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Up Beats Explained

Submitted by Walt on Wednesday, 18 March 20094 Comments

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What is a Down Beat in Music?

When you bop your head to a piece of music, or when you dance to something, you are following a pulse (or a beat). The pace at which your head is bopping to the music. To understand beats more feel free to look at Beats #1 and also Beats #2

Dance music is a genre that utilizes the down beat almost every time. Simply explained, the down beat is the ‘pulse’ that hits on the

There are 2 parts to a beat: The Up Beat and the Down Beat.

Saturday Night Fever” is an excellent example to show off the beats. The bass drum hits on the down beat, and the Drums’ Hi-Hat hits on the up-beat. The upbeat is literally the center of the beat, and the downbeat is literally the beginning of the beat.

Examples of Dance/Electronica Music emphasizing the strong DOWN Beat:

  • Lady Ga Ga “Just Dance
  • Saturday Night Fever
  • DJ Tiesto “Adagio for Strings

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  • 4 Comments »

    • john smith said:

      Hey man so basically when notes are tied you play the upbeat not counting the note out… right? Also 50 seconds in you have the notes tied, yet you still have the tied note labeled as the second beat, isn’t that a contradiction? Wouldn’t it just be an upbeat that is not counted like you later say?

    • john smith said:

      the u… does mean upbeat.. right? lol

    • Walt Ribeiro (author) said:

      Ties simply extend the notes. You would play the first note, but let it sustain throughout the tied note.

      You would still count any beat, or upbeat.. you just wouldn’t play it :)

    • Kerry said:

      I have been a big fan of Ska music for many years. I have never been really knowledgeable about music though, as I never took any formal music lessons other than choir in school and they don’t teach you much about counting music lol I found this SOO informative. Thank you so much.

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