Is there a name for this rhythm technique?

Cafe Society
1

Pretty much ubiquitous in pop staples, the stuff that lands on top 40 stations.

It can approach a kind of pseudo-syncopation, more complex than just booomp-thud, but the rule seems to be:

Start with a measure with, let’s say, 16 beats (think of them as possible 16th notes) and the 1 and 8 automatically get a beat apiece (there’s your boomp-thud); then additional beats can be added but only in a squared-off kind of way. If there’s a beat at 12 (the 3/4 mark), but not at 4 (the 1/4 mark), there can be additional beats between 8 and 12 and between 12 and 16, but none between 1 and 8 because there’s none at 4.

And the additional beats between 8 and 12 (and 12 and 16): if there’s a beat at 10 (midway between 8 and 12) there can be additional beats between 8 and 10 and between 10 and 12, but if there’s no beat at 10 nothing else can come between 8 and 12; if there’s a beat at 14 (midway between 12 and 16) there can be additional beats between 12 and 14 and between 14 and 16, but if 14 isn’t hit nothing else can happen between 12 and 16.

If you’ve ever worked with a music composition sw package that optionally does “quantizing”, that seems to produce the same effect. So I could refer to the phenomenon as “quantized beat”, I suppose, but is there a more readily recognizable term for it already in use?

2

I don’t have an good answer but for starters your numbering is mixed up.

The 16 sixteenth notes are aligned as:

1 - start of the bar, 1st beat
5 - 2nd beat
9 - 3rd beat
13 - 4th beat

I would say it’s a lack of syncopation: any short beats must be enclosed by a beat on the one-two-three-four sub-divisions of the bar. Sort of like military drumming. Also dotted rhythms aren’t allowed, are they? You can do DAH…dadaDAH, but not DAY…tiDAH.

3

Good catch on the numbering.

I agree that it is not syncopation, but neither is booomp-thud, booomp-thud. Question is whether there’s a name for this non-syncopated form of inputting a handful of extra beats using this sort of rule.

4

Drummers call those “fills.”

5

I was thinking maybe that’s what AHunter3 was talking about after trying to make sense of his numbering scheme.

AHunter3, a fill typically happens at the end of a phrase to lead in to another section of a song. Is that what you’re talking about, or is this something that happens continuously throughout the song? An example would be really helpful.

6

I mean in virtually every measure of the song.

And of course, upon being asked for an example, not a single pop song comes into my head…when one does, I’ll try to keep in my head long enough to come in here and post it.

7

Well I immediately thought of the “Purdie Shuffle.” Eponymously named from session drummer Bernard “Pretty” Purdie – The Hit Maker (no slouch when it comes to self promotion).

He’s worked extensively with countless big-name acts and I remember him explaining on **Steely Dan’s ** the Making of Aja video how he suggested his unique shuffle for the track Home at Last. Word is that Purdie wanted song-writing credit as well since he felt that his drumming was such a critical component of the song.

Anyway, you can check it out here. (Just go to Part Two if you’re pressed for time.)Part One is mostly Purdie ‘splaining the breakdown of his shuffle and Part Two has him demonstrating.

Does this somehow answer the OP?

8

So, let’s see if I get the question.

A measure is split into 16 parts (say, four beats subdivided into 4)

There is a drum part that plays on 1 and 3 (boom, thud . . . maybe a kick and a snare)



1 e + a   2 e + a   3 e + a   4 e + a
*                           *

Then (and this is where I get confused) are you saying that other notes on the drums can only be played if you first subdivide each section? So that the following doesn’t follow your rule:




1 e + a   2 e + a   3 e + a   4 e + a
*     * *       * * *    *

But this does:



1 e + a   2 e + a   3 e + a   4 e + a
*             * * * *     *

In other words, the smaller subdevisions are only allowed because the midway beat has been filled?

9

Naw, that’s sophisticated drumming. The stuff I’m talking about is a way to stick in some extra beats while still leaving a coercively-intact booomp-thud.

