When should you strum up on the guitar? The answer is here!
View the full lesson at Counting Ands | JustinGuitar
Iâve seen many definitions of backbeats:
Taking from the definitions of up-strums, is it safe to assume backbeats beats that occur between regular beats?
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Hereâs how I understand (and use) the terms:
Backbeat refers to beats 2 and 4 (for music in 4:4 time). In some sense, they come between the âregular beatsâ, if by âregular beatsâ you means beats 1 and 3. Strong accents on the backbeat (often snare drum hits) is a common ingredient in rock music.
I call âoffbeatâ the âandsâ between the beats, which is where up-strums occur. I also refer to that as âoff the beatâ. So up-strums occur off the beat, down-strums on the beat.
The wikipedia article you cited agrees with me on backbeats, but says they occur on the âoffâ beats, which is not how I would say it.
I think in general different people use the terms differently, so you need to be careful when interpreting what you read/hear.
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Thanks for the answer.
When I say âregular beatsâ I was referring to beats 1, 2, 3, 4. My understanding was that backbeat was another semi-beat that occurs after each of these âregular beatsâ. In justinâs diagram he represents them as â+â signs and we count them as âandsâ.
so here
there are four regular beats represented as â1,2,3,4â and four backbeats represented as â+â.
In your answer you said âBackbeat refers to beats 2 and 4â and that it is actually the offbeat where we play the âup-strumsâ, so Iâm a bit confused by the different answers between Justinâs content and what Iâm seeing elsewhere.
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Thatâs interesting. For me âbackbeatâ refers to beats 2 and 4 in the bar. But Justin is clearly using it differently here.
I wonder if the more experienced folks on the forum have a take on this?
Dante @dantejms
I am in grade 1 and generally in some of the songs justin sugests emphasing beat 2 and 4 although this is not for early stage beginners, see extract from tabs on Dance the night away and the lesson at about 9.56 Super Easy Guitar Lesson - Dance The Night Away by The Mavericks - YouTube
The > symbol is empathising the strum on beats 2 and 4.
I think this is generally regarded as empathising the back beat.
Does that help.
Michaelđ¶
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Here is the text in the lesson as I look at it initially:
In my view, this is an accidental mistype.
In early Grade 1 strumming âon the beatâ is strumming on the counts of 1, 2, 3, 4.
Justin often refers to the backbeat as being the 2 and the 4. He has lessons on the backbeat.
The in-between the beat parts of rhythm are the opposite of on-the-beat. They are off-the-beat.
Playing any sort of 'and; is playing the off-beat.
Paradoxically, when people say it out loud they may say what sounds like a contradictory statement:
âPlay on the off-beat.â
Which means strike the guitar strings when the off-beat, the and, the in-between the beat happens.
I am going to go in and correct the text on the lesson page.
Ta-dah âŠ
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Thanks for the updating the materials. Your explanation cleared my doubts, âoff-beatâ is what I was looking for. When I get to backbeats Iâll get to those materials then.
Note that some of the material still mentions âbackbeatsââ.
(Isnât off-beat the âandsâ?)
(Note sure if this is also a typo. Doesnât the hand naturally move up on every off-beat?)
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@Richard_close2u What is this counting system called? Is it 1 E & A (source)?
Does Justinâs Music Theory course cover different counting systems?
Thanks!
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Hi Dante
Repeat that pattern, substititing 2, 3 and 4 as you move along to get
1 E & A 2 E & A 3 E & A 4 E & A
That makes a total of 16 parts.
The entire span from 1 to the first A is a quarter subdivided into four equal parts.
Ditto for the span from 2 to the 2nd A, from 3 to the 3rd A and from 4 to the 4th A
Boxing them off looks like this:
I have changed capital letters to lower case.
Sixteen counts means you are looking at 16th note patterns.
I hope that helps.
Cheers 
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide, Approved Teacher & Moderator
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Hi @Richard_close2u , thanks for explaining the 16th note pattern in detail. Is 1 E & A only used to refer to 16th note pattern?
What is the counting system for the below called (8th note pattern?), which is what Justin discusses in the video.
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
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Yes. 
For many, many years, Iâve been calling the âandsâ the âupbeatsâ , but am now wondering if this is correct. I have the - perhaps mistaken - idea that symphony orchestra conductors move their batons up on the upbeat.
Deliberately not googling this until I hear from you folks, as I generally find the advice here is way better than the inter webs 
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The biggest mistake guitar player make is they thing in terms of guitar and not all musical instruments. The and on a guitar would be on the upstroke or up strum. Seeing that pianos, wind instruments and even other stringed instruments donât have a down or upstroke/up strum this is where the confusion set in. This is also why beginner guitar player think tab are upside down and the thickest string is number 1.
In music the âandâ is the off beat or the beat between the 1/4 note. In 8th notes the strumming could be all downs or down up. In 16th note the âandâ is usually on the down strum.
The upbeat is typically the last beat of a bar.
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I was going to take issue with this, but then noticed you clarify later on. Itâs true for what I call 1/4 note alternating strumming, but not true for 1/8 note all down strumming (as you say later in the paragraph).
IME, the confusion with Tabs is often because people quite commonly draw downstrums as arrows pointing âdownâ towards the bottom of the page, when in actuality, the pick is travelling âupâ towards the top of the page (from the thickest string to the thinnest on the Tab sheetâŠeven though it is really moving down towards the floor in real space) Super confusing to a beginner.
ThanksâŠIâve been using it wrong all this timeâŠoops! Going forward, will use âoffbeatâ instead.
So for 4/4, the upbeat is on 4, and for 3/4 the upbeat is on 3? Or is it on the âand of 4â (or 3)?
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The downbeat is the very first beat in a bar. The upbeat is the very last beat in a bar. In 4/4 itâs on beat 4, in 3/4 itâs on beat 3.
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@TRoland1911 Actually Jozsef is completely Correct. The term Upbeat in music literally means âThe last beat of a bar.â
This short video will help you understand what the terms Downbeat and Upbeat mean.
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