Syncopation

Lesson 5/46 | Study Time: 5 Min
Course: Beginner Harmonica
Syncopation

Syncopation

As mentioned in the previous lesson syncopation means displacing the normal flow of accents in the music, usually from on the beat to off the beat. One of the most common ways of creating syncopated rhythms is to use rests on the beat as shown in the following example.

Another common method of creating syncopated rhythms is to use ties as shown here.

This well known Caribbean song contains many syncopated rhythms created by the use of both rests and ties. If you have trouble with syncopated rhythms, play them on one note first and count as you play.

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Peter Gelling

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Class Sessions

1- What Are All These Sounds? 2- The C Major Scale 3- The Triplet 4- 12 Bar Blues 5- INTRODUCTION 6- The Eighth Note 7- Sliding Between Notes 8- Sixteenth Notes 9- Hand Vibrato 10- Playing Single Notes 11- Cross Harp Sounds 12- Rests 13- Improvisation 14- Playing in Other Keys 15- Making Musical Sounds 16- More titles by LearnToPlayMusic.com 17- Notes on the C Harmonica 18- Swing Rhythms 19- The Trill 20- Trailing Off 21- The G Major Pentatonic Scale 22- Understanding Chords 23- Double Tonguing 24- Which Harmonica to Use 25- Reading the Notation System 26- Moving Between Positions 27- The Lead-in 28- The Train Whistle 29- Cross Harp Playing 30- The Tie 31- Call and Response 32- Melody and Harmony 33- Playing Songs 34- The Major Pentatonic Scale 35- How to Hold the Harmonica 36- Bending Notes 37- The Minor Pentatonic Scale 38- The Shuffle 39- Bar Lines 40- Consecutive Breaths 41- Different Types of Chords 42- The Blues Scale 43- Syncopation 44- Combining Chords and Single Notes 45- Grace Notes 46- Tonguing

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