Off the beat: syncopation
Putting hits where the listener does not expect them.
Lesson 8 of 9
So far most hits have fallen on the beats or exactly between them. Syncopation moves accents to other places in the bar, and the listener’s body fills in the missing beat. It is the secret of most dance rhythms.
Three, three, two
Split half a bar of eight steps into 3 + 3 + 2 and play a kick at the start of each group. This lopsided figure, the tresillo, runs through Latin, Caribbean and African music and much of today’s pop.
3 + 3 + 2
Count it: ONE two three ONE two three ONE two.
| Kick | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rim | ||||||||||||||||
| Closed hat |
A dance rhythm
Here the kick plays straight on every beat, and the snare answers off the beat: just before beat two and halfway through it, then the same again in the second half. This is the shape of the rhythm that drives reggaeton.
Kick on the beat, snare off it
Add rim hits between the snares and the beat gets busier.
| Kick | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snare | ||||||||||||||||
| Rim | ||||||||||||||||
| Closed hat |
Try moving a single hit one step earlier or later in any beat you have made. A one-step shift is often the difference between stiff and catchy.