I GOT RHYTHM, PART 4
Eighth-note syncopations
PREVIOUSLY, WE LEARNED how a quarter unit note, of which individual is the beats foundational in4 4 meter counting and most songs, can be evenly split, or subdivided, into two eighth notes, which across successive beats are counted “1 and, 2 and, 3 and, 4 and, 1 and, 2 and, 3 and, 4 and,” etc., with the “and” counts being called the eighth-note upbeats. That eighth-note pulse, or “feel,” as musicians like to say, is the heartbeat of rock and roll and popular music in general, and this doubling-up of the basic quarter-note beat offers us an interesting variety of rhythmic possibilities, especially when used in conjunction with ties or rests, including eighth rests, which we learned about in I Got Rhythm, Part…
