Confusion seems to abound.

"Behind the Beat" is an expression used to describe a certain style of playing, typically used by jazz, blues or swing players.

Also is typically done only by the soloist at the time, while the rhythm section continues to hit "dead on" or pretty much so.

What it means is that the beat happens, then you play, typically anywhere from about 11 to 25 ticks AFTER the beat. EVERY TIME.

This yields that "laid back" feel to solo improvisation and is very important for the styles involved.

However, it does not mean that the player is changing the Tempo at all.

Just means that the player is a few milliSeconds "behind" the Tempo -- by about the same amount of time, every time.

Drummers typically don't play behind the beat... (But as with all things music, there can be exceptions to that rule.) Even if the drummer is intentionally playing behind the beat, the beat still goes on and the drummer still comes out within a few milliSeconds of the beat. Just like anyone else would.

BIAB MIDI soloist often takes advantage of this, intentionally. Makes the jazz solo sound more human.

On the other hand, Classical players typically stay right on the beat. Some even play a few milliSecs AHEAD of the beat. Again, it is the same Tempo, though. Notes are just *anticipated* rather than "laid back".

If you don't want it to sound like its swinging at all, no matter the note choices, just place them all dead on the beat, or anticipate the beat by placing them slightly ahead of the beat. If you want it to swing, place them a tad bit AFTER each beat. This can be demonstrated by simply highlighting and timeshifting a track a few ticks in either direction, left for ahead and right for behind. Notice that ALL NOTES MAINTAIN THE SAME TIME RELATIONSHIP to each other AND the Tempo beat when this is done.

The hard part is to learn, as a musician, how to play these things in realtime.

I used to experience a brainshift sort of thing back in the days when I was doing a lot of playing and studio work. If I was doing symphony work in the afternoon, thus playing right on the beat or anticipating, the shift over to the evening/night gig where it was time to play behind the beat sometimes took a bit of time to attain, with attention to the matter. As with all things music, with practice it became something that can be called up at will now. If you pay attention to it in the first place, that is.


--Mac

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