Swing Explained In Two Minutes

[Happy Jack]

 

[Hellzero]

Great lesson, concise and clear, better than ... won't say it.

[jrixn1]

Good introduction.  A big band will (or should) also have a rhythm guitar, which adds to the driving rhythm; and there should be less emphasis on beats "2" and "4" than in that video -- all four beats should pulse equally.

E.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlc0s2ROPOY

[Dem Jolie-blues]

Super !,  is it me , or does the pianist in the animation  have a 'wind' problem ?

[paddy109]

5 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

 

I was fixated on watching your avatar dancing in time with the music!

[Dad3353]

13 minutes ago, paddy109 said:

I was fixated on watching your avatar dancing in time with the music!

But of course, it's Swing, innit..? 

[phil.c60]

I loved that. Thanks Jack.

 

[knirirr]

On 18/11/2018 at 14:36, jrixn1 said:

Good introduction.  A big band will (or should) also have a rhythm guitar, which adds to the driving rhythm; and there should be less emphasis on beats "2" and "4" than in that video -- all four beats should pulse equally.

E.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlc0s2ROPOY

Thanks - good music indeed, and pleasing to see such remarks in the comments as:

Quote

The "chonking" needs to be tight, totally in synch with the bassist...the "motor" of the band, the bass and guitar, are keeping things rock-solid.

The reason is that the first jazz band in which I was able to play was a big band, and I had to play rhythm guitar. So, I got a book on it which suggested some chord shapes using only 3 or 4 strings which allowed easy changing of the voicing during each bar. This was fun and I thought it sounded quite good, even with my playing.

The bassist complained that I was cramping his style, though.

[deepbass5]

Funny that clip didn't explain what swing is at all. Just a big band line up playing a typical swing number. nothing on how you would play two quavers - long and short to give that signature swing

In swing style the beat is divided into two, but unevenly, reflecting an underlying triplet feel.

Downbeats are 2/3 of a beat in length, while

Upbeats are only 1/3 of a beat in length.

[paul_c2]

I thought that too but in fairness, "swing" has several meanings. One being the timing as described above; and another being a style (or era) of big band/jazz music. It seemed to explain the style quite well. It was a shame they didn't do section C and on, because I could have done my joke "what do you get when you drop a piano down a mineshaft".....but never mind!