VII. Popular Music
Rhythm and Meter in Pop Music
Bryn Hughes; Kris Shaffer; and Megan Lavengood
Key Takeaways
- Straight syncopation can be understood as taking a square rhythm and shifting some of the notes early by half the duration.
- Other syncopations are derived from dividing a unit into nearly even parts.
- A particularly common nearly even syncopation is the tresillo pattern of 3+3+2.
The Drumbeats chapter contains more details on rhythm within drum parts.
Straight Syncopation
In contemporary pop/rock music, syncopation typically involves taking a series of notes of equal durations, cutting the duration of the first note in half, and shifting the remaining notes early by that half duration.
For example, a series of four quarter notes, all sounding on the beat, can be transformed in this way by making the first note into an eighth note and sounding each successive quarter note one eighth note early—all on the offbeats.
This process can occur on any metrical level. The unit of syncopation (the duration of the first note, and the amount of shift applied to the following notes) is always half the duration of the straight notes. All of the following syncopations are relatively common in contemporary pop/rock music:
- If the duration of the series of “straight” notes is two beats, they will be syncopated by changing the first note to a single beat and shifting each of the other notes early by a beat.
- If the duration of the straight notes is one beat, they will be syncopated by a division (one half beat in simple meter).
- If the straight notes are each divisions, they will be syncopated by shifting each note by a subdivision.
As a convention, when we take a series of notes that each have a duration of one beat and shift them early by half a beat, we will call that beat-level syncopation (
). When we take a series of notes that each have a duration of one division and shift them early by a subdivision, we will call that division-level syncopation.
Transcribing straight syncopations
Straight syncopated rhythms are easily identified by the frequently occurring off-beat rhythms. For example, if you listen to a song and conduct or tap the counting pulse, you may notice several notes in a row that are articulated between these pulses, with no notes articulated right on a pulse—this indicates syncopation.
Once you identify a syncopated passage—which may only involve two or three notes—figure out the metrical level on which the syncopation occurs. For example, in simple meter, if no notes are articulated directly on the counting pulse beats and one note is articulated in between each beat, the syncopation is occurring at the beat level. If no notes are articulated directly on the counting pulse beats and two notes are articulated in between each beat, listen to the passage again while tapping the division. If no notes are articulated directly on the division taps and one note is articulated in between each tap, the syncopation is occuring at the divi