Time, Tone and Technique

Guitarist Paul Bollenback teaches a class on developing your time, groove, and projection — and how technique affects all three. Drawing on his experience performing with drummers like Jeff "Tain" Watts and Billy Hart, Paul digs into the difference between merely playing in time and actually grooving.

What's covered

• Why groove is the most important thing to work on, wherever you are in your development
• Play-along practice with records: Art Blakey, the Grant Green/Sonny Clark Complete Quartets, plus deep-pocket choices like James Brown, Jimmy Smith, and Big John Patton
• Locking into specific rhythm-section elements — ride cymbal swing, hi-hat patterns, and snare accents
• Billy Hart's idea of flexible time — knowing when to push and when to lay back
• Metronome practice that goes beyond stiff quarter-note clicking to exercises that actually swing
• Phrasing techniques, including ending phrases on upbeats and syncopations for forward motion
• How clean technique directly supports your rhythmic authority, in both soloing and comping

Recorded as a live class with student questions along the way, this lesson suits players who feel their time is competent but stiff, and want their playing to breathe and swing.