As I mentioned in my last post, I felt that my attempt at the rhythm section for “Fool Play” resulted in plodding along instead of having a desirable groove.

Today I attempted to get the groove back and find the “feel.”

I decided to just play the bass along with the metronome (115 bpm for those “scoring” at home). I then sang, first with hand claps – which were overbearing and not always quite on time, then alone – though you can hear my hand slapping my thigh if you listen closely (a special treat).

I attempted to add some cymbal, but was experiencing the delay I sometimes get after recording analog parts. So, when I struck the key (in this case just using the computer keyboard), the cymbal sounded a bit later. This was extremely unhelpful to someone who was already finding it challenging to keep the beat. I tried quantizing and moving cymbal hits and got close, but did not achieve “cigar.”

Here is the vocals and bass with some effects applied. I am “feeling” better – though I am thinking of putting this one on the back burner for a little bit and moving on to another. Perhaps my muse will guide me.

-Edbeat