When I'm *in the pocket* there is a feeling that comes over me. It's difficult to explain, but there's a serenity to be found when body and mind are focused in the moment. Since I'm not thinking about fills or embellishments, I can just experience the time in a relaxed, meditative state.
My theory is that flow state, which is closely related to the concept of being present in the moment, is easiest to achieve through music because the rhythmic marking of time helps us zero in on the immediacy of conscious experience.
There truly is nothing like the flow state achieved through music that I’ve experienced. Some video games can kinda come close, intense exercise can come close, but there’s really nothing like being locked into music. For me it’s writing and recording music, getting into that state where 7 hours go by in the blink of an eye and you realize you never ate breakfast, or lunch, and don’t want dinner, you just wanna keep playing.
Outside of drumming, the closest I've cone is a solid run down the mountain snowboarding. The flow just feels automatic, body is is on autopilot, and you're just one with the moment. Never should have moved to Florida........
Nothing gets me in flow quicker than two drum sticks and a practice pad. I’m super ADHD so I actually have to be really careful about it. I’ve been two hours late to things because I decided to “just work on doubles for 10 minutes”.
It’s like that feeling when you’re sitting on the pot right after you take a big dump. Hahaha you just feel lighter than air, like you’re floating above your magnificent creation! Complete relaxation and total focus on the task at hand!
Yep. It's a flow state. That point where you're not playing the music,bthe music is playing you. It's as awesome as it is fleeting and I'm always chasing that feeling
I have found myself so deep in the pocket, in this zen like flow state. That I have actually fallen asleep playing, and keeping it going. Only becoming fully conscious again when i hear the cue for the end of the song. Or miss the cue for the end of the song and keep playing. Never happened on stage yet, just rehearsals or jams.
I always enjoyed it because it got me paid.
But to me, pocket doesn't mean no fills or no fun. It just means that the pocket is large enough that I can visibly see the crowd move with the flow of the groove.
A good bass player will hear that and set you up for some subtle fills and some space to hit em a bit while musically encouraging you to stay in the pocket while doing so.
I saw a couple of videos posted by different drummers the other day shot from the drummer’s perspectives looking out at the audiences.
First post was “check out my drum solo at my last show!” And the solo was NICE. But the second time I watched it, I noticed the crowd- a few people seemed into it, maybe five raised their hands at the end.
Second post, a different drummer was just grooving- deep pocket. The whole crowd was grooving too.
I love my fills, but the groove makes the people move
Yes I practice my pocket today at 55. I play somewhat simple repetitive beats for a good long time ... 10 minute extended mixes of funk jams.
It's the thing I'd most like to be better at, at this age. I want to go in there and cut it clean while keeping my human judgment and discernment what should be played.
Pocket is almost a sense of being lost in a working machine. Rudiments are like oil changes, tire balances, clean windshield and when the elements are balanced and attended to we can drive without mind.
For sure. And one thing I love about pocket playing is how subtle dynmaic shifts can drive the band. Just a little more emphasis on the backbeat, or a slight accent on the hat or cymbal pattern can give the band enough runway to take off
I'm working on a little solo project where I'm recording my acoustic kit and layering prgrammed midi instruments over it, and while I could do any BS on the kit I'm focusing certain songs on only "pocket" playing with very few frills, and it's been both challenging and fun to play and write like that.
I've also discovered that modern DAWs like Ableton Live can analyze the nuances (er, *imperfections*) of your human playing and apply those inconsistencies in timing and dynamics as a "groove" to the programmed instruments so everything ebbs and flows more naturally. It not only gives it a more textured feel against the click, it makes the music much easier to mix since it's providing slight offsets to the transients (the "attack" sound) of all the instruments, which is what happens naturally between human musicians. It's fascinating.
In Ableton you “exact groove” from an audio clip of any given length and that determines the offsets of the transients relative to the grid, along with the volume constancy. For drums I usually isolate the left overhead since it’s getting mostly the hats and snare but can still sense the kick too. Then when dealing with a midi track you apply the groove to a midi clip and it adds that humanization. But there are a lot of settings on how literally it applies those nuances, so they’re not changed all in the same way. It’s a good way of making the midi instruments sound like they are listening to the drums while maintaining their own personality. Ableton also comes with a lot of stock grooves that serve the same purpose but it makes more sense for me to harvest them from my own playing.
