I’m bassing for another jam session at the Red Lion on Sunday (Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, 7pm – 9pm) and one of the new tracks on the list is Danish Drive by Ed Thigpen:

On my first listen, I’d assumed it was a straightforward groove track – one bass riff for me to learn, played in two different octaves at various points in the song and with a bit of freedom as long as the pulse is maintained. What I hadn’t spotted though, until I sat down with a bass in hand and tried to play along, was that the groove is in 7/8 rather than 4/4.

That doesn’t make it harder to play but because I (and probably most of the other musicians at the jam) are much more used to 4/4, if we fall off the train it is going to be harder to get back on. I’ll be spending a little more prep time on this one than I’d first envisaged – but I’m looking forward to playing it at the jam.