Syncopated Lines????

Most Reggae Lines involve Syncopation.

 

juh??

 

Well, a good way to explore syncopations, (if your fuzzy on what they are in the first place) is to find a metronome (one that puts an emphases on the first beat of each bar is especially useful) and play a few of your favorite basslines along with it. The notes that don't line up with the clicks of the metronome are the ones that are syncopated. That's a good hands-on way to make yourself aware of just what syncaptions are, and what they sound like.

Hope this helps out dude,
eViL cAkE

 

I know what you mean, but I've always been a bit "fuzzy" about what "syncopation" actually means. I know I've heard other people say this, but the thing that sticks in my mind is Wynton Marsalis lecturing and saying that syncopation is "doing the unexpected" - which is a far broader definition.

I have also listened to lectures by classical conductors talking about introducing a Jazz feel to pieces like Gershwin's works and referring to what I would call "swing" as syncopation?

Can it really be covered by the phrase I have copied above - not getting at you Chris or anything, you understand!

 

Syncopation's like gumbo. You know when my Ount and the other old women made gumbo down Nawlins they used whatever they had lyin' around in the kitchen. So maybe instead of crawfish, if there wasn't no crawfish 'round, they'd throw in some ol' shoe leather. But it didn't taste like no ol' shoe leather, because it was gumbo, see? Like Louis Armstrong playin' his chorus on West End Blues, when he played do-dee-bapbap-doweee.

 

Hmmmm...I knew I shouldn't have mentioned his name as soon as I wrote that; but I just couldn't remember the names of the other people I'd heard say things like this ... was it Leonard Bernstein?

OK I looked it up in my Oxford Dictionary of Music which says :

"Syncopation is achieved by accenting a weak instead of a strong beat, by putting rests on strong beats, by holding on over strong beats and by introducing a sudden change of time signature."

I suppose I was thinking that something like an Afro Cuban Tumbao, which ties across the bar-line would be an example of a syncopated bassline or the reggae characteristic of having a rest on the first beat of the bar in the bass.

The dictionary also gives the example of Stravinsky - presumably for the last part!

 

Syncoe-payshawn ain't nuttin' like no gumbo. Dem der syncoe-payshawn is as um mo like jumbalaya. Ax yoself bout what y'all's thinkin' bout when da saw-sages n poke bones be reeeleee grillin' up good. Never mo neither me. Grillin' n saucin' n fishin' n feelin' gooooood. Buddy Bolden he said to ax yoself dem doughts bout syncoe-patin' n he'd play bu-DOOP-ba-da-be--BAP!

 

WESTENDBOYS - EASTENDDURRLS

You ignorant slut!

You are everything I despise about music. I understand your sarcasm. I see it for what it is. Look, sometimes I just want to learn a song quickly. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I have 7 hours of school everyday and then usually hang out at Jim's Pizza for awhile after school, then head down to the Foster's Freeze. My facist parents won't buy me a car, so I HAVE TO TAKE THE BUS home, EVERYDAY. I barely get home in time for the dinner they cook me, which is never exactly what I want. After the Simpsons and Survivor are over, you tell me, Mr. Wise Guy, how exactly I'm supposed to "learn" standard notation!? On weekends, I work 10 hours total! at the Yogurt shop at Stoneridge Mall. I don't have time for all that. When I want to learn the new Train song, I don't have time to read some little black dots. It's easier for some 12 year old kid who doesn't know anything about music to simply tell me where to put my fingers. I'm a MUSICIAN!

 

Okay, like, SPICEDURRLS, you will, like, totally, never understand me. I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU! This whole thing is like, totally, lame. Yesterday, I was talking to Josh, who said that he talked to Brittany, and Brittany and Steve were going out before Corey met Tiffany, and they said that we saw you down at the malt shop like totally veggin'. Okay!? It's like, HE-LO-OOH! Somebody needs to get a clue. Dude, this is, like, so totally old. Besides, I watch Carson Daly for like 3 hours a day, and then totally have to do some crap for my mom and dad. They are such spazzes! Like, the other day, they're asking me all this crap about "Are you on drugs," "Are you on drugs?" Like, just cuz once they catch me with pot. Um, like what was I talking about? Anyway, whatever. Alls I'm trying to say is that if I just want to freakin' learn a MUDVAYNE song than just like, chill, okay? TABZ are easier and I like, totally, don't have time to like do it any other way you old geezers talk about. You guys suck. Hard.

JAZZBOKNOWSTABZ

 

Wynton sez tabs ain't like gumbo at all, that tabs were invented to keep the Black musicians musically illiterate so all the dumb white crackers could keep their jobs playing in the "sweet" orchestras 'round Nawlins.

 

Hmmm...I think this thread has been syncopated out of existence.





[Makes mental note never to mention that name again]

 

back to the black dots:



and another



and another



and another



and the infamous ghost notes





fred

 

oooops....sorry....

i should probably have TABBED those pages...since most of you who don't want to spend the time learning "music" can't read standard notation.



next time.

f

 

Actually, you probably cannot tab syncopated basslines out, as by definition with syncopation, the timing of the notes are important, and with normal tab, there is no note length indicated.

Therefore tab would be unhelpful in learning syncopation, unless you modify it to include time as well.