(upbeat bass guitar music)
- Hey, my name is Aneesa Strings,
and I'm here with Fender's Technique of the Week part two.
And today we're talking about what is the pocket?
The pocket is something very important.
The pocket is something that I take very seriously.
I know you've heard the expression.
Many of you may have heard the term, "Out of pocket".
When you're not locked into the groove,
locked into the time and the feel, you are out of pocket
and that's one place and especially in music
that you do not want to be.
So today I'm gonna give you a few pointers and tips
on how to stay in the pocket,
with the groove, with the band.
So I'm gonna play a couple of grooves
from the Fender Tune app.
They got a whole bunch of drum beats in here instead,
if you want to practice along with.
(upbeat bass guitar music)
Simple baseline, right?
If you're beginning, you probably could do that as well.
(upbeat bass guitar music)
So when you have a baseline like that, right,
with a lot of space in it.
Two, three, four, one.
Two, three, four,
one, two, three, four.
Okay?
A lot of space in it, right?
A lot of people might tend to fill in a whole bunch of that.
And that's okay, when it's appropriate.
But part of playing in the pocket
is leaving some for the rest of the band.
Have you ever heard the expression,
"Let the drummer get some".
You know, everybody's gonna want to fill that in
when you have a baseline
cause like I said, in part one,
what do we dance to?
Is it the drums everybody?
No, is it the,
we dance to the bass.
The bass.
You heard the drum fill it right, the first time, right?
You heard, (Aneesa mimicking drum beat)
(upbeat bass guitar music)
Right, leave that, leave that.
Hey.
(upbeat bass guitar music)
Hey, right, a little something.
Once again, pocket is important.
Tone, duration of your notes, it's all important.
Right?
So I'm playing my notes kind of short, right?
What happens if I play it long?
I'ma play with groove here, watch this.
(upbeat bass guitar music)
So what happens if I mix it up a little long,
a little short?
(upbeat bass guitar music)
Right?
So you got versatility.
You have so many options, it's endless.
But what I would encourage you to do,
especially if you're a bass player,
just getting gigs and just starting to work,
if you're feeling the tendency to go all over the place
and stuff and you need to reel it in,
try to play with all those different things.
See what I'm saying?
There are so many avenues you can do within the baseline
without ever filling and adding in
what you're thinking about, right?
So I'ma play behind the beat a little bit.
Watch this.
(upbeat bass guitar music)
That's like offbeat, right?
(upbeat bass guitar music)
Right?
I'm kind of swinging it, right?
Change the whole feel of it.
All right, I'ma play on top of the beat.
(upbeat bass guitar music)
Right?
Now that's some urgency to it.
(upbeat bass guitar music)
So yes, like I said, once again, you have so many options.
The point though, no matter what you do,
whether you play on top, behind,
long notes, short note, whatever,
a mix of something in between, whatever it is,
make sure you stay in the pocket.
And that's in the groove,
providing the motion because you know, as I say,
and many of my teachers say the bass
is the most important instrument in a band,
don't tell nobody I said that,
I know Fender give the guitar a lot of shine.
But the bass is most important baby, without this baby,
you really don't have nothing.
So thank you for coming to hang out with me
and check out my Technique of the Week part two.
This is Aneesa Strings and I'm checking out.
(upbeat bass guitar music)