Building Grooves Part 1 – Emphasizing the "Ands"

Now we're going start being more purposeful using groups of 2s and 3s to emphasize the "Ands" (the in-between beats) of a measure. Instead of just looking at the math and possible combinations available, we're need to start consciously building grooves that emphasize specific beats.

Learning how to emphasize the "Ands" is a very common rhythmic device used in popular music. In the next sections we'll get more acquainted with how each one sounds and feels. And overtime you'll be able to recognize very quickly the pattern of accented and unaccented beats in any song you listen to and create your own rhythm strumming pattern that will sound great against it!

Discussion:

Post a link to one of your favorite songs and describe what you think the basic pattern of the groove is. What beats are being emphasized? How long (how many bars) is the pattern?