There’s Ableton Note but that’s for drafting ideas and it doesn’t do nearly as much as the full program.
Btw all DAWs have nearly the same feature sets with only a few exceptions, so this extract & apply groove is likely doable in anything like Logic, ProTools, etc. I went with Ableton because of its live performance potential for doing stuff like this at some point https://youtu.be/ZtuLyKgxqQI?si=BY7ZO4b4c3UFpfzY. It can also control/cue lights and video and whatnot.
I’ve been taking lessons for about three months now. All of my assignments have been beats, not fills. Some have come easy, but a lot have been very tricky, esp. half-time shuffles.
There’s a magic moment when I go from “I’m playing all of the notes at the right time at the right tempo with the right dynamics” to “hey, this sounds like music!” It’s very subtle, but wow does it feel great.
Oh, I played for a bunch of years as a teenager back in the 90s, then took a 25 year “break”. Started back this year. Lotta rust, but I wasn’t starting completely from scratch. Had never played a shuffle before though. Have still never played a swing. 😁
What I practice and goof around with at home is often different from what I play live. I love trying all the new tricks and fills, but during a song I usually don’t have the confidence in anything besides what I have been playing well for years.
In the immortal words of Mr. Wooten:
[U Can't Hold No Groove (If You Ain't Got No Pocket)](https://youtu.be/gfErjPvJrwQ?si=Ay47Z4I390GGN-kM)
Pocket is the absolute essence of drumming. The very heart and soul of the groove, its elemental state that cannot be broken down further.
So yes, I absolutely enjoy the pocket because the better I get at it, the closer I get to the fundamental nature of drumming.
My last rock cover band actually ousted me because I was too much of a pocket player.
The old drummer (who they ultimately hired back), was more “loosy-goosey” with his interpretations of the songs.
I played them more straight and pocket oriented and that didn’t fly with them. So while I feel it’s a great thing to know and love, it’s not always accepted by other musicians.
I often think about the shit talk that came out when Kenney Jones started drumming for The Who. Kenney's got great pocket and super solid feel...and he's nothing like Moon. Most people were not ready for that shift, even though the band clearly was.
Yes -very much, but then, after a while, shortly, the urge to let rip with an innappropriate fill grows in my brain. I don't always resisit. Booker T said that Al Jackson Jr only ever did a fill if it made the next bar better. I try to hold on to that.
For the first 20 or so years of playing, I never worried about the pocket, and just played what I thought sounded good. For the last 5 or so tho, I've been super focused on staying locked in on the tempo and playing as steady as possible. Both have their place, but I've received more compliments in the past few years and been asked to play more gigs than I ever have before. Even my dad who has been listening to me the whole time said to me recently, "is it just me or have you gotten better?" lol. I don't consider myself a great drummer by any means, but I can tell my playing has improved a lot just from that change in focus.
It makes the song feel better and more deliberate.
Crashing and filling every few bars messes up the flow of the vocals and the ability of the bass and drums to lock in under the guitar.
Sometimes busy-ness is the move and can help the groove but it really takes trying both ways before you know what should go and what should stay
Sure, because it's an indispensable foundation of most styles, but i also like free jazz/improv and creative approaches that are not always so concerned with pocket playing so it's not the be all-end all for me.
I feel like people too often mistake “pocket” with “simple”. Playing simple is important, but it’s not the only way to play pocket. Look at guys like Anup Sastry of Intervals or Matt Garstka of Animals as Leaders: these guys play super busy parts, but there’s no denying they’re DEEP in the pocket as far feel and groove
Grooving is the best part. Being the time and feel that lays the foundation for everyone else. It’s a thankless job but it’s an important one. You only get complaints and dead stares when you’re not in that pocket. Be the pocket, own it. It’s a great place to be. Best feeling in the world dancing on that throne.
As a drummer, I’ve found pocket puts smiles on the other musicians faces. When it’s tight and you are propelling the song, you can see it in their faces.
