Swing (jazz Performance Style) - Swung Note

Swung Note

A "swung note" or "shuffle note" is a performance practice, mainly in jazz-influenced music, in which some notes with equal written time values are performed with unequal durations, usually as alternating long and short. Music of the Baroque and Classical notes inégales era follow similar principles. A swing or shuffle rhythm is the rhythm produced by playing repeated pairs of notes in this way. Lilting can refer to swinging, but might also indicate syncopation or other subtle ways of interpreting and shaping musical time. A blues shuffle or shuffle pattern is a boogie groove.

For example, traditional jazz music is written in 4/4 but played in 12/8. Such music may be annotated "with a swing" or similar, but the swing also may be assumed.

In shuffle rhythm, the first note in the pair is exactly twice the duration of the second note. In swing the division is inexact, and varies depending on factors such as how fast or slow the music is, on the genre of music, or the individual tastes of the performer, from almost equal (typically at fast tempos) to almost shuffle (typically at slow tempos).

In most styles of music that use swing rhythm, the music is written with straight eighth notes, with an implicit understanding that eighth notes should be played with swing feel. Swing rhythms are sometimes notated using a quarter and an eighth note beamed under a triplet.

In jazz, the verb "to swing" is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong rhythmic "groove" or drive. See also swing (genre) for the 1930s-1940s jazz style, and swing (dance) for styles of dance from that same era.