HowToSwingJazzPiano

LessonSupplement

What’sTheDifferenceBetweenStraightAndSwingFeel?

ListentotheCMajorScalewithastraightfeelandthenwithaswingfeel.

Nowlet’sswingthis251line:

Youshouldbeabletohearthattheswingvariationhasmoreenergyandforward

motionthatpropelsthemelodylienforwards.

HowToConstructaSwingRhythm.

Toconstructasswingrhythmyoumustunderstandtheroleofthetriplet.

Herewehaveabarof8thnotesin4/4time.

Eachbeatinthebarhas28thnoteswhichwouldbecountedas1&2&3&4&1etc...

Ifweturnallofthe8thnotesinto8notetriplets,wenowhavesubdividedeach

beatinto3segmentsandsoyouwouldcount1&a2&a3&a4&a1&aetc…

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Nowtoconstructabasicswingrhythm,wetiethefirst28thnotetriplets

togetherandsonowwehave.

Hereisanotherwayofnotatingthesamerhythm:

SoSwingrhythmisbasedonthetripletandsothefirststepinabsorbingthe

swingfeelistounderstandhowtolandonthe1stand3rdpartofthetriplet.

PracticethiswiththeCMajorScale:

Countaloudwiththetriplet.

Thereisactuallyanotherwaythatswingcanbenotated.Thisisbyhaveadotted

8thnoteanda16thnoteineachbeatofthebar.

Hereisanexample.

Thissoundsmuchmorerigidandstiffthanthetripletfeelbutunderstandthatif

youcomeacrossthisinnotation,itistypicallyindicatingswingrhythm.

Usingthisasapointofreferenceisactuallyagoodwaytounderstandswing

feel…we’lltalkmoreaboutthislaterinthelesson.

Anicewaytolookatswingisthatit’ssomewhereinbetweenthetwonotation

exampleswehavelookedat.Soit’shalfwaybetweenthetripletfeelandthe

dotted8thnoteto16thnote.

Onceyouhaveunderstood,appliedandmasteredthisbasicconceptoflanding

onthe1stand3rdpartofthetriplet,youcanthenvaryhowmuchyouswing.

Listentojazzandyouwillfindthatsomejazzmusiciansplayastrongswingfeel,

andothersmoreofastraightfeel.It’sforyoutolistentoyourfavouriteplayers

andemulatetheirfeel.

Listeningandtranscribing,andplayingalongwithaswingingmelodyorsoloisthe

bestwaytoingrainthisinyourplaying.

WhyIsn’tSwingFeelReflectedInNotation?

Welllet’sgobacktothelickwelookedatinCMajor.Hereitis:

Ifwetakethissamelineof8thnotesbutnotateitwithactualswingrhythm,you

canseethatit’slooksoverlycomplicatedandmuchmoredifficulttoread.

Forthisreason,jazzmusiciansunderstandthatswingrhythmisimpliedfor8th

notes.Imaginehowdifficultitwouldbetoreadaleadsheetortranscriptionifall

ofthe8thnoteswerenotatedlikethis.

Thissymbolalsoindicatesswingrhythmandyou

mayseethisabovethestaveatthestartofa

transcriptiontoindicatethatthe8thnotesshould

beswung.

TheAccentsInSwingRhythm–The3rdTriplet

Thefinaltripletshouldbeemphasized.Bydoingthisyouareemphasizingthe

upbeatwhichisthe&ofeachbeat.Butrememberinswingrhythm,the&falls

onthe3rdtriplet.

WhenyoufirstdothisIwouldrecommendthatyouoveremphasisethistohelp

yougetintothehabitofaccentingtheupbeat.Playthedownbeatassoftlyas

possibleandreallyhammertheupbeat.

Thisisagoodhabitformingpractice.

Nowlet’sapplythistotheCMajorScale.

Nowlet’sapplythistothe251lick:

PlayAsLegatoAsPossibleLegatocanbedefinedasplayinginasmoothflowingmannerwithoutbreaksor

interruptionsbetweenthenotes.UsingtheCMajorScaleI’lldemonstrateabad

exampleofthisandthenagoodexample:

StartingonTheUpbeatOrDownbeatIntermsofwheretostartthephrase,thereare2choicesavailabletoyouhere,

thedownbeat,ortheupbeat.

Upbeatsareemphasizedinswingrhythmandsoifyoucomeinontheupbeat,

youshouldbeaccentingthefirstnote.

Hereisanexampleofstartingontheupbeat:

AddingTripletsToYourSwingingLinesWehavediscussedthattheachievetheswingfeel,weturn8thnotesinto8thnote

tripletsandthenjointhefirsttwotogetherandaccentthelastone.Wellifyou

areplayingtripletswithaswingfeel,youwouldplayallthreeofthemand

stillaccentthefinaltriplet.Let’slook3examples: