Cool Groove

Dan Lutz funks up the faith on Project Oasis’s highly enthusiastic and tightly arranged pop-gospel release, Bring It On [OCC Music; www.oasisla.org]. This fingerstyle groove is from the pre-chorus to the album’s call-to-action opening track, “Are You Ready.” Dan anticipates downbeat rhythms in the first two bars to match the vocal phrasing, but he mixes it up for bar 3—still matching the choir’s rhythmic anticipation, but waiting until the downbeat to mark the harmony change. Throughout, Dan gooses the groove with ghost-notes and 16th-note stutters. During his delicious bar 3 embellishment, Dan takes advantage of the E harmony to hit the open E string while letting the trilled high E ring. Bar 4 contains the band’s juicy unison riff.