Why is the Band Rushing!? (Picking Up Tempo) - Part 2, Your Pickups

Our second most common culprit for driving the band faster and faster... and one that most musicians won't notice, even when listening to themselves on recording... is the rushing of pickups. Let's use a tune everyone's familiar with... "Juke" by Little Walter. The first lick is 2 3 4 5+ 6+ 6+. The downbeat (beat 1... the beginning of the twelve bar blues form in this case) is the first 6+... the 2 3 4 5+ leads into this 6+ target note, and is known as a pickup. This lick is played eight times. Imagine if each time you play that pickup... the notes leading to the 6+... fast every time. The musicians will hear you rushing to each measure's downbeat and will rush to meet you there (consciously or subconsciously). This may sound exaggerated... but I've heard it happen in this instrumental. It's more commonly the case that the pickups to the major chord changes are rushed... that's the pickup to bar 5 (IV Chord), the pickup to bar 9 (V Chord) and the return of the form at bar 1 (I Chord).

Here's great example of this. Check out the video "Submission #3 - 1990 Bassman Hits the Bandstand, Part 2" in the Bassman Chronicles series, found in the Equipment section of the site. I'm jamming with the house band and some jammers and I was obviously excited that night, because I rushed the hell out of this tune... all over the place... embarrassing really, but oh well, lesson learned... relax... feel the groove, don't push it! Listen to the end of the first chorus, leading into the second chorus, Carlos on drums hears me driving the tempo faster and accommodates.

If you have audio or video recordings of you performing, go back and listen to them and listen for this element of rushing. This is just another tool for you to use to become a better musician... it's all about awareness.

P.S., instructor Kevin Coggins and I were having this same conversation at the rehearsal about a couple of the musicians in the band, so we're all prone to these issues... pickups/fills are tricky elements... gotta keep that groove!