# Syncopation

*Module 11 · Lesson 2: Rhythm II · BazzLow*

> Recognise and play syncopated rhythms, including anticipations.

Before this lesson: [11.1 Sixteenth notes](https://bazzlow.com/en/rhythm-2/sixteenth-notes/) · [2.5 Strong and weak beats](https://bazzlow.com/en/rhythm-1/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

> **Diagram:** Straight: bar 1 has four quarter notes; bar 2 starts with a half note on beat 1. Counts 1 2 3 4.

> **Diagram:** 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

> **Diagram:** 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

- syncopation
- anticipation
- push

Page: https://bazzlow.com/en/rhythm-2/syncopation/