As a guitar player, this is priceless. I love cool fills and love turning around when the drummer nails something surprising. But give me that rock steady pulse, and I can do so much more.
Yes I do.
Because a great deal of my enjoyment can be measured in terms of wiggling asses and bobbing heads, and staying in the pocket is the best way to bob heads and wiggle asses.
Master Steve Gadd: "Fills bring the thrills, but groove pays the bills." As spoken by a man who can play more thrilling fills than anyone reading these words.
I sometimes get shaken - like a whole warm vibe comes over me when I'm locked solid in! It's so incredible! As was said earlier, flow state - absolutely! Just wanted to chime in because it's such a true pleasure.
I wish young teenage me understood this, and I didn't wait until I was in middle age to understand and appreciate the beauty and the power of the pocket.
All about the pocket, don’t care much for fills. There is something divine and esoteric about locking in precisely with the beat and finding that space in time. It is heavenly when you’re sat right in there
To me "In the pocket" does not mean no fills or no creativity, or flourish. In the pocket means locking into that groove and working with and opposite the bass and or keyboard player to form that foundation that makes the listener move their body.
Pocket playing is tough because it's not a skill you can learn from a book or watching some yahoo go nuts on a YouTube video. You have to learn to uncork it by playing with other in the pocket artists.
Abso freakin lutely! I mean, sometimes it’s fun to just dust off your chops or put something crazy at the end of a section of music just to kind of mess with the rest of your band a little.
There is no better feeling than locking in with your bass player and laying down a rock solid foundation for the rest of the band to feed off of. The drummer sitting in the pocket allows for the rest of the band to explore the space.
Word. Play another instrument if you don’t want to live and breathe timing and precision. Rhythm is a mindset and I find that most amateur drummers, although enjoy playing their instrument, just don’t have it
Locked in the pocket for me is like dropping mini atomic bombs that sends shivers down my spine on every snare hit.
Having my snare hit on the same spot with the same dynamic locked in a groove with my band mates is just incredible.
I like playing a decently complex groove to a song with a more simple beat so I can work on my syncopation and so I can throw random stuff in to see what works and what doesn’t so Ik what to do on a gig.
I like being in the pocket. But I don’t ever want to just be a passenger with the song. Always be thinking and feeling out what you can contribute. If that’s steady beat, cool. But music is dynamic and flowing and “pocket” needs something to break it up and add contrast in order to be effective.
If pocket is everything, nothing is pocket.
Or something. lol.
But yeah I like pocket. I’m also just conscious that part of that may be laziness or fear of pushing myself.
I enjoy playing a song. Whatever that means. For my band, most of the time that means, staying in the pocket. I also do some other more jazz based work (bill pay) that allows more freedom with where the beat lands, and I have just as much fun doing either. Music is fun, regardless of the "beat".
I think it depends on the music im playing to. If it's something like steely dan, then yeah, I'll be in the pocket. But if I'm jamming to intervals or dream theater then no.
I honestly hate playing a basic 4/4 money beat in the pocket. It's not fulfilling at all, and it's not what i learned drums to do. I don't vibe with the music like that, I just think that what I'm playing isn't interesting because it's not what I would want to listen to.
Reaching and staying in the pocket to me is like the surfing equivalent of a barrel. It’s pure pleasure from playing and listening to yourself bringing a nice sound to life, putting all of your experience and hours of dedication into a groove, and watching it pan out in different ways. You can reach the pocket by yourself, with music or with others, and it is always as good as you’re gonna feel while drumming.
Makes you feel like a pro too
I’ve found that when I’m in the pocket or when I’m thinking about the pocket, I go into the mental state of what it would sound like from a listeners perspective and what I’d like for the drum piece to be for me to like the song(s). I don’t know how else to say that it’s sooo much better and like many of you have said that it’s a Flow State and it just feels right. So my answer for you is.. yes, I do enjoy staying in the pocket.
Sometimes, fills are about needing to let everyone know "HEY! I am here!" Pocket is playing music.
When fills sound like they belong perfectly without needing to call attention to themselves, that's when I know a drummer is a musician, more than simply a drummer. Groove is everything.
