Accents and syncopation

A strumming pattern with no accents sounds flat. By making some strums louder and leaving others out, you give it a groove. This lesson teaches the backbeat accent and one syncopated pattern that leans forward.

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• Accent beats 2 and 4 while keeping the rest of the pattern softer.
• Explain what syncopation is and play one syncopated pattern.
• Keep accents consistent over a chord change.

An accent is a note that is louder than those around it. A pattern with no accent sounds like a machine. A pattern with accents sounds like music.

In 4/4, the backbeat is the accent on beats 2 and 4. It gives most pop, rock and country its pulse. To make accents clear, strum the other strums softer. You get more contrast by lowering the unaccented strums than by hitting the accents harder.

Syncopation means emphasis on off-beats, away from where you expect it. It usually comes from leaving out a strum on a main beat. In the pattern D - - U - U D U, nothing is strummed on beat 2. The up-strum that follows seems to arrive early, and the groove leans forward.

The arm keeps moving. Syncopation is a change in what you hit, never in the motion.

The backbeat on one chord.

1. Choose Em. Strum all eighths, softly: D U D U D U D U.
2. Now lean on the downstroke of beats 2 and 4. Say aloud: "1, TWO, 3, FOUR".
3. The other strums should drop in volume, so the contrast is obvious.
4. Listen: if you cannot hear a clear accent on 2 and 4, make the quiet strums quieter.

Then try the syncopated push. Say the count: 1, (nothing), &, (nothing), &, 4, &. Play it on a muted chord first, then on one chord.

Do these in order. Each one is small. Tick the ones you have practised.

• 1.Backbeat accent

  4 min · 60 → 90 BPM

  1. Use Em or Am. Strum all eighth notes: D U D U D U D U.
  2. Strum softly except for the downstroke on beats 2 and 4, which are louder.
  3. Say '1 TWO 3 FOUR' as you play so the accent is in your voice too.
  4. Loop for two minutes.

  You have it when

  • The accents on 2 and 4 are clearly louder than the rest.
  I practised this one

• 2.Syncopated push

  4 min · 60 → 90 BPM

  1. Keep the arm moving in eighths. Play D - - U - U D U.
  2. Beat 2 has no strum: the arm goes down and misses.
  3. Say the count aloud: 1, (2), & (of 2), (3), & (of 3), 4, &.
  4. Loop it on one chord until it feels automatic.

  You have it when

  • You can play the pattern without stopping the arm.
  • You can hear the pattern lean ahead of the beat.
  I practised this one

• 3.Accents over changes

  4 min · 60 → 85 BPM

  1. Play D, C and G, one bar each.
  2. Use D - D> U - U D> U on each chord.
  3. Keep the accents equal on every chord, even on the bar you change.
  4. Loop it for two minutes.

  You have it when

  • The accent is as clear on the first bar after a change as on any other.
  I practised this one

Start at 60 BPM and prioritise the contrast between accent and non-accent. A comfortable range is 70 to 90 BPM.

• Making accents louder by pushing the whole strum harder. Lighten the other strums instead. Contrast is created by quiet strums as much as by loud ones.
• Letting the arm stop on silent beats in syncopated patterns. The arm always moves. A silent beat is a miss, not a rest for the arm.
• Losing the accent when the chord changes. Practise the change on a single chord's bar before making it musical, and count the accent aloud.

Sweet Home Alabama's chord version uses exactly this idea: a three-chord loop where the groove comes from the accents, not from fancy chords.

Try it in: Sweet Home Alabama (chord version).

Short version (10 minutes)

Do the backbeat accent on a single chord for three minutes with the metronome.

Standard version (about 30 minutes)

Do all three exercises. Record yourself on the last one and listen: can you hear the accents on 2 and 4?

• Accents make a groove. Soften the rest to make them stand out.
• Syncopation is emphasis away from the main beats.
• The arm never stops moving.
• Keep accents the same through chord changes.

You are ready to move on when you can honestly say:

• I can play a pattern with a clear accent on beats 2 and 4 for two minutes.
• I can play D - - U - U D U without the arm stopping.
• I can keep the accents through chord changes.