PERCUSSION
GROOVE GUIDELINES FOR THE HAND PERCUSSIONIST: PART ONE | Mark Shelton
The song starts, and within seconds, you have a physical reaction. Maybe you tap your foot, or perhaps you give a little head nod. You immediately found the pulse of the music, and your body responded. Maybe you were able to detect the tempo so quickly because your repetition-loving brain latched onto the repeated rhythm patterns and found the downbeats. There’ s a groove!
When you sign up to play percussion, grooves will be part of your musical life. These musical figures might be referred to as patterns or ostinatos, but we’ ll stick with groove as a broad term for a repeated rhythm with an easily discernible pulse. You can find grooves in jazz, rock, pop, Celtic, and classical music. Groove-based music is nothing new, nor is it exclusive to Western civilization; it’ s centuries-old, worldwide, and multicultural.
While some musicians might assert that multiple instruments are required to produce a groove, I maintain one musician can play a groove on a single instrument. The two-bar snare drum rhythm in Maurice Ravel’ s“ Boléro” repeats over 150 times. That’ s some kind of groove!
Part One of this series will provide groove advice for the hand percussionist playing with a rhythm section that includes a drum set player. The next installment will give suggestions for performing grooves without a drum set player in the ensemble.
KNOW YOUR PLACE When multiple players are creating a groove, the central rhythmic framework is often generated by the drum set with the other instruments producing complementary parts. If no drum set is in the ensemble, the task of providing the skeletal rhythm might be the responsibility of the percussionist. Know your place and act accordingly.
ANALYZE Power ballad? Disco? Southern Gospel? Mambo? Determining the style of a musical piece is an important step toward narrowing down your choices for groove elements. Listen to a variety of music and learn the distinguishing style characteristics.
ORCHESTRATION With a wide variety of instruments and tone colors available, percussionists must make orchestration decisions. In certain types of music, your choices might be determined by traditional norms, e. g., samba, but in many mainstream genres, you have more freedom in your instrumentation.
Choosing a contrasting timbre to what the drummer is playing is often a wise choice. This strategy allows both the drum set and percussion to be distinguishable in the overall mix.
Keep in mind your orchestration decision is not limited to one instrument. You have the ability to add multiple instruments to the groove, e. g., tambourine and mounted cowbell.
RHYTHMS Arguably, the most important component in a groove is rhythm. Similar to orchestration, your rhythmic decisions might be influenced by stylistic traditions, e. g., playing the martillo rhythm pattern on bongos during a salsa tune. In much of mainstream music, there is more flexibility in making rhythmic choices.
Listen to the drum set and construct a complementary, yet distinctly different, rhythm pattern.
• Avoid clutter.
• Simple downbeats on cowbell, block, caxixi, or tambourine— it might be the right element to balance and stabilize a highly syncopated section of music.
• A lot of money-making grooves have included a basic sixteenth-note rhythm on tambourine and / or shaker.
DYNAMICS MAKE A DIFFERENCE Experiment with inserting various accents into a rhythm pattern and observe the impact on the total groove. Even placing additional volume on a single note can enact a noticeable change.
While an accented note carries extra emphasis, a ghosted note is the opposite: a lessening of the sound. These subtle touches can sound like mere whispers of tone, yet they contain a power all their own when inserted skillfully. Use ghost notes to fill space and provide musical interest within a groove.
JUST A FEW MIGHT DO Spice up a groove by playing only one or a few notes in a measure. You might be even more frugal and only add a little something on every other bar.
THE POWER OF ABSENCE Either playing or not playing affects the overall musical texture. Often you can heighten the impact of percussion by laying out for a few moments. After hearing the same sonic material for a while, our ears enjoy receiving new information. The reentry of percussion into the groove after a period of absence can provide fresh stimulus for the listener.
BROAD PERSPECTIVE Be sensitive to how your contribution blends with the overall ensemble groove and how your part interacts with the melody. Listen carefully and shape your part according to form and phrases.
Playing a groove with other musicians is a team effort. Work with the team and make it all groove.
© 2025 Mark Shelton Productions / Percussion For Worship
Mark Shelton Mark Shelton is a freelance musician, educational consultant, and content creator based in Dallas / Fort Worth. Mark’ s percussion work has been heard with North Carolina Symphony, Tin Roof Tango, Daystar Television, Gateway Worship, Stonebriar Church, Wichita Falls Orchestra, Victory Channel, Strata Big Band, TALEA, and Dallas Wind Symphony. www. marksheltonmusic. com www. percussionforworship. blogspot. com
100 November 2025 Subscribe for Free...