Irish Banjo: Irish banjo technique: Accompaniment: Basic rhythm banjo: 7. The feel

Basic rhythm banjo: 7. The feel



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This particular page was created 16/11/2003 and last updated 28/08/2004
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1. Introduction | 2. The beat | 3. Filling in | 4. The "drunken sailor" rhythm | 5. More beat | 6. Offbeat  | 7. The feel | 8. Triplets | 9. Moving on

Listen to these four midis:

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All these are basic "fill-in rhythms" with all beats and off-beats: 4/4 rhythm example 39 and yet they sound very different.

The secret is the feel of the rhythm and it's all about where we place the offbeats.


Straight feel

In the first example the offbeats are placed almost exactly in the middle between the beats. We call this straight feel or even feel.


Triplet feel

In the second example the offbeats are delayed slightly so that the first eight note in each 8th chords-group last roughly twice as long as the second. We call this triplet feel or swing feel.

Sometimes we notate the triplet feel like this:

4/4 rhythm example 40

but usually we don't bother. We just notate it as if it was straight feel and assume that the player knows what to do.


Dotted feel

With a dotted feel the first eaight note/chord in each group lasts about three times as long as the second.

It is supposedly notated:

4/4 rhythm example 41

but again we don't always bother to notate the difference from the straight feel.


Scottish snap

As the name implies, the Scottish snap is common in Scottish traditional music, but it's also found in other styles from time to time.
 nbsp;It's played with the first eight note in each group shorter than the second and is notated:

4/4 rhythm example 42

Unlike triplet and dotted feel, we nearly always notate the Scottish snap properly.

The Scottish snap isn't really very useful the way we do it here - as a ragular rhythm pattern. It's more used as an empasis on individual beats.feel.


Nuances

There are and endless number of nuances between these four basic alternatives. Every single style - even individual tunes - requires a slightly different feel. This is one of the things that makes music come alive.
1. Introduction | 2. The beat | 3. Filling in | 4. The "drunken sailor" rhythm | 5. More beat | 6. Offbeat | 7. The feel | 8. Triplets | 9. Moving on


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