Entering my third year of playing GJ guitar, I am now jamming with a few people which including some bass players. In the past, I've played "rhythm guitar" in bands from other genres. The beat was always held down by the rhythm section which was drums and bass. Ultimately, it was the drummers job to keep the tempo and drive the beat. In Gypsy Jazz should the rhythm guitar player or the bass player take control?
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When you have a good bassist that can lay down the groove, and the rhythm guitar locks in on that, and the soloist is then free to anticipate the beat or play a little 'lazy' behind the beat without fear of the whole band dragging or racing, that's when it's an absolute pleasure to play the guitar! And a pleasure to listen to a good band like that. The dream team combo for this is probably William Brunard on bass, with Matthew Chatelain, and Adrien Moignard on lead.
But it's the lead player who can "push" the tempo if they want to (at an appropriate moment, and not by accident!) - the bassist should be also able to feel this communication and go with it, too..
The hardest part in this whole GJ thing is getting the rhythm locked in the groove, no matter who is playing what....probably true for every kind of music
Check this rhythm section:
These guys are tighter than a German soccer defense.
I've played rhythm for Bireli, Angelo, Stochelo, Adrien, Sebastien Giniaux, pretty much everyone in this style etc.. etc...
The vision of time for all these artists is not always the same , and they sometimes want very different things. Different songs might even call for a different idea of time feel (laid back, pushing, in the pocket).
It's definitely not just the bass player's job, there has to be synchronicity.
I played rhythm for Stochelo once, and I know that Stochelo likes it to push a tiny tiny bit, so the rhythm section should push a bit as well. The bass player for the gig didn't want to push and was upset with me that I tried to push, so it created this very tense feeling.
I played rhythm for Paulus Schafer as well, during rehearsal (which I filmed), the bass player blamed me for dragging Upon review of the video, it was him who fucked up the time. The same bass player played bass for Stochelo recently with my buddy Brad Brose on rhythm. Brad had played rhythm for Stochelo before and Stochelo was quite happy. During rehearsal, the bass player said similar shit to Brad, Stochelo told him to just ignore him and do his thing.
The lesson is to let go of one's ego, and to learn to form chemistry with the group and to listen actively. If someone in the rhythm section starts to feel that his time is the right time, we're in trouble. I'm talking about among professional musicians that is. It's a very subtle thing. There is a difference between time issues among "pros", and beginners playing rhythm and royally screwing up the time. Playing rhythm requires tremendous humility.
Playing rhythm for Tcha and Rino with William Brunard on bass was the greatest experience as a rhythm section. William just gets it. With only a 20mn rehearsal 2 hours before the gig, everything went the way it should. It wasn't one person following the other, it was just everyone together, and understanding where the music had to go. Some songs were in the pocket, some songs pushed a bit, some songs were a bit laid back, and everything in between. Really one of the best experiences I've ever had.
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