MICRO TIMING: Playing behind or ahead of the beat.

Micro timing, also known as “expressive timing”, happens when musicians play intentionally behind or after the beat. These are very subtle temporal nuances that are used to give specific phrases or parts of a performance a different feel. It creates a sense of rhythm tension. The listener is expecting something on the beat and you are delivering it slightly after or before it.
Link to full lesson: www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/...
Behind the beat:
As you can hear, it can make our phrasing sound more interesting, and groovier as opposed to playing on the beat. It adds a bluesy or funky feel that is lacking when playing on the beat.
Ahead of the beat:
Again, we get a sense of rhythmic tension, but now generated by slightly rushing the phrase. This technique works better over drum fills because drummers usually play them ahead of the beat.
You need to be careful to not just speed up or slow down, but to change the way the line is placed in a matter of milliseconds. If you go beyond that range of milliseconds, you can sound like you have no rhythm, like this…
The use of micro timing depends on the context and the music style that you are playing. Some styles like Pop, Metal or EDM require playing everything strictly on the beat most of the time, while other genres like Blues, Jazz or Soul make extensive use of micro timing.
However, if you use it wisely, you can incorporate it in everything you play.

[@zoranpavlovic9540]

Beautiful examples 🔥👌