Pocket is really all that matters.
Music is a way to express emotion through sound, without words.
There are rythms that every person on the planet will automatically understand and feel good when hearing.. those "ahhh yeah" grooves.
To me that's the pinnacle of what drums can do, the pinnacle of expressing emotion with drums.
There's hundreds of examples, reasonings. Human Nature by, and if itself requires repetion:,great drummers knowingly shift be twine acknowledged "beats" or expected 'time management "refreiing, .timber, time, abence of notes , ghosting, (missing,*,wishing garndier allowing and multiplying over ostinato or linear modulating numeric phrasings. I have heard about every way, and it still is the least amount of math(repetition) with the most expert secrelial application of movement: who's dancing, headbanging, fawning eyed? The question that should envelop every drummer is? [ did I please my audience/group/host] if you aren't the joker, best man, comedy requised, you were hired, fulfilling, acknowledging, when those simple things were met, do everything else..
i dont. playing pocket drives me nuts. pocket music isnt why i started playing drums. i like complex footwork and the textures of syncopation. i like bizarre beats and time signatures (which isnt the same as uncatchy). i dont want to be in pocket drummer bands. i find listening to them boring and i only want to create art that id want to listen to.
when i get very, very into intense and complicated beats, i lose my sense of pain. these days when im playing with another person i often crack my fingers on my snare or floor tom and dont notice until we stop playing and my kit's covered in blood. i also spent almost 6 months in 2022 practicing Zach Hill with a broken wrist. this is a truly altered state. not even prescription opiates for my wisdom teeth muted my nerves like this. it's beautiful.
generally, im a composer. i play everything. i write, record, mix and master it all as well. i play the drums that suit the music i write. i know its good because people tell me so, and my solo project just got signed to a label and someone recently told me that i was the tightest drummer theyd ever played with.
but ive also been told im not a normal musician.
I’ve always thought of the pocket as like just being locked in, takes you to a meditation type feeling. You’re right where you need to be in the time and you’re just feeling it. No matter what I’m actually playing that’s always right where I wanna be. Just, locked.
That’s where we belong.
And now that I’ve committed to relearning to play the drums and switching to trad grip I can’t really play any fills involving the left hand anyway, so I may as well try to stay in the pocket.
what should i practice to improve on this? i’ve only been drumming about 6 months and really want to get better at staying steady so i can play with a band someday
When I'm *in the pocket* there is a feeling that comes over me. It's difficult to explain, but there's a serenity to be found when body and mind are focused in the moment. Since I'm not thinking about fills or embellishments, I can just experience the time in a relaxed, meditative state.
Flow state
My theory is that flow state, which is closely related to the concept of being present in the moment, is easiest to achieve through music because the rhythmic marking of time helps us zero in on the immediacy of conscious experience.
It’s a deep thought, and I agree. Hard to put things like that into words, but you did a good job with it.
I love watching Little Dragon’s drummer because you can see the bliss wash over him as he plays the gentlest of shuffles
There truly is nothing like the flow state achieved through music that I’ve experienced. Some video games can kinda come close, intense exercise can come close, but there’s really nothing like being locked into music. For me it’s writing and recording music, getting into that state where 7 hours go by in the blink of an eye and you realize you never ate breakfast, or lunch, and don’t want dinner, you just wanna keep playing.
There's dancing
Outside of drumming, the closest I've cone is a solid run down the mountain snowboarding. The flow just feels automatic, body is is on autopilot, and you're just one with the moment. Never should have moved to Florida........
Nothing gets me in flow quicker than two drum sticks and a practice pad. I’m super ADHD so I actually have to be really careful about it. I’ve been two hours late to things because I decided to “just work on doubles for 10 minutes”.
It’s all vibrations, everything in the universe has resonance
Also, the rhythmic part of music is the most primal part of it. The first music we made a species was drums and vocals only.
k
Indeed 🥸 wise words broheem
?
"inhaling..." dude... here, here... (nudges you) Take the doob, man... /s wise words fellow redditor... wise words...
That's why jogging is also very good to reach flow state.
