When should you strum up on the guitar? The answer is here!
View the full lesson at Counting Ands | JustinGuitar
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?
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.
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
Here Justinâs says âbackbeats - which we call âandsââŠ'â
But 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.
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¶
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
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.
@Richard_close2u What is this counting system called? Is it 1 E & A (source)?
Does Justinâs Music Theory course cover different counting systems?
Thanks!
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
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 &
Yes.