"Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don't like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that." Bill Shankly.
Replace "football" with "timing" and you get to how you want to focus your attention when playing music.
When I'm learning a new tune on dulcimer or guitar I start with the timing. How does the tune feel. I clap along to it and tap out the rhythm and melody phrases. Only once I have the feel of a piece will I start on the chords and notes.
Being in the pocket: Even if you have never played squash or golf, I could take you to a squash court or golf course and you could spot the difference between a beginner and a professional simply and subliminally by the way they move.
Playing guitar is a physical act. Knowing something isn't knowledge until it is in the muscle and producing an end result. How and when you physically strike or pluck the strings is what produces your sound. And the miriad of nuance and subtlety of that process is where to focus your attention.
Being able to play the melody of Amazing Grace simply, with no embellishments, just one note at a time and have your listeners carried along by its underlying beautiful slow waltz - now that's being in the pocket!
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I'm learning to flatpick and fingerpick guitar to accompany songs.
I've played and studied traditional noter/drone mountain dulcimer for many years. And I used to play dobro in a bluegrass band.
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