had a nice groove to it too! Thanks!
Alan
HI Justin, Some people might not understand that the 3ed and the 7th is what's needed to make the dominate 7th chord.
The hair is getting pretty dang glorious, dude.
I feel like this is what made the Grateful Dead great. Jerry usually played behind the beat and made the whole thing bounce.
Tasty, thanks! More taste-less waste.
Great stuff, Justin. I have a track I’ve been tapped to develop that’s more experimental than anything I’d normally do. All I got was a simple track with mellow drum machine style beat and 3 major 7 chords, C, D, E. It’s forcing me to do this kind of rhythmic thing with stabby double stops straight out of the chords.
Hmmm. Sounds like a track I was sent. They were maj9 chords. It’s a scam. Search my name and the word scammed. The video will come up. I play the track toward the end of the video. Sounds like it’s the same thing. They’ll “accidentally” overpay you and ask you to refund the difference before their check clears. But it won’t clear. Some guys get only a picture of a check, which should be a massively obvious red flag. Hope that’s not what you have here.
@@JustinOstrander dude… It’s the same scam, and it’s the exact same track! Funny thing is, I saw that video when you posted it, and I just didn’t even think about it. This one came through TikTok, and the guy doesn’t have poor English skills. But the track is entirely the same, and he said to me that he wanted me to essentially play whatever I wanted; he wanted to see what I was going to dowith the track.
I’m gonna call his scam, but I’m also gonna finish it and do a “beware” video. I’m not a session player, I don’t have a lot of pro gear, just some inexpensive mics, a Scarlett 2i2, and some headphones. I just post my original music to get it out there and play at church.
Thanks for the heads up, bro.
This is interesting the song kinda reminds me of the chicken by James Brown, I dig it. Your playing makes me of think more of rhythm/lead hybrid because you’re adding in little melodic phrases. Definitely more advanced than just learning in the pocket rhythm guitar imo. That being said to play just the rhythm guitar on a song like “more mess on my thing” for 4 minutes straight could be even more challenging to stay in the pocket. Your style is allowing you to improvise and explore the space more.
Very cool.
Like that groove!
Hey, if you want a super easy way to get the amp hiss (and any other noise) out of your vocal mic, the VX Clarity plug-in from Waves is pretty great. The cheaper version works well for most voice applications. Saves my projects all the time.
It’s my dumb computer fan. Thanks I’ll check it out.
sweet stuff dude
wow, smooooth. thank you, so much truth!
The groove and the beat are awesome. Nice track. Love this! To me, the best players have so much taste and use restraint very effectively.
The musical vibe and feeling conveyed are what is important. Guitar fills are cool. I agree the endless noodling or excessive repetitive soloing sounds bad. That might feel good to the player but the listener is most likely not getting it. Gets old real fast. I think those days might be over.
Love the fact you’re in control without having to look at the neck which is something I’m working on as I believe that the musical outcomes are different than if you were fixated on the neck. Do you play live sessions without looking at the neck?
Yes, as I’m often referencing a chart
Hey bro..first of all..thank you for what you do..one question..what amp would you recomend for a studio set up pretty much like yours ..i love the Sarge but cant find it anywhere 😥
Tasty, man.
Justin: I want you to just focus on playing the chords.
Me: This is a great idea. I’m going to try this out.
Me, 20 seconds in: Must shreddddd!!!!!
My pocket sucks? Seems a bit harsh! Cheers Justin!! 😂
tastefull
It's tough for musicians sometimes. You can groove like a monster all night, but people will judge you on one or two solos and ignore the rest.
You're right again.
thank you!
I find that I play better when I don’t think about it at all, when you start thinking WHILE you are trying to play, it comes across as you being stiff and trying to think about it while you should just be flowing with it
Think about it a lot when you practice , but when you are playing it comes across as stiff and insecure or at least for me it does
I've improved my pockets dramatically by stuffing them with money.
For someone who startet playing in my late 30’s Im not sure you realize, that learning all the chords over the fretboard, all the notes, and then use them in a musical way, that this is very difficult. You need a lot of knowledge, so either im dumb or this can take years to learn.
I deal with this specifically (anchor notes all over the fretboard and how to find chords around them) in my course. It assumes only that you know how to play barre chords and how to play a major scale. Might be helpful.
Could be id might check it out. Think i have just come to realize, theres no short cut, for learning guitar. Im a decent player, but a pentatonic hero, and that can easily impress the audience, but i often get bored of my own solo playing. I can find all the triads in a song, but trying to remember them when playing, and allso remenber the chord progression, is very hard to me.
@@mikkelclausen831 I totally understand. Check out the trailer. Might be helpful to you: ua-cam.com/video/uax1CeQzEYQ/v-deo.html
Thanks, but the link to the backing track seems off
Just tried it. Works for me!
@@JustinOstrander Weird. Works on my phone, not on Mac browsers… Didn't know how you play. After this video i know! Just subscribed.Thanks man
does my rhythm suck? it might help if you actually aligned that drum groove to the click....how did you even decide which one to play to?
@@501chorusecho I won’t lie-it wasn’t easy with the click going. But I muted the click for the track people can download. If your name is uncle Larry or Jack or Guthrie or Jedd, this video probably isn’t aimed at you. 🤠
Drum groove is a piece of something that was originally nearly double the tempo. I slowed it down and yeah it got a bit wider. Didn’t want to grid it. Probably should’ve muted the click. I was hoping more people would comment about the drummer…
Cool advice. It's easy to get overly licky and actually lose the musical potency of the song/band.
Absolutely! Great way to put it
The drum loop's pocket sucks...The snare is way behind the click.
Yeah he’s a bit wide. I slowed it way down from its original tempo. Makes it a bit more of a challenge tbh
I'm working with Robben Ford and trying to improve my playing. I can solo (playing for 58 yrs) but I really fell out of the groove the other day. I found this video tonight lol. Great video Justin. I subscribed. And, I did a retake on my timing mistake here it is ua-cam.com/video/PbDhewhbx0c/v-deo.htmlsi=HiRIxX02jp4yyD7N
Hey that’s a nice recording. Lots of good ideas. Just some unsolicited constructive criticism here-there are a few different rhythms going on that are all kind of hovering around that drum groove without really following it. I would pull way back and simplify. There are just multiple layers of lots of movement. Feels a bit cluttered as a listener, know what I mean?
@@JustinOstrander thank you thank you. Since I've joined Robben Ford's band of merry guitarists, I have been very honest with everyone there and doing lots of listening. That includes honest criticism. I'm very white and I can't dance. My mom (bless her heart) has never thought I could play (since 4 yr old). Maybe I do have a rhythm problem. I do appreciate your reply and the rhythm playing is exactly what I'm currently focusing on. I didn't have any issues when I was playing in bands all over Virginia in my 20s but dropping Terrence Higgin's drum loops from Louisiana and playing my own bass is messing me up LOL. Thanks again!
Whats wrong with the drum track???
You’re right that he’s a bit wide
@JustinOstrander i had my ear buds in and it sounded a little weird to me. I love your guitar tone. Its just so perfect to me. Im jealous. Lol
@@kckrye the original loop is at twice the tempo, so his good human feel is a bit wider than it was at double the tempo. Good ear you've got!
Maga