Question about Funk Swing for Keyboard, piano...

[joecc]

Hi,
This has been troubling for quite some time...
Is the swing for funk DIFFERENT than traditional classical swing...

for e.g. a 16th note division. We count: 1 e and a. My big question is do you DELAY the E and the A Or do you DELAY the One and the AND?
hope it makes sense...

and what about an 8th note division such as: 1 and. is it the and that gets delayed or the 1. cause in classical/traditioanl contexts it's the 'and'. that gets slightly delayed....

ta,
joe

[Nystul]

In my feeling the funk eighth notes are pretty much straight. What happens in between those eighth notes can be rather flexible. Sometimes there are straight 16th notes, sometimes the 16th notes have a bit of swing to it, and you could throw in a triplet flourish at times even though it doesn't fit the normal pattern. But what really defines funk rhythm to me, is the syncopation. In particular, the fact that even the bass line can be heavily syncopated. It's less about E and A being delayed and more about them sometimes being the accented part of the beat.

[thomni]

In my feeling the funk eighth notes are pretty much straight. What happens in between those eighth notes can be rather flexible. Sometimes there are straight 16th notes, sometimes the 16th notes have a bit of swing to it, and you could throw in a triplet flourish at times even though it doesn't fit the normal pattern. But what really defines funk rhythm to me, is the syncopation. In particular, the fact that even the bass line can be heavily syncopated. It's less about E and A being delayed and more about them sometimes being the accented part of the beat.

yeah the syncopation is where it's at. If you can swing your hats you'll be alright.

[joecc]

well thanks. I've read the replies with interest. Yes syncopation is crucial in bass, just before or after beat 3 usually proves funky...

[MadBrain]

Hi,
This has been troubling for quite some time...
Is the swing for funk DIFFERENT than traditional classical swing...

for e.g. a 16th note division. We count: 1 e and a. My big question is do you DELAY the E and the A Or do you DELAY the One and the AND?
hope it makes sense...

and what about an 8th note division such as: 1 and. is it the and that gets delayed or the 1. cause in classical/traditioanl contexts it's the 'and'. that gets slightly delayed....

ta,
joe

It's always the "counterbeat" that gets delayed. So in funk swing (on the 16ths), for "1 e and a", the E and the A get delayed.

For jazz swing (on 8ths), it's the AND that gets delayed. You could notate this as the whole song being all triplets, with two "eights" being replaced by "quarter triplet" + "eight triplet". Or, as if the whole song was in 12/8 (that notation is actually used from time to time - usually when the song has so many triplets that it's easier to read in 12/8 than in 4/4 with swing).

In a song played with swing, if a length shorter than an eighth appears anywhere, they are played straight instead of swung. In particular, if triplets or sixteenths appear, they are played straight.