Jazz Rhythm

  1. Sherry Cadenhead
    Sherry Cadenhead
    I plan to attempt this month's tune "All of Me." Having never played a jazz rhythm, I'm wondering how it is distinguished in standard notation.
  2. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank
    I don't know. But if you have TablEdit, take a look at module two of the Django version from mandozine. That is the backup chords for mandolin spelled out. And you can click on the little M down on the lower right hand corner of the TablEdit window to cycle from tabs to standard notation to tabs + standard. I also notice that in the MIDI options "Jazz Eights" is selected in the syncopation box. I don't think that makes any difference in the 'straight' version (verse 1). But it probably is very significant in verses 2 and 3. I think "Jazz Eighths" is where the first eighth note of a pair of eighth notes is slightly shorter than the second. Kind of like the opposite of "swing eighths".
  3. JeffLearman
    JeffLearman
    Mike is right, except that jazz 8ths are exactly swing 8ths (and shuffle 8ths too.) Please don't ask me to distinguish a swing from a shuffle, though it has to do with the backbeat. A drummer once explained it to me (playing his kit) but the next day those neurons had died. I just play what feels right and let others worry about what to call it.

    Here's how it's usually shown, for standard notation:



    I've only ever seen the top one, and just one triplet not two.

    I found that here: https://www.earmaster.com/music-theo...apter-1-2.html

    The idea is, it's written as all 8th notes, but you play them with the jazz swing or shuffle. It's just a shorthand to make it easier to write, avoiding having to write the extra stuff for every 8th note couplet in the chart. It makes it easier to read, too (I say as someone who couldn't read timing to save his life. I can't sight-read much at all, frankly.)
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