Hi all,
This thread is most interesting, and can also be a bit confusing when the term "pocket drumming" is not defined.
All I know is playing "In the pocket" which means that strange and hard to describe effect when everybody in the band are working in cohesion, a euphoric and delightful experience, when 1+1 equals 3, one that causes goose bumps to appear on my arms!
Does anybody else has that kind of experience?
This coincides with an awareness of being right in the groove.
This can happen while playing simple (meaning uncomplicated), restraint music, or it can happen being at the other end of the scale, a full blown cacophonic eruption where the whole band comes together with all instruments (w)rung out to capacity.
There are so many scales in between, hard to define.
For myself, it entirely depends on the style of music I am playing, and even on "that" particular song itself.
The two extremes at the scale could be: from- Song Song Blue by Neil Diamond to- Rosanna by TOTO. (example only)
I will give two examples of what this means for myself when I am drumming in these extreme opposite ends of the scale.
1-When I am playing with my little rock/blues/country band and we would perform say, "I want to wake up with you" by Boris Gardner, which is a reggae song, I would have just a steady two-step beat with some offset "clangs" on the 10" snare or cymbal bell.
2-At the moment I am also doing a lot of work with the Gospel group Yeshanah, playing original music.
Some of these songs are so "laden" with emotion that I cannot help laying into the kit with full vigor and get the kit and cymbals pretty much "maxed out"
(man that feels sooohhhh good!)
Cheers and happy Drumming,
Harry