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This post is one of a growing series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

A time signature has an inherent hierarchy of strong and weak points within the bar. Syncopation is the emphasis of weak parts of the time signature. This introduces a dynamic interaction between the time signature’s implied rhythm and the rhythm of the part; a sense of going “against the grain”.

The Back Beat

The simplest form of syncopation is to emphasise the weak beats instead of the strong beats. The classic example of this can be found in many popular music genres since the advent of rock & roll; the snare drum playing the “back beat”, emphasising beats 2 and 4 in a 4-beat bar.

A similar effect can be achieved on any instrument by accenting the weak beats. Below is an example of a quaver rhythm, first with accents on the strong beats, then on the weak beats.

Tap, clap or play along to the following rhythms:

Playing Off The Beat

The back beat is only syncopation in the broadest sense. The term syncopation typically refers to emphasising weak parts within the beat a rather than just the weak beats.

The most common example of syncopation within the beat is to emphasise the 2nd quaver of each beat, the “off-beats” or “and”s, instead of the beat itself.

The following example of a bar of quavers uses accents, first to emphasise each beat, then to emphasise each off-beat quaver. Listen to the rhythms then tap, clap or play along:

Listen again and this time, only tap on the accented notes.

Syncopation adds excitement to a rhythm. Even in rhythms which are largely on the beat, the odd syncopated moment adds life to a part.

In the drum rhythm below, there is a brief syncopation is in the second half of bars 2 and 4.

Ways To Syncopate

Syncopation can be achieved in 2 ways:

by emphasising a note or notes on a weak part of the bar as above, with an accent.

by de-emphasising a strong part of the bar, in particular by not playing a note there at all. This can be because there’s a rest or because the previous note is still sounding.

Note that when clapping or tapping, there is no audible difference between these two bars.

Zooming In

Syncopation doesn’t just refer to emphasising the off-beat quavers. A more aggressive version would be to syncopate by a semiquaver.

A couple of the rhythms we learnt in 20. How To Read Rhythms 1 had semiquaver syncopation within the beat, by not playing a note on the “and”, the 2nd quaver. We can see now why these felt harder to learn than the others… Here’s an example of a bar with these two rhythms. Tap or play along:

Once you’ve experienced it, syncopation feels quite “natural”. In many popular genres, singers seldom sing exactly on the beat, even if that’s how the melody is written. Instead, they instinctively apply a degree of syncopation so the melody doesn’t sound too rigid. Rhythmic players rely on syncopation to add dynamics and drive.

Learning To Syncopate

Like many rhythms, syncopation is best learnt initially using a metronome. The secret to being able to syncopate is to feel the beat – to know where the beat (or strong beat) is, and then to know what relationship your note has to the beat.

Some musicians find it easy to tap the beat with their foot while playing. If this works for you, then by all means tap instead of using a metronome. However, many find it awkward to tap on the beat while playing off the beat, especially when first learning a new rhythm.

Foot Tapping Tip: In simple time, use the action of lifting your toes between taps to represent the half-beats; the “and”s.

If the rhythm seems tricky, remember to slow down the tempo and zoom in, as discussed in 20. How To Read Rhythms 1.

Ultimately, once you know a rhythm well enough to be able to feel it, you will no longer need the metronome. Metronomes can become quite annoying over time(!) so it’s worth weaning yourself off it as soon as you can feel the rhythm properly.

Mixed rhythms

Many parts, rhythmic as well as melodic, have a degree of variation in their rhythm, often achieved by brief syncopations in between overall on-beat rhythms.

Try These…

Play the movies below and tap the rhythms with your hand on a bench top, or if you prefer, clap. Listen carefully to the metronome click so you remain aware of the beat…

Once you’ve learnt each rhythm, play it to a metronome at 60 bpm without the movie. Gradually increase the tempo to 100 bpm or more. You can play along to the following movies of the rhythms at 100 bpm to see how you went.

Being able to tap the beats with your foot while playing is a useful skill. Practice tapping the beats with your foot, together with the metronome, while playing or tapping/clapping the above rhythms with your hands. As you settle in, stop the metronome and try it by yourself.

Notation Tip

Rhythms are usually notated so that it’s clear to see where the beats are. For shorter notes, this is indicated by beaming. For longer notes, the note is split into shorter notes and joined by a tie (see 21. Note Values 2: Ties).

When crotchets fall halfway between beats, on the “and”s, they can be written as crotchets: it’s such a common occurrence that most musicians, once they see a crotchet after a single quaver or quaver rest, are familiar with this shortcut.

However, crotchets which are a semiquaver off the beat must be split and tied to show where the beats are, otherwise the music is too hard to follow.

In the correct example above we can see that the next note starts just after each beat. The position of each beat is clearly shown by the beaming.

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This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

NEXT LESSON: B2. Intervals 2: Augmented And Diminished Intervals

PART 2 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

In 3. Beats, Tempo and Timing we saw that music is counted in beats – a bit like counting seconds, except that different pieces are counted faster or slower. How fast we count is indicated by the tempo.

We also saw that beats are grouped into bars, which act as a larger unit within the piece’s structure. These groups can be any length but are typically a few beats long.

The number of beats in a bar is written at the start of the first stave, in the form of a fraction without the dividing line. This is called the time signature.

A Time Signature Tells Us How to Count

In simple time, the time signature tells us two things. The numerator (the top number) indicates how many beats per bar and the denominator (bottom number) represents the fraction name of the note value used to represent 1 beat.

3 3 beats per bar
4 quarter note (crotchet) = 1 beat

TIP: Read this as “3 x 1/4 note beats per bar”

In the above example of 3/4, there are 3 beats per bar, where the quarter note (crotchet) = 1 beat. We count to 3 for each bar.

