DRUMS
PLAYING SIMPLE GROOVES DEVELOPS GOOD TIME | Carl Albrecht
Today I’ m back to preaching“ groove.” It’ s still our most important job as a drummer. You can play a million notes, and wild fills, but if it’ s not“ in the pocket” it’ s worthless. Every time I play, I’ m thinking“ time and feel.” I never think of making a show of my latest cool idea. Never! If I’ m called to play busier, or do a“ drum solo”, my mind and spirit are about“ saying something” that will touch the hearts of the people and hopefully touch the heart of God. But I also believe that just keeping good time touches people. As my friend Don Potter( a veteran worship leader) says,“ Worship is in the Groove.”
So how do I practice and teach groove exercises? The best exercise for time keeping I’ ve used is still the 8-bar phrase study. I know I’ ve written on this before, but repetition is a great teacher. Even when my time is limited this is my go-to exercise for my students and myself. You can keep that concept in your routine forever. The idea simply goes like this.- Pick a groove idea. Set your metronome to one tempo for five minutes. Play the groove for 8 bars. Only do a fill in the 8 th bar. Then go to a variation of the groove for the next set of 8 bars. Repeat! Keep changing the variations as you go. * But today we’ re going to adapt this idea a bit. Check it out.
Pick any groove concept you want to work on from any of your favorite musical styles. It may be something you’ ve heard recently or anything that you consider a favorite song. Let the song play all the way through while you play along with it without any fills or cymbal crashes! That’ s right … you are focusing on time and feel while playing with your favorite drummers on the recording. Use your imagination to see yourself“ playing inside” their groove but letting them do all the fills and crashes. Like the“ playing 8’ s” exercise don’ t change anything for eight measures. Really! Of course, if there’ s some radical change of feel on the recording you may be forced to adapt your groove after every 4 th bar. But if at all possible, try to keep any variations to the feel happening only at the next section of 8’ s.
At first this might feel really weird. But really let your imagination focus on being in your favorite band with double drummers. In real situations like this quite often one drummer will just keep time and the other will do the fills. They might even switch rolls for different songs. Throughout the history of recorded music many bands and artists have done this. Even in modern worship we are seeing quite a few groups with a drummer and several auxiliary drummer / percussionists filling out the grooves. It can make the music feel huge if it’ s done well. And that is the key phrase …“ If it’ s done well.”
If you’ re technically set up to record yourself then load the songs into your system and record yourself playing along to the track. Go back and listen after each take and see how it feels. Are you perfectly locked into the groove of the recorded drummer? Mix your drums into“ the picture” so that you can hear yourself in context to the song. Listen for any“ flamming” of kicks, snares, and hi-hat patterns. Also pay attention for how you will keep things steady while the recorded drummer does the fills and crashes. Be sure you don’ t let the time wander around. The goal here is to keep the time perfectly locked into the recording and yet staying as relaxed and loose as possible. Concentrate … Yes! Tense up... No!
Like the other“ playing 8’ s” exercise be sure to mix up the types of grooves you play. Don’ t
just play one feel. The basic four grooves are 1. 8 th note patterns 2. 16 th notes 3. Triplets 4. Shuffles or swing time. Also mix up the bands and artists you play along with. Don’ t get stuck in a rut. It’ s okay to have favorites that inspire you but be a student of everything!
Finally … It’ s really helpful to do this exercise with music you’ ve never listened to before! Even though you don’ t know the whole song you can probably copy the basic idea pretty quickly and play along. It’ s really amazing how this idea will force you to listen carefully to the music. And that is what this exercise will really help you develop. Remember! Concentrate hard … but stay relaxed! Oh … and have fun!
Blessings on your groove,
Carl Albrecht Professional drummer for 30 + years, playing with Paul Baloche, Don Moen, Ron Kenoly, Abe Laboriel, LeAnn Rimes and others. He’ s also a clinician, author & pastor. Contact Carl for coaching, online lessons, producing, or sessions. I’ m still growing too... www. CarlAlbrecht. com carlralbrecht @ gmail. com
116 July 2026 Subscribe for Free...