It puts notes on what are usually weak beats for a little extra flare. Syncopated beats are accented notes that don’t fit within the typical rhythmic grid of quarter notes. EDM bangers and rock music benefit from a stronger amount of quantization so that they keep the beat strong- Other genres like hip hop and jazz want less quantization so that there’s more swing within the song. Quantization can work for you or against you, depending what genre you want to create. If you’re penciling notes into the key roll in FL Studio then you’re completely quantized- Totally lined up with the grid. How close the notes in your rhythm perfectly lines up with this grid is the level of quantization you use. QuantizationĪs we’ve discussed, rhythm is measured with a grid of quarter and or eighth notes. Weak beats include all of the spaces in between the strong beats, generally hi-hats and other percussion in our imaginary stadium rock anthem. Think of an anthemic rock song and picture where the drum and snare are- Those are your strong beats. Strong beats are usually where you would instinctively clap- Down beat, third beat. Strong and weak beats are used to create a little complexity in the pattern. You’ll usually find something between 80 to 140 BPM in music on the radio, though some thrash metal at 210 BPM might slip through from time to time.
It’s measured in beats per minute, or BPM. Tempo is, simply put, the speed at which the song is being played. The first number can really be anything, while the second number has to reflect a note of a certain length and is generally in numerals of four. There are plenty of others, like 5/4, 6/8 or even 7/8. This is generally called the Waltz signature, as the most common form of music in this time is waltz. You might occasionally hear a song in 3/4 time, which would mean that there are only three quarter notes per measure.
This means that there are four quarter notes within each measure, so you can tap your foot four times before starting over. Most popular music, regardless of genre, is in 4/4 time. The first number dictates how many times the primary note is repeated within the measure, and the second note tells us what length of note. Time signature is represented by two numbers, take for example 4/4. Basically, it’s how many times you can confidently stomp your foot before reaching another phase within a song. Musical time signature is how we measure the amount of beats within measure. But it is important to understand these terms if you’re really interested in diving into understanding rhythm.
There are a number of different components of rhythm, like how fast or slow the song is moving, how we count the beats and sections within the parts and where certain notes come in and out within that pattern.ĭon’t worry, we won’t get too technical. Generally speaking, rhythm is how we organize, identify and follow musical patterns as they move through time.