BazzLow
ENIT
Module 11 · Lesson 2

Syncopation

Recognise and play syncopated rhythms, including anticipations.

Before this lesson: 11.1 Sixteenth notes · 2.5 Strong and weak beats

A steady pulse is predictable. Syncopation plays with that predictability by putting notes where you do not expect them.

What syncopation is

Syncopation places notes or accents where they are not expected: on weak beats, off-beats or sixteenth subdivisions, often with nothing on the strong beat that follows. It changes the feel, not the time signature: the bar still has the same number of beats.

Common syncopations:

  • notes on the “&” with the beat itself left empty or tied over;
  • anticipation: the note of the next chord played an eighth (or sixteenth) before the bar line, then tied across. Very common in pop, Latin and funk bass (“pushing” the change, or a push);
  • accents on beats 2 and 4 against a straight pulse, the backbeat feel.

An anticipation

Rhythm lineStraight: bar 1 has four quarter notes; bar 2 starts with a half note on beat 1. Counts 1 2 3 4.4412341234
Straight: bar 1 has four quarter notes; bar 2 starts with a half note on beat 1. Counts 1 2 3 4.
Rhythm lineThe same change with an anticipation: bar 1 has a dotted half note on beats 1–3, an eighth rest on beat 4, then an eighth note on the “&” of 4, tied across the bar line to the note on beat 1 of bar 2.441234&1234
The same change with an anticipation: bar 1 has a dotted half note on beats 1–3, an eighth rest on beat 4, then an eighth note on the “&” of 4, tied across the bar line to the note on beat 1 of bar 2.

Written syncopation uses ties across beats and bar lines (lesson 2.6). Counting the full subdivision aloud is the reliable way to read it.

A funk-style figure

Rhythm lineAn original two-bar figure with sixteenth-note syncopations, counted in sixteenths. Bar 1: dotted eighth and sixteenth; sixteenth rest, sixteenth and eighth; eighth and eighth rest; sixteenth rest and three sixteenths. Bar 2: quarter note; eighth rest and eighth; dotted eighth and sixteenth; quarter note.441e&a2e&a3e&a4e&a1e&a2e&a3e&a4e&a
An original two-bar figure with sixteenth-note syncopations, counted in sixteenths. Bar 1: dotted eighth and sixteenth; sixteenth rest, sixteenth and eighth; eighth and eighth rest; sixteenth rest and three sixteenths. Bar 2: quarter note; eighth rest and eighth; dotted eighth and sixteenth; quarter note.

In a band, the bass and the kick drum usually share syncopations. Playing a syncopation alone against straight drums can sound like an error, so agree on rhythmic figures.

Try it

Play C for three beats, then the next chord’s root F on the “&” of 4, tied over into the next bar. Repeat with a metronome until the push feels natural.

New terms