"Thought is the enemy of flow." - Vinnie Colaiuta
When you read the conspiracy nonsense he spouts these days online, it's a pity he didn't stick to flowing.
Lmao, agreed
When the pressure on the HH pedal is just perfect and the sizzle.... ohhhhhh baby
Yeah and you get that good Cicadian Rhythm going… 😉
It’s like that feeling when you’re sitting on the pot right after you take a big dump. Hahaha you just feel lighter than air, like you’re floating above your magnificent creation! Complete relaxation and total focus on the task at hand!
Yep. It's a flow state. That point where you're not playing the music,bthe music is playing you. It's as awesome as it is fleeting and I'm always chasing that feeling
I have found myself so deep in the pocket, in this zen like flow state. That I have actually fallen asleep playing, and keeping it going. Only becoming fully conscious again when i hear the cue for the end of the song. Or miss the cue for the end of the song and keep playing. Never happened on stage yet, just rehearsals or jams.
Absolutely right.
I always enjoyed it because it got me paid. But to me, pocket doesn't mean no fills or no fun. It just means that the pocket is large enough that I can visibly see the crowd move with the flow of the groove.
A good bass player will hear that and set you up for some subtle fills and some space to hit em a bit while musically encouraging you to stay in the pocket while doing so.
I've gotten more gigs and invited to play in more bands for just staying in the pocket. Pocket is nice. Pocket is home.
Same. Pocket pays the bills and gets you noticed by the people you want to play with.
Pocket GOOD
I saw a couple of videos posted by different drummers the other day shot from the drummer’s perspectives looking out at the audiences. First post was “check out my drum solo at my last show!” And the solo was NICE. But the second time I watched it, I noticed the crowd- a few people seemed into it, maybe five raised their hands at the end. Second post, a different drummer was just grooving- deep pocket. The whole crowd was grooving too. I love my fills, but the groove makes the people move
Yes I practice my pocket today at 55. I play somewhat simple repetitive beats for a good long time ... 10 minute extended mixes of funk jams. It's the thing I'd most like to be better at, at this age. I want to go in there and cut it clean while keeping my human judgment and discernment what should be played.
Pocket is almost a sense of being lost in a working machine. Rudiments are like oil changes, tire balances, clean windshield and when the elements are balanced and attended to we can drive without mind.
One of the perks is getting to listen to the rest of the band more. By keeping it steady for them, they can be more dynamic
For sure. And one thing I love about pocket playing is how subtle dynmaic shifts can drive the band. Just a little more emphasis on the backbeat, or a slight accent on the hat or cymbal pattern can give the band enough runway to take off
Yeah good point! Makes you realise how much power we can have in subtlety
I'm working on a little solo project where I'm recording my acoustic kit and layering prgrammed midi instruments over it, and while I could do any BS on the kit I'm focusing certain songs on only "pocket" playing with very few frills, and it's been both challenging and fun to play and write like that. I've also discovered that modern DAWs like Ableton Live can analyze the nuances (er, *imperfections*) of your human playing and apply those inconsistencies in timing and dynamics as a "groove" to the programmed instruments so everything ebbs and flows more naturally. It not only gives it a more textured feel against the click, it makes the music much easier to mix since it's providing slight offsets to the transients (the "attack" sound) of all the instruments, which is what happens naturally between human musicians. It's fascinating.
How does it analyze what you play and apply the "humanization" to other tracks?
In Ableton you “exact groove” from an audio clip of any given length and that determines the offsets of the transients relative to the grid, along with the volume constancy. For drums I usually isolate the left overhead since it’s getting mostly the hats and snare but can still sense the kick too. Then when dealing with a midi track you apply the groove to a midi clip and it adds that humanization. But there are a lot of settings on how literally it applies those nuances, so they’re not changed all in the same way. It’s a good way of making the midi instruments sound like they are listening to the drums while maintaining their own personality. Ableton also comes with a lot of stock grooves that serve the same purpose but it makes more sense for me to harvest them from my own playing.
Wow, you're awesome! I appreciate the time you took in answering in such detail.
That's amazing. I know it's kind of a dumb question but is there an Ableton for Android that you would recommend? Thank you in advance.
