Playing 4 on the Floor! (Classic Jazz Guitar Groove)

Playing old school jazz from the 20s, 30s and 40s on guitar provides a great growth opportunity for modern players.

When the drummer, bassist and keys have ears, plus the soloists are swinging, the rhythm section becomes big and light at the same time. 

Beauty in Simplicity

Committing to playing all the quarter notes opens your ears up to so many intricacies of the music. 

It’s like turning into an ant!  But instead of seeing each giant droplet of water (the beat), you hear every note of the bass, every ping of the ride cymbal, and you listen to exactly where the hi-hat lands. 

And you become an integral part of that landscape in a way that modern comping rarely allows.

The texture of your chords, while always important, becomes critical. 

You want to help the bassist swing harder but you don’t want to cover up his/her notes. 

Higher up in pitch, the notes on the guitar can interfere with the crispness of the hi-hat.  Again you have leave (sonic) space here as well.

Finding the comping texture for that moment in time is part of the challenge of quartet note comping.

When you find a great texture, it really uplifts the beat!

Locking in

There’s a usually slightly muffled, pizzacato approach using the deeper 4 strings that allows both the drums and bass to the shine. 

On ballads, I like to make the chords a bit more legato, but with a very consistent, clear pulse.

With the guitar, you can add even more energy to the beat and when bass, drums, guitar and piano are locked in, watch out!

Try to lock in with the other folks playing.  Your time has to be strong but elastic when necessary.  Playing 4 on the floor on fast tunes like Cherokee is not easy!

For uptempos – you probably will start dragging after about the 5th chorus unless you have lots of practice! 

That’s okay – just lay out and come back in when you’re feel ready to contribute!

And on slow tunes, the guitar fits in somewhere in the beat.  It’s a feel thing. 

Plus, you may need to take a timekeeper’s role.  The bass may be dragging and now you are the human bridge between the bassist and the drummer. 

Or the drummer is rushing and you have to drag the beat just enough that the song doesn’t go out into orbit!

Or there is no drummer, and you, the guitarist, are basically keeping time with the bassist.

Or its just guitar and singer, or guitar and a horn. And now the guitarist is holding down most of a groove that most ears are accustomed to hear the drummer and bassist cover.

Challenging but lots of fun when it works – it’ll feel like you’re in the driver’s seat of a race car!

Accenting Different Beats

And not all quarter notes are played equally!  Each can have a different accent in a 1, 2, 4, or 8 bar phrase. 

The beats (in classic jazz) 2 and 4 usually are stronger, even if slightly. 

Sometimes the last 4 of a 2 bar phrase can be given extra emphasis. 

And creating dynamics for longer phrases breathes life into the music. 

The bridge and verse usually have different feels, too.

Hope you get a chance to try playing 4 quarters a measure!  I definitely appreciate bass player so much more after trying to play like Freddie Green. 

For many years I’d been skeptical and slightly snobby about playing 4 on the floor.

But then I realized it’s a great thing. 

The quarter note pulse is the backbone of most music. 

Instead of diminishing possibilities, quarter note comping provides another manner to create great music.

(Almost) All the Great Jazz Drummers Play 4 on the Floor!

Just a heads up – most of the great jazz drummers feather the bass drum – that includes Elvin Jones and Tony Williams, by many accounts.

In other words, they are playing the bass drum on all 4 (or 3 for a waltz) beats – very lightly.

There’s tons of great music with four on the floor!

Some of my favorite “non-jazz” examples of playing of playing four on the floor – you can hear how it really improves the beat – techno, disco, and African Rumba! There’s tons of groove all around the world (with 4 on the floor) – and each uses syncopations to contrast against the 4 on the floor to propel the beat!

Great Groove Ideas from a Great Drummer

A great drummer, Carter McLean, talks about a lot of fundamental ways to groove more. He’s talking to drummers mostly.

But I think all his ideas call be applied to rhythm guitar, too

Simple Beats Can Sound Great!

He talks about great you can make a simple beat sound great, too. The analogy for classic jazz guitar (IMHO) would be quarter note comping.

Ghost Notes for Jazz Guitar

Another cool thing you can do with quarter note comping – add ghosts while still keeping the 4 on the floor feel.

This keeps the pulse going, plus adds a lot of great ideas and energy. But remember it’s about the pulse – the syncopations are barely heard!

Play It Like You Mean It!

Carter shows how the same beat sounds when you mean it and when you’re just going through the motions.

This is huge – and something I try to keep in mind.

It is important balance technique with playing like you mean it. Both are important.

Example of “Four on the Floor” with Jazz Guitar

Django & Hot Jazz

Freddie Greene!

In a small group setting, you really can hear how Mr. Greene’s comping really warms up the groove.

But in the big band, it really thickens up the groove, too!

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

An important thing to remember – before folks played jazz guitar, they played banjo. Now people play both.

But before amps, a banjo could really cut through the mix a lot more than a guitar.

A lot of the tradition of comping on guitar comes from the banjo.

Once you (and me, too!) get a firm great of the quarter note pulse, all the syncopations the banjo part (as illustrated here on a classic St. James Infirmary) can be added.

You can hear/play the continuum going from:

• this super-classic NOLA groove (quarter note pulse + syncopations) to
• French Hot Jazz (strong quarter note pulse + some syncopations on guitar) to
• 40s swing (mostly quarter note pulse) to
• Bebop and beyond (quarter note pulse felt but not played on guitar + lots of syncopations)

Check how much more “modern” the same band (well different players, I think, but same name) sounds in a different clip. They’re apply a lot of the same groove “principles”, but reworked. Sounds great and very cool to hear.

Yours Truly!

Here’s me with a good try at playing basically four on the floor 🙂 In a classic jazz/hot jazz sort of way on acoustic guitar (which is really fun for playing rhythmic jazz, by the way).

Ideas for Practice

Use a beat keeper

1. With a metronome set on the quarter note
2. With a metronome set on the 2 & 4
3. Along with great tunes!

Ways to Practice

1. Muffle/Mute the chords – just focus on the hand with the pick (probably your right hand)
   • Do with the metronome and the song
2. Use quarter comping to learn a song, or a chord progression
3. Practice with the song and/or chord progression
4. Record yourself playing quarter note comping, then play it back on solo over your own backing track!
   • Make your Own Backing Track (5 Minute Practice Ideas)
   • Please check above to hear an example of me with a backing track of an Eb blues where I play quarter note comping.

Practice Makes Progress!

Check out these two lessons – Practicing jazz groove, Lesson 1 &  Practicing Jazz Groove, Lesson 2 – these two songs with Oscar Peterson and Count Basie are both great places to work on groove and quarter note comping!

Also, check out Learning to Second Line to get a different feel that really creates a great contrast to quarter-note comping.

If you have any questions, comments, ideas and/or suggestions, please leave a comment or send me a note!

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• Six 5-10 Minute Groove Practice Ideas!
• Jazz Guitar Ideas – How to Improve Time (and Groove) for Jazz Guitar – Count Out Loud!
• 30 Lessons in Jazz Guitar (Groove, Fundamentals, Soloing, Songs)
• How to Play Drums (for Guitarists)!