Phenomenon Of Groove Analysis

The phenomenon of groove is an interesting and complicated matter of analysis, although this concept has been taken into consideration quite recently by musicologists; it is almost a century that this word is being used in music contexts.

From the 1920s of the Jazz Age until now, the expression of groove is simply used to refer to music performed really well, especially from the rhythmic section.

Even if this affirmation is too general, is partially correct. Musicians and listeners make use of the word groove when they really enjoy certain music to the point of tap their foot or dance.

Defining properly what groove is and why creates this magic effect is another matter. But having a common understanding of what effects make is a good starting

Since syncopation is about rhythms and these instruments are part of the rhythmic section, is evident how their parts are full of syncopated elements, especially in funk, hip-hop and reggae music.

A classic example of a syncopated drum beat, can be listened in ‘Cold Sweat, Pt. 1’ (1967) by James Brown. The drum beat is two bar long, and the syncopation is created by the pushes with the hi hat and the bass drum, but the most important element of this drum beat is the second snare drum in the first bar that is on the 4 and, instead of his usual place that is 4. This push and pull between bass drum and snare drum is the beating heart of the song and contributes to create one of the best grooves of James Brown (Brown and Tucker, 2014).

But syncopation is not performed only by percussive instruments, also guitar players, horns section and singers use syncopation to create groove. According to Abel (2011) syncopation can also be seen as a sort of anticipation, an embellishment of a musical phrase that creates tension and release, that otherwise would sound empty. Then he gives a clear example of a vocal lines in ‘No Women, No Cry’ (1974) by Bob Marley and the Wailers, where the final note of the phrase is anticipated on the 4

As we have seen, syncopation is largely used by almost all instruments to create the right groove of a song, to give a specific feeling of a music genre. We can argue then some degree of syncopation in a piece of music contributes to build groove, as it is a way to create musical tension and a sort of violation of expectations that makes music more pleasant.

This is demonstrated in a web-based survey conducted by Witek et al. (2014), where sixty-six participants were asked to listen to 50 drum-breaks with different degrees of syncopation. Listeners rated higher and pleasurable those ones with an intermediate degree of syncopation, rather than those whit a high or low level of it. The result presented makes syncopation a good subject to explain the link between what create groove and why listeners perceive it as a good feeling. But more important, it confirms that the percentage to make groove happen is higher when we involve syncopated elements in a