The Change in the Rhythm: Back Beat Defined

R&B #4

The “back-beat” is a rhythm that has an emphasis on the two and four counts of a four-beat measure (one, two, three, four). Four-four, 4/4 time or “common time” is a time signature that is easily danceable. Most of modern day dance music is in the “four-four” time with some exceptions as with six-eight or three-four (6/8 or 3/4) popular in waltz and some blues.

The notation in the figure below for drums shows a 4/4 “common time” beat with the lower line of notes as the bass drum part, hitting the “downbeats” one and three; the middle line, a snare drum part, hitting the “upbeats”, all of this can be easily transcribed into dance steps of left, right, left, right; and all the while, the hi hat on the top line keeps the time using eighth notes counted as “one, and, two, and, three, and, four, and” sometimes written as “1+2+3+4+”, or “1&2&3&4&”.  

 

 

 

Basically, the ‘back-beat” in rock & roll is the snare drum accented on the two and four counts instead of the older jazz “swing” beat that would have the dance pulse equally on all four beats in a 4/4 measure of time.

In contrast to rock & roll’s back-beat is jazz music’s “swing” beat. The “swing beat” would often incorporate a rapid downbeat pulse (one, two, three, four accents on each number) with a “swinging” time keeping rhythm played on the ride cymbal, a sort of skipping or bouncing of the sticks bead/head against the cymbal, as in “ah-one, ah-two, ah-three, ah-four, ah-one, etc.” (see swing beat below).

 

 

 

With the “swing beat”, the hi-hat keeps the time as a “quiet” back- beat using the foot trigger of the hi-hat, that gentle clicks on the “twos” and “fours” of the measure very much different to R&B’s accented beats and even loud rim shots of the snare drum driving the music on the “twos” and “fours”. The bass drum, snare drum, and other tom-toms, in jazz, for the most part, were used very sparingly.

The reason for this is that before the 1940s, the technology used for recording music was so sensitive that the bass and snare drums would be too loud that would make the recording equipment malfunction and/or skip when played. That is why many swing beats rely on the ride cymbal and Hi-Hat to keep the time while the piano and upright bass would provide the downbeats to all four beats of the measure in 4/4 time. You can hear it on many 1920s & 1930s original recordings, where the drummer has to use cymbals, woodblocks, cowbells and/or brushes on the snare drum.

The drums acquired a stronger and more central role in rhythm sections in a post-WWII era and due to the technology could be used more progressively in a recording. Whereas in the 1920s and 1930s, you would need a piano, bass, guitar and/or banjo, all to be the “rhythm section”, now, in the 1940s, you could have just a bass and a drum set player to be the rhythm section.