Of course the bars can be filled with notes of various lengths. The time signature indicates where the beats are and tells us how to count.

NOTE: A few time signatures, known as compound time, are interpreted differently. We will visit these in Part 2 of this course.

Common Time

The most popular time signature in modern times is 4/4, which is 4 crotchet beats per bar. It is so popular that it has a unique name, common time, and a shortcut symbol, the letter C.

4/4 and C are equally valid symbols – the choice is up to the composer.

X/4

The most frequently used time signatures use the crotchet to represent 1 beat, as in the above examples.

The fraction name for a crotchet is 1/4. For convenience, we can say that all these time signatures are in x/4, where x is the number of beats in the bar.

A time signature can have any number of beats but smaller numbers are more common. For longer time signatures we tend to mentally break them up into smaller groups. For instance, a bar of 7 beats could be thought of as 3+4 (or 4+3, depending on how the music flows, or even 3+2+2 etc.). Sometimes this is indicated in the music with an accent > symbol over the strong beats.

In general, though, bars tend to be fairly short, typically 2 to 4 beats per bar.

Simple Time

Simple time is an overall term encompassing all time signatures that can be read as a simple fraction, where the upper number represents the number of beats in a bar.

Of these, time signatures in x/4 are by far the most common, but the crotchet or 1/4 note isn’t the only note value that can represent 1 beat. Other note values can also be used, such as a quaver (1/8 note) or minim (1/2 note).

Although not covered in this basic course, these other time signatures work the same way as x/4: 4/8 = 4x 1/8 note (quaver) beats per bar and 3/2 = 3x 1/2 note (minim) beats per bar.

Halves and Quarters

In simple time, beats are easily divided into halves and quarters, the default rhythmic framework for many genres and styles. Even the note values themselves are designed to divide into halves and quarters – each symbol is half (or double) the length of the next.

Note values from minim (half note) to semiquaver (sixteenth note)

The notes of an actual melody are usually a mixture of longer and shorter notes. Some of these are on a beat, others might start between beats. The time signature gives us a counting reference so we can interpret the notes correctly. Is a particular note on the beat or not, and on which beat within the bar?

Note: Most pieces have a single time signature throughout. However, some are made up of different sections with contrasting character. Each section can have its own time signature, like miniature pieces within the overall work. (Actually, it’s possible to change the time signature any time, or even change back and forth!)

The Rhythm of a Time Signature

A time signature has a built-in hierarchy of strong and weak points. The most obvious example of this is beat 1. When we count to music, it’s quite natural to emphasise the start of each bar, to help us keep track of where we are as we count. This also makes it easier to “feel” the beats within each bar rather than have to count numbers in your head.

Even when not counting aloud, musicians typically emphasise the first beat of each bar a little in their head as they play, so that it feels like the the start of a group.

Unless the bar is only 2 beats long, there’s room for a secondary emphasis part-way through the bar.

Being bipedal, humans have an affinity for two’s and halves. That’s why simple time is so popular. The most comfortable way to count is in two’s: strong, weak, strong, weak. At a pinch we can count in three’s but unless it’s quite fast, we prefer to feel it as 2+1: strong, weak, strong(ish).

To count in 4 we split it into 2+2, strong, weak, strong, weak. To feel like one group of 4, we make the first emphasis stronger than the second.

Time signatures have strong and weak beats, alternating where possible.

For example, in 4/4, beat 1 is the strongest of all, beat 3 a little less so but still strong, and beats 2 and 4 are weak.

A Beat Is Like a Miniature Bar of 4/4

Dividing up a beat is the same in miniature. The beat itself is the strongest, the 2nd quaver, halfway through, is the next strongest, and the other semiquavers, numbers 2 and 4, are the weakest.

Below, you can see and hear the hierarchy of the most common time signatures using bass guitar and drum kit sounds (the bass plays the strong beats and the snare plays the beats).

The more notes are on top of each other, the stronger the implied emphasis.

This is an exclusive preview of one of my custom illustrations from my upcoming music theory reference, Music Theory De-mystified, which I hope to complete by end 2023.

So What?

The implied rhythm of the time signature acts as a reference accompaniment which allows us to feel where the bars and beats are. Without this we wouldn’t be able to interpret the rhythm of the music correctly.

Have you heard the term “syncopation?” It’s where the rhythm is played with emphasis in unexpected places, typically between the beats rather than on them, or on the weak beats rather than the strong ones. It feels like it’s “against the grain”; like it’s competing with something – often in an exciting way!

We’ll visit this in more detail in a post down the track but the point is that syncopation feels “against the grain” or between the beats BEACAUSE OF the time signature. The implied accents of the beats and strong beats determined by the time signature is the competition.

That’s where the “in-between “ sensation of syncopation comes from; even if there is no instrument emphasising the beats we can still feel the implied rhythm of the time signature. We can feel the music skip between the beats when syncopated or work together with the beats when playing on the beat.

In the following example, the first bar is syncopated and the second bar is on the beat. Without being aware of the time signature, the first bar is hard to interpret until you hear the second bar following the beats. Once we’ve heard the 2nd bar, the rhythm of the first bar is easier to understand.

Now let’s listen with a metronome playing the bars and beats of the time signature.

Hearing the metronome, it’s much easier to work out the rhythm of the first bar.

In summary, think of the time signature as a default accompaniment to a melody. Melodies may or may not have a strong rhythmic quality in themselves but they will almost always be built around the framework of the time signature’s rhythmic hierarchy.

Please feel welcome to like, comment or to share this post. If you have any questions, pleased leave them as a comment and I will respond as soon as I can. If you enjoy my posts and would like to be kept up to date, please subscribe.

NEXT LESSON: 7. Rest Values, How To Count Rests

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

Tag: accent

B1. Syncopation Basics: Playing Off The Beat