A Funky Nougat

some grooves write themselves

Aug 15, 2026

The accidental riff

I sat at the keyboard and let my hand fall where it may. I wasn’t intending to record, but the universe wanted Nougat.

I happened upon a cool riff. It was nothing too complicated, musically. Although it does start on the 7, which is kinda neat. The song is in D minor, but the keyboard starts its riff on C.

The heart of the beat

I needed a rhythm. As a big fan of Latin music, I routinely incorporate variations of salsa, son, bossa, and rhumba claves into my tunes.

A clave is a simple repeated 4 or 8 beat rhythm that defines the groove for the other instruments. It’s a great tool when I’m working solo in the studio. A clave allows me to set consistent rhythmic vibe without benefit of a live band.

I tapped out a funky 4-beat clave rhythm on a MIDI pad, and that was that. I let the guitars and keys take care of all other percussive duties. Here I am recording some piano chords while the clave sets the groove.

What’s in a plectrum?

I couldn’t find a pic. Any of my current or former band members will tell you this is a normal occurrence. Though this can be a problem at gigs, here I just did my best Mark Knopfler impression and plucked out some blues licks with my fingers.

The bass-ics

The song probably didn’t need a bass guitar. The keys are taking care of the important stuff. But, it felt wrong to leave it out. So I dropped a low D on the beat, and not much more.