Swing: phrasing, accents, articulation

You can play the "right notes" and not sound like jazz at all. What makes jazz, more than harmony, is swing: a way of placing and articulating eighth notes. It is learned mostly by ear, but a few concrete principles speed things up a lot.

1. Uneven eighth notes

In swing, two eighth notes written equal are played unequal: the first longer, the second shorter, roughly like a quarter-eighth triplet. The faster the tempo, the closer the eighths get to equal; at a slow tempo they are very "triplety". It is sometimes approximated with a dotted rhythm:

M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=100
K:F
"F6" c>A c>d f>d c>A | "C7" G>A B>c e2 z2 |]

The dotted rhythm above is a caricature (too clipped): a real swing eighth sits somewhere between even and dotted. Listen to recordings and imitate.

2. Accents on the offbeats

In classical music we naturally accent the strong beats. In swing it is often the opposite: the offbeats (the "ands") get a slight accent, and the high notes of a line are brought out. Ties across beats (anticipations) give momentum.

M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=120
K:F
"Gm7" z d !>!f d- d2 c A | "C7" B c !>!e g- g2 z2 | "F6" f8 |]

3. Ghost notes and articulation

• Ghost notes: some notes, often the lowest of a line, are barely touched, almost implied. They give relief to the accented notes.
• Legato towards the offbeat: a note on the beat is often slurred to the next note (on the offbeat), which is then slightly detached: "doo-BA doo-BA".
• Short notes at phrase ends: the last note of a phrase is often short and accented ("bop!"), hence the name of the style.

4. The metronome on 2 and 4

Set the metronome to half the tempo and treat each click as beats 2 and 4 (where the drummer plays the hi-hat). Your feel will naturally settle into the right groove. Use the rhythm work you have already done.

Exercise: the same phrase, three times

Start the jazz track in F.

1. Play the phrase from example 2 with strictly even eighths and no accents. Record yourself.
2. Play it again swung, with the accents marked. Record yourself.
3. Play it again adding a ghost note (the low D in bar 1, for example) and a short final note. Record yourself.
4. Listen to all three versions: which one makes you want to tap your foot? Then improvise your own two-bar phrases with the same phrasing.