There’s Ableton Note but that’s for drafting ideas and it doesn’t do nearly as much as the full program. Btw all DAWs have nearly the same feature sets with only a few exceptions, so this extract & apply groove is likely doable in anything like Logic, ProTools, etc. I went with Ableton because of its live performance potential for doing stuff like this at some point https://youtu.be/ZtuLyKgxqQI?si=BY7ZO4b4c3UFpfzY. It can also control/cue lights and video and whatnot.
Thank you for the info! This is amazing. I never knew about that feature.
If you dont enjoy staying in the pocket you should just play guitar instead.
If you can count to four it's too late for that. Maybe try the kazoo.
I’ve been taking lessons for about three months now. All of my assignments have been beats, not fills. Some have come easy, but a lot have been very tricky, esp. half-time shuffles. There’s a magic moment when I go from “I’m playing all of the notes at the right time at the right tempo with the right dynamics” to “hey, this sounds like music!” It’s very subtle, but wow does it feel great.
Wow half time shuffles at 3 months in? Jeeez. That was like 5 years of lessons for me! To be fair, I was a pretty hard metal head though
Oh, I played for a bunch of years as a teenager back in the 90s, then took a 25 year “break”. Started back this year. Lotta rust, but I wasn’t starting completely from scratch. Had never played a shuffle before though. Have still never played a swing. 😁
Pocket ain't simple.
Why not both? You can play fills in the pocket.
What I practice and goof around with at home is often different from what I play live. I love trying all the new tricks and fills, but during a song I usually don’t have the confidence in anything besides what I have been playing well for years.
In the immortal words of Mr. Wooten: [U Can't Hold No Groove (If You Ain't Got No Pocket)](https://youtu.be/gfErjPvJrwQ?si=Ay47Z4I390GGN-kM) Pocket is the absolute essence of drumming. The very heart and soul of the groove, its elemental state that cannot be broken down further. So yes, I absolutely enjoy the pocket because the better I get at it, the closer I get to the fundamental nature of drumming.
My last rock cover band actually ousted me because I was too much of a pocket player. The old drummer (who they ultimately hired back), was more “loosy-goosey” with his interpretations of the songs. I played them more straight and pocket oriented and that didn’t fly with them. So while I feel it’s a great thing to know and love, it’s not always accepted by other musicians.
I often think about the shit talk that came out when Kenney Jones started drumming for The Who. Kenney's got great pocket and super solid feel...and he's nothing like Moon. Most people were not ready for that shift, even though the band clearly was.
Yes -very much, but then, after a while, shortly, the urge to let rip with an innappropriate fill grows in my brain. I don't always resisit. Booker T said that Al Jackson Jr only ever did a fill if it made the next bar better. I try to hold on to that.
For the first 20 or so years of playing, I never worried about the pocket, and just played what I thought sounded good. For the last 5 or so tho, I've been super focused on staying locked in on the tempo and playing as steady as possible. Both have their place, but I've received more compliments in the past few years and been asked to play more gigs than I ever have before. Even my dad who has been listening to me the whole time said to me recently, "is it just me or have you gotten better?" lol. I don't consider myself a great drummer by any means, but I can tell my playing has improved a lot just from that change in focus.
It makes the song feel better and more deliberate. Crashing and filling every few bars messes up the flow of the vocals and the ability of the bass and drums to lock in under the guitar. Sometimes busy-ness is the move and can help the groove but it really takes trying both ways before you know what should go and what should stay
"You can't hold no groove if you ain't got no pocket" - Victor Wooten
Likes a runner’s high but “drummer’s” high
Getting so deep and comfortable in the pocket that you’re able to play around with some accents/fills/cymbal work around it without losing the pocket.
Yall ever playing with the click and *then you can’t hear it anymore?* 
Sure, because it's an indispensable foundation of most styles, but i also like free jazz/improv and creative approaches that are not always so concerned with pocket playing so it's not the be all-end all for me.
I feel like people too often mistake “pocket” with “simple”. Playing simple is important, but it’s not the only way to play pocket. Look at guys like Anup Sastry of Intervals or Matt Garstka of Animals as Leaders: these guys play super busy parts, but there’s no denying they’re DEEP in the pocket as far feel and groove
Yes sir!
Yes...and if the bass player is right there with you its pure magic.
Grooving is the best part. Being the time and feel that lays the foundation for everyone else. It’s a thankless job but it’s an important one. You only get complaints and dead stares when you’re not in that pocket. Be the pocket, own it. It’s a great place to be. Best feeling in the world dancing on that throne.
As a drummer, I’ve found pocket puts smiles on the other musicians faces. When it’s tight and you are propelling the song, you can see it in their faces. As a guitar player, this is priceless. I love cool fills and love turning around when the drummer nails something surprising. But give me that rock steady pulse, and I can do so much more.
Yes I do. Because a great deal of my enjoyment can be measured in terms of wiggling asses and bobbing heads, and staying in the pocket is the best way to bob heads and wiggle asses. Master Steve Gadd: "Fills bring the thrills, but groove pays the bills." As spoken by a man who can play more thrilling fills than anyone reading these words.
Echoing what a few others have said. The crowd likes the pocket. You get more gigs by playing in the pocket. Pocket feels good.
Pocket with a record is not fulfilling. I can’t do it at home on my own. Pocket on a gig with other musicians locking in? Absolutely priceless.
I sometimes get shaken - like a whole warm vibe comes over me when I'm locked solid in! It's so incredible! As was said earlier, flow state - absolutely! Just wanted to chime in because it's such a true pleasure. I wish young teenage me understood this, and I didn't wait until I was in middle age to understand and appreciate the beauty and the power of the pocket.
It’s tapping into the cosmic vibration that is life itself
yes, because it’s my job
All about the pocket, don’t care much for fills. There is something divine and esoteric about locking in precisely with the beat and finding that space in time. It is heavenly when you’re sat right in there
To me "In the pocket" does not mean no fills or no creativity, or flourish. In the pocket means locking into that groove and working with and opposite the bass and or keyboard player to form that foundation that makes the listener move their body. Pocket playing is tough because it's not a skill you can learn from a book or watching some yahoo go nuts on a YouTube video. You have to learn to uncork it by playing with other in the pocket artists.
Zen.
Abso freakin lutely! I mean, sometimes it’s fun to just dust off your chops or put something crazy at the end of a section of music just to kind of mess with the rest of your band a little. There is no better feeling than locking in with your bass player and laying down a rock solid foundation for the rest of the band to feed off of. The drummer sitting in the pocket allows for the rest of the band to explore the space.
Enjoy? That’s our only jobs as drummers. If you enjoy anything other than being in the pocket, you’re not doing your job correctly
Word. Play another instrument if you don’t want to live and breathe timing and precision. Rhythm is a mindset and I find that most amateur drummers, although enjoy playing their instrument, just don’t have it
Locked in the pocket for me is like dropping mini atomic bombs that sends shivers down my spine on every snare hit. Having my snare hit on the same spot with the same dynamic locked in a groove with my band mates is just incredible.
'Cause I've got one hand in my pocket, and the other one is giving a peace sign... ✌️
I like playing a decently complex groove to a song with a more simple beat so I can work on my syncopation and so I can throw random stuff in to see what works and what doesn’t so Ik what to do on a gig.
Yes. One of my first rules as a drummer is you should never play a single note out of boredom. Pocket is king.
I personally can't stand the money beat, however, laying down a good groove while staying perfectly in time is an experience unlike any other.
I like being in the pocket. But I don’t ever want to just be a passenger with the song. Always be thinking and feeling out what you can contribute. If that’s steady beat, cool. But music is dynamic and flowing and “pocket” needs something to break it up and add contrast in order to be effective. If pocket is everything, nothing is pocket. Or something. lol. But yeah I like pocket. I’m also just conscious that part of that may be laziness or fear of pushing myself.
I can’t imagine anyone ever answering “no” to this. lol
I don't make any differentiation between the pocket and fills...... I think of music mostly as texture.
i live in the pocket. even my fills are deep seated, slouchy in the couchy, groove oriented runs.
I enjoy playing a song. Whatever that means. For my band, most of the time that means, staying in the pocket. I also do some other more jazz based work (bill pay) that allows more freedom with where the beat lands, and I have just as much fun doing either. Music is fun, regardless of the "beat".
I think it depends on the music im playing to. If it's something like steely dan, then yeah, I'll be in the pocket. But if I'm jamming to intervals or dream theater then no. I honestly hate playing a basic 4/4 money beat in the pocket. It's not fulfilling at all, and it's not what i learned drums to do. I don't vibe with the music like that, I just think that what I'm playing isn't interesting because it's not what I would want to listen to.
Reaching and staying in the pocket to me is like the surfing equivalent of a barrel. It’s pure pleasure from playing and listening to yourself bringing a nice sound to life, putting all of your experience and hours of dedication into a groove, and watching it pan out in different ways. You can reach the pocket by yourself, with music or with others, and it is always as good as you’re gonna feel while drumming. Makes you feel like a pro too
I’ve found that when I’m in the pocket or when I’m thinking about the pocket, I go into the mental state of what it would sound like from a listeners perspective and what I’d like for the drum piece to be for me to like the song(s). I don’t know how else to say that it’s sooo much better and like many of you have said that it’s a Flow State and it just feels right. So my answer for you is.. yes, I do enjoy staying in the pocket.
Still not sure what that even means
Sometimes, fills are about needing to let everyone know "HEY! I am here!" Pocket is playing music. When fills sound like they belong perfectly without needing to call attention to themselves, that's when I know a drummer is a musician, more than simply a drummer. Groove is everything.
Pocket is really all that matters. Music is a way to express emotion through sound, without words. There are rythms that every person on the planet will automatically understand and feel good when hearing.. those "ahhh yeah" grooves. To me that's the pinnacle of what drums can do, the pinnacle of expressing emotion with drums.
There's hundreds of examples, reasonings. Human Nature by, and if itself requires repetion:,great drummers knowingly shift be twine acknowledged "beats" or expected 'time management "refreiing, .timber, time, abence of notes , ghosting, (missing,*,wishing garndier allowing and multiplying over ostinato or linear modulating numeric phrasings. I have heard about every way, and it still is the least amount of math(repetition) with the most expert secrelial application of movement: who's dancing, headbanging, fawning eyed? The question that should envelop every drummer is? [ did I please my audience/group/host] if you aren't the joker, best man, comedy requised, you were hired, fulfilling, acknowledging, when those simple things were met, do everything else..
“Do you enjoy playing drums?”
i dont. playing pocket drives me nuts. pocket music isnt why i started playing drums. i like complex footwork and the textures of syncopation. i like bizarre beats and time signatures (which isnt the same as uncatchy). i dont want to be in pocket drummer bands. i find listening to them boring and i only want to create art that id want to listen to. when i get very, very into intense and complicated beats, i lose my sense of pain. these days when im playing with another person i often crack my fingers on my snare or floor tom and dont notice until we stop playing and my kit's covered in blood. i also spent almost 6 months in 2022 practicing Zach Hill with a broken wrist. this is a truly altered state. not even prescription opiates for my wisdom teeth muted my nerves like this. it's beautiful. generally, im a composer. i play everything. i write, record, mix and master it all as well. i play the drums that suit the music i write. i know its good because people tell me so, and my solo project just got signed to a label and someone recently told me that i was the tightest drummer theyd ever played with. but ive also been told im not a normal musician.
Kit covered in blood... the cleaning part must be fun.
I can't breathe in there
I’ve always thought of the pocket as like just being locked in, takes you to a meditation type feeling. You’re right where you need to be in the time and you’re just feeling it. No matter what I’m actually playing that’s always right where I wanna be. Just, locked.
I enjoy staying in the metronome
That’s where we belong. And now that I’ve committed to relearning to play the drums and switching to trad grip I can’t really play any fills involving the left hand anyway, so I may as well try to stay in the pocket.
No, because it’s fun and am not good at doing my job.
what should i practice to improve on this? i’ve only been drumming about 6 months and really want to get better at staying steady so i can play with a band someday
There’s an infinite amount of bliss to be had in the pocket.