Al Di Meola is best known for his peerless classical guitar exploits and, over on the electric guitar side, his tasteful, yet often maze-like jazz-fusion licks. Of course, guitarists will always be drawn to his virtuosity, but he sees that aspect of his playing as icing on the cake.
It's his sense of groove — the result of unified interlocking rhythms — that brings his songs to life.
In his recent discussion with YouTube host Rick Beato, Di Meola is asked, “Can you teach groove?”
The answer, it would seem, is yes, and Di Meola underscores how those rhythmic sensibilities have been finely tuned over his lifetime by both playing and listening.
“I did spend a lot of years by myself, getting into New York City and hanging out in salsa clubs,” he continues. “I just took it all in.”
More importantly, he says many of his key learnings happened away from the instrument.
“I spent a lot of years on desktops, just tapping rhythms,” he explains. “I could do it on my guitar, too, but I did a lot of it with my foot, always concentrating on the 4/4, with that never going out of time."
In short, Di Meola says, if you want to learn groove, "focus on the foot. It becomes very important.
“Whatever syncopations you're playing with the upper half of your body cannot influence that quarter note down there; it's two separate parts.”
He accepts, however, that the disconnect he is able to create between the upper and lower parts of his body is “not achievable” for everyone. In those cases, he points to the obvious solutions: play with a drummer, or use a metronome.
Di Meola has also had the opportunity to learn from some of the best, including the otherworldly flamenco talents of guitarist Paco de Lucía, pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, whose playing he describes as “off the charts,” and keyboardist Chick Corea, “the master of rhythm."
In the end, however, Di Meola returns to the foot.
“What's magical is when you have the ability to feel the quarter note, you can have these giant pauses in the music," he says, "and that's where the drama is."
Without that sensibility, he says bands can fall apart, but with it, pauses between chords and note flourishes bring a lot to the power of a piece.
His comments would have resonated with the late Tom Petty, who stated that “Rhythm playing is a lost art,” during a 1997 chat with Guitar Player.
“There aren't a lot of people who do it seriously anymore,” he bemoaned. “But it's really important to our band that I play the rhythm because the music sounds different if I don't.”
Rhythm playing is a lost art. There aren't a lot of people who do it seriously anymore
Tom Petty
Indeed, rhythm playing is the cornerstone of session gigs. Steve Lukather says rhythm parts make up “90 percent” of his session work, while Heart's Nancy Wilson has discussed how her approach to rhythm creates a disparity between the hands.
“My hands are the true story of my personality,” she says. “One hand looks glamorous, and the other is a real worker with broken nails.”
For more tips, check out GP's guide to mastering the basics of rhythm guitar and, taking a leaf from Al Di Meola's book, dive into our list of the 50 Greatest Rhythm Guitar Players of All Time.
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