Exploring Rhythmic Comping in R&B

Okay, so we're just going to have a little look at some rhythmic comping in a kind of R&B context.

Song Overview

This is a song called She's Got Away from a guy that I used to work for called James Hunter. It's pretty cool sort of R&B original music.

If you listen to the original track, there's a part on it. It's not exactly the same as this, because live we used to play it quite a little bit differently, but there are some nice percussive elements.

Chord Structure

• We're in B flat and it's based around that classic chord.
• Then going to the 4 as a 13, like that:
  • So we got the flat 10 and sharp 9 there.

That's the kind of part I played live when we used to do it. It's pretty uniform like that. You're just backing underneath the singer in a lively band with a horn section.

Uniform Parts

Everyone's got quite a sort of uniform part.

Sound Settings

What I've got there is this setting:

• Sometimes I use a bit of top, sometimes not.
• I've replicated that on the bottom with a little bit of top if I was doing that.

This is what I'm using for my percussive sound, mostly the eighth drawbar.

Drawbar Configuration

• First four, first three all the way, and first and the fourth just a little bit half, maybe.
• I've got vibrato on both manuals.

Phrasing Technique

In between the phrases, I'm mostly just hitting the wood. This gives it a little bit more of a syncopation and some added punctuation.

So that's the part, and it's a very cool kind of R&B vibe.

Next Steps

What I wanted to do is see if we can get close to it on the Nord. With it being a fairly uniform thing and pretty stock sounds, I think we'll be able to get pretty close. So, I'll just get the Nord out and see if we can get there.