Groove

A groove is a repeated rhythmic pattern that gives a passage its feel. It is usually syncopated, and the players lock it to a shared pulse so that listeners absorb it as a second layer over the meter. The defining trait is predictability. A single syncopation surprises, but the same displacement repeated each bar becomes the expectation the body moves to. James Brown's bands built grooves from interlocking cells, with each instrument playing a fixed pattern and the downbeat often left silent yet still felt. Each part can be complex, but all the parts sit on one grid. The word also describes how a band sounds when its players are working well together.

Related terms

• SyncopationAn accent placed where the meter does not expect it, on a weak beat, an offbeat or across a bar line through a tie.
• BackbeatThe accent on beats two and four of a 4/4 bar, the emphasis that gives rock, pop and soul their driving feel.
• SwingA performance feel in which paired eighth notes are played unevenly, with the first longer than the second.
• HemiolaA temporary regrouping of beats, most often two bars of 3/4 heard as three groups of two rather than two groups of three.

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