Monday, February 18, 2019

Groove o' the day: Street beat in 7

Here's a New Orleans street beat-style groove in 7/4, played by Bill Stewart. The tune is 7th Floor, from John Scofield's album Hand Jive. This is the basic groove from the intro of the tune; he mixes it up for most of the track.




Swing the 8th notes slightly. Play the 16th notes as an open drag with the left hand, and crush the buzz on beat 7 with both hands. Hihat splashes with the foot every two beats all the way through. Some call that playing the “big” 7— playing two measures of 7/4 as one measure of 7/2... with the hihat on the offbeats, in this case.


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