Swing rhythm

