back / middle / front of the beat

Ever thought of where your lines sit in the groove? By consciously thinking about this idea, can we reshape our rhythmic approach and further expand our ability to express the emotional nuances of our ideas in our lines and music?

The "back" of the beat, not to be confused with backbeat, a slang term for 2 and 4, playing on the back of the beat is found mostly in the ballad to medium tempos and is characterized by a holding back and phrasing behind the pulse or tempo of the music being performed. Players often will wait till the last few possible moments to play the phrase, creating a sense of an unhurried, almost languid awareness, a seemingly lazy way of speaking musically. We let the rhythm section do the work and keep them guessing as to what will happen next, very exciting from both sides of the performance dynamic. The results when sincerely articulated are incredibly tender, sincere and poignant, and incredibly romantic. We often find jazz legend Dexter Gordon in this spot within the groove, on the "back half of the beat" as some players call it, telling stories from a vast history of experience of day to day life. No hurries, no worries, all in good time.

The middle of the beat, to sit in the middle of the groove, gives a player the advantage being able to nudge things forward or back a bit as they shape their lines. Jazz icon Charlie Parker is said to have played right down the center of the groove, rock solid and swinging like nobody's business. Finding oneself in this part of the groove, we potentially become the metronome of the band, as we create our ideas, setting and maintaining the tempo as our story unfolds.

The front of the beat, to hang here is to lead the group in the direction you want to go. The music seems to crackle and pop like an old vinyl record, there is an electric type current within the lines that is unmistakable, surging ahead while the rhythm sections holds things together at the agreed upon tempo. John Coltrane would hang here. Trumpeter Lee Morgan also. Blues giant Paul Asbell gets way out front on the beat with scorching blues lines, leading the way for the group while increasing the emotional degree of his testimony wayfold. Hearing lines on the front of the beat are often simply an explosion of color and emotion just begging to happen, generating a tremendous excitement and breathless sense of anticipation. So very cool.

Can we mix them all together? Or mostly one and a little of another? Any mix? Of course, we do it all here. Cool lines often start on the front of the groove, aggressively charging into the phrase to reach a centered midpoint, while the tail end is pulled back a hair to balance the front end of the line, giving the phrase a sense of breath, of breathing as in life. How do we find these spot's, the back, middle or front of the beat? Mainly by knowing that they do exist, hearing it done by others then to sing our ideas and see where they fall, playing with the concepts and finding where our natural place is to hang. Once settled there, we can adjust as the art in our hearts comes forth.

Where to next?

review new ideas

Other artistic techniques in this section? How about artistic concepts? 

Let them that would move the world, first move themselves. Socrates