Rock Rhythm Guitar: Pushing the Beat

What on earth am I talking about? Have you ever heard anyone talk about “pushing and pulling the beat”? I kinda touched on this one on the post about swing. Conventional wisdom tells us that you’re either playing “in time”, or “out of time”- but it’s actually slightly more complicated than that.

You can play “swung”, which is where you don’t quite divide the beat evenly into notes of the same length, or you can push and/or pull on the beat. When you “pull” on the beat, you play ever so slightly after it- so very slightly that it’s immeasurable! You can’t measure it, but you’ll hear it (it sounds like the guitar is “pulling” the song back slower). Pulling on the beat makes it feel like the song is “lazier” or even “slower” than it really is. A lot of blues music pulls the beat. Pushing the beat, however, is the opposite and has the opposite effect. You play ever so slightly ahead of where the beat is, which makes it feel like you’re “pushing” the beat to try to go faster.

Pushing the Boundaries of Rock

Sometimes, in rock music, things are pushed too far (sorry for the pun), and the chord actually happens before the beat itself! Here is a great example of this:

Tap the beat along to this song and pay attention to when the chords are played. You might be able to notice that the chords don’t change on the beat at all! The chord are actually changing before the beat (before the “1″ of the “1, 2, 3, 4″). This is why the rhythm of the song seems to be driving forward, because it’s being “pushed” forward by the chord changes. Clever, huh?

Pulling Back

Here is a great example of “pulling” back on the beat (although it’s much more subtle). Notice how it sounds slower and “heavier”- literally like a very slow, heavy, object is moving? That is the effect of the rhythm pulling on the beat.

It’s a very subtle variation on playing strictly “in time”- and it can totally change the “feel” of a piece. If you have any questions, please comment below.
Rob.

April 19, 2011 at 11:00 pm | Guitar Chords, Music Theory, Rhythm Guitar | No comments