Back beat

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about musical beats. For the film about The Beatles, see Backbeat (film). For the record label, see Back Beat Records

In music a back beat (also called the backbeat) is a term applied to the beats 2 and 4 in a 4/4 bar or a 12/8 bar ^[1] as opposed to the odd downbeat, (quarter beat 1). ^[2] That is, counting out a simple 4/4 rhythm, 1 2 3 4, the 1 beat is the down beat. If beat 4 immediately precedes a new bar it is also called an upbeat ^[3](see upbeat article for more information on what an upbeat is). The up and down refer to movements of the conductor's baton.

Afterbeat refers to a percussion style where a strong accent is sounded on the second, third and fourth beats of the bar, following the downbeat.^[4]

The effect can be easily simulated by repeatedly counting to four while alternating strong and weak beats:

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 -- backbeat emphasis (and in 4/4 if beat 4 immediately precedes a new musical bar then beat 4 is also an upbeat^[3])
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 -- downbeat emphasis (and in 4/4 if beat 4 immediately precedes a new musical bar then beat 4 is also an upbeat^[3])
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 -- Afterbeat emphasis (and in 4/4 if beat 4 immediately precedes a new musical bar then beat 4 is also an upbeat^[3])

The style emerged in the late 1940s in rhythm and blues recordings, and is one of the defining characteristics of rock and roll and is used in virtually all contemporary popular music, bossa nova being a notable exception. Drummer Earl Palmer states the first record with nothing but back beat was "The Fat Man" by Fats Domino in 1949, which he played on. Palmer says he adopted it from the final shout or out chorus common in Dixieland jazz.

While "The Fat Man" may have been the first Top 40 song with a back beat all the way through, black gospel music was stressing the back beat much earlier with hand-clapping and tambourine. Other earlier examples of back beat include the final verse of "Grand Slam" by Benny Goodman in 1942. There is a hand-clapping back beat on "Roll 'em Pete" by Pete Johnson and Big Joe Turner, recorded in 1939.

In Reggae music, the term One Drop reflects the complete de-emphasis (to the point of silence) of the first beat in the cycle. James Brown’s signature funk groove emphasized the downbeat – that is, with heavy emphasis "on the one" (the first beat of every measure) – to etch his distinctive sound, rather than the back beat, familiar to many R&B musicians, that placed the emphasis on the second beat.^[5] According to the New York Times, by the "mid-1960s Brown was producing his own recording sessions. In February 1965, with “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” he decided to shift the beat of his band: from the one-two-three-four backbeat to one-two-three-four. “I changed from the upbeat to the downbeat,” Mr. Brown said in 1990. “Simple as that, really.”^[6] According to Maceo Parker, Brown's former saxophonist, playing on the downbeat was at first hard for him and took some getting used to. Reflecting back to his early days with Brown's band, Parker reported that he had difficulty in playing "on the one" during solo performances, since he was used to hearing and playing with the accent on the second beat.^[7]

[edit] Citations

^ [www.grovemusic.com Backbeat] (English). Grove Music Online (2007). Retrieved on February 10, 2007.
^ [www.grovemusic.com Downbeat] (English). Grove Music Online (2007). Retrieved on February 10, 2007.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d DOGANTAN, MINE (2007). [www.grovemusic.com Upbeat] (English). Grove Music Online. Retrieved on February 10, 2007.
^ [www.grovemusic.com Beat: Accentuation. (i) Strong and weak beats.] (English). Grove Music Online (2007). Retrieved on February 10, 2007.
^ Lessons in listening - Concepts section: Fantasy, Earth Wind & Fire, The Best of Earth Wind & Fire Volume I, Freddie White. (1998, January). Modern Drummer Magazine, pp. 146–152. Retrieved January 21, 2007.
^ James Brown, the ‘Godfather of Soul’, Dies at 73. New York Times (December 25, 2006). Retrieved on January 10, 2007.
^ Gross, T. (1989). Musician Maceo Parker (Fresh Air WHYY-FM audio interview). National Public Radio. Retrieved January 22, 2007.