Jump to content
HAPPY NEW YEAR, TO ALL OUR HARMONY CENTRAL FORUMITES AND GUESTS!! ×

Teach me to swing!


JeffN

Recommended Posts

  • Members
Posted

I 'get' swinging eighth notes, but I don't understand swinging quater notes. Can anyone enlighten me? Should I treat those quater notesas eighth notes at half the tempo and swing them or something?:confused:

  • Members
Posted

Quarter notes are treated just as they are in a straight time-feel, that is, each quarter note is of the same length.

Have fun, tommy

  • Members
Posted

Originally posted by skatom

Quarter notes are treated just as they are in a straight time-feel, that is, each quarter note is of the same length.


Have fun, tommy

 

 

Oh I see. Thanks a lot.

 

thliu: How would swinging sixteenth notes work? Are they just hard because you have to divide the beat in your head?

Posted

Originally posted by JeffN



Oh I see. Thanks a lot.


thliu: How would swinging sixteenth notes work? Are they just hard because you have to divide the beat in your head?

 

 

When you're playing in regular swing (swung 8ths), the 16th are actually even. When you get into double time playing, it's all even.

 

If the actual groove is swung 16ths, then that's hip hop. I love playing Monk's "Well You Needn't" with a hip hop beat... it's just a gas to play it that way.

 

 

 

 

As for just playing regular swung 8ths, here are a few pointers:

 

1) The accent is always on the upbeat. If you were to say the following syllables:

 

do Da oo Da oo Da oo Da oo

 

That's how you should articulate it. Horn players acheive this by tounging the upbeats and slurring into the downbeats. As guitarists, we have to articulate a lot more, so if you put more emphasis into the upstrokes then it'll emulate that.

 

2) Quarter notes are generally short. If you have a measure of quarter notes, then like bassmantele mentioned, it's more like an eighth note, eighth rest, etc.

 

When you have a syncopation like, e Q Q e, the quarter's are still, and maybe even more short.

  • Members
Posted

Originally posted by JeffN

Okay, so the length of my quater notes should actually be only as long as a straight eighth note?

 

 

 

 

Yes. It will vary, but that's the idea. Get some Ellington or Basie and listen closely. Take a phrase and write out the rhythm, and then pay attention to the lenght of the notes and the way they accent them. A lot of swing is in the accents - especially where notes are anticipated by half a beat. That's what syncopation is all about.

  • Members
Posted
Originally posted by bassmantele





Yes. It will vary, but that's the idea. Get some Ellington or Basie and listen closely. Take a phrase and write out the rhythm, and then pay attention to the lenght of the notes and the way they accent them. A lot of swing is in the accents - especially where notes are anticipated by half a beat. That's what syncopation is all about.



I tried this out against a metronome, and those quater notes really did 'swing'. Thanks a lot. :cool:

  • 5 years later...
  • Members
Posted

still, i do not know how to swing

 

* on some level this is commentary on the nature of practicing guitar over a medium length of time

  • Members
Posted

still, i do not know how to swing

 

 

Bassmantele gave you the key: LISTEN. Listen to Basie. Listen to players who swing. Hear it. Feel it.

 

Don't get caught up on the duration of a quarter note or eight note. Put that stuff aside for a bit and just listen to cats who play those notes in a swinging manner.

 

Basie. Ellington. Pull up YouTube videos of Barney Kessel, Herb Ellis and Joe Pass to hear guitarists who swing. If you find these cats a little too jazzy, listen to Setzer's big band stuff. Feel the pulse.

 

Here's Joe Pass doing a solo version of Satin Doll as an example:

 

  • Members
Posted

still, i do not know how to swing


* on some level this is commentary on the nature of practicing guitar over a medium length of time

 

 

Think Tush by ZZ Top. No it's not a swing song, but it's the same idea.

  • Members
Posted

I think Poparad explained the essence of the traditional 8th note feeling quite well. That is the way you want to feel it. I would say print out his response and then go listen to a jazz improviser play a solo (or even the melody) to a tune. Then try to make the connection between the music and the theory. Then try to mimic the way they play their 8th notes. Not even necessarily the pitches at first. Just the rhythm of it. Get comfortable expressing notes in that rhythmic fashion (in ADDITION to, not INSTEAD of Traditional straight 8th notes, which are also very valuable...)

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...