Instead of just booomp-thud I might do booomp, thud-duh, or even booomp, thud-a-dud-a, and if I do it over the course of two measures maybe:

boomp, thud, boomp, thud-a-dud-a, boomp dud-a-thud, dud, boomp, thud-a-dud-a

10

Honestly it sounds like you are talking about “playing behind the beat.” Playing with the time by pushing and pulling it in order to provide propulsion - essential for soul, funk and rock (except for U2).

11

I’m a drummer and I’m not too sure what you mean. It sounds like you’re describing a basic 4/4 beat but with a few extra elements. To keep the steady beat going then you’ll have:



1 . + . 2 . + . 3 . + . 4 . + . 
        *               *
*               *

where the bottom line is the kick drum and the top is the snare. BOOM, CHA, BOOM, CHA.

But that’s pretty dull so you might want to add some extra snare beats while still keeping the same basic pattern behind it:



1 . + . 2 . + . 3 . + . 4 . + . 
        *   *           * * * *
*               *

BOOM, CHA-cha, BOOM, CHA-cha-cha-cha.
That’s not syncopated and would still sound pretty dull, though. I’d be more likely to play something like:



1 . + . 2 . + . 3 . + . 4 . + . 
        *     *         * *   *
*               *

BOOM, CHA, ch-BOOM, CHA-cha, ch- (with the down beat of the next bar immediately following).

and you could funk up the bass drum pattern a bit more too:



1 . + . 2 . + . 3 . + . 4 . + . 
        *     *         * *   *
*   * *         *   *

BOOM boom-boom-CHA, ch-BOOM boom, CHA-cha, ch-

So the extra notes are only dropping in the bar directly after the “main beat” for that drum - the extra kick drum notes are coming between 1 and 2, and between 3 and 4, while the snare is filling between 2 and 3 and between 4 and the next 1.

12

I think I got everyone off on the wrong foot…you’re all thinking in terms of what the percussionist does, and while I’m not omitting what the drummer does, it’s a much more basic “rhythm of the entire music” of which I speak. And not fancy.

OK, finally an example occurs to me. Somewhat dated at this point but exemplary nonetheless.

Fragment from Madonna’s “Live to Tell”
1, 3, <—— boomp thud

1, 3, <——boomp thud

1 and-a-two-e-and,

1, 2, 3,

1-e-and-a-two-e-and,

1, 2, 3, 4,

13

Or

1, 3, <—— boomp thud

1, 3, <——boomp thud

1 and-a-two-e-and 3 and 4,
1-e-and-a-two-e-and 3 and 4 and
well, listen to the audio snippet.

14

Could be, but playing behind/on top/ahead of the beat is much more subtle than what the OP seems to be describing. All three would be expressed the same way in notation, it would be up to the drummer to impart the feel.

As to the OP, I’m not sure what you’re describing has a name, but I don’t quite understand the question, either, nor do I hear anything unusual in the audio example.

15

[hijack]I have nothing to contribute except that this has one of the dirtiest-sounding titles ever and I find myself constantly drawn to the prospects of what this thread could’ve been like… :)[/hijack]

16

I never said it was unusual. I mean, it sticks out to me as unusual, because my inclination when composing would be towards syncopation if I were going to have a plethora of events in the space previousy occupied by considerably fewer of them. But yeah, it’s everywhere in mainstream music.

17

I would just call it “subdividing the beat.”

18

I guess I mean what would you call it to distinguish it from a syncopated sequence of sounds in that same timeframe, on the one hand, and from just plain old booomp-thud with no sprinkling of extra beats at all, on the other?

I’m thinking the general consensus seems to be “There’s no word for that, really”, but since my communcations-success in this thread isn’t so hot I’ll toss out the fishing line for another run.

19

Could you perhaps notate it like Colophon? Because I’m still unclear about what you’re getting at. I mean, there really isn’t any drum line, except perhaps in techno music, that just goes kick-SNARE-kick-SNARE.

20

But I’m not talking about drum lines.

Did you listen to the sound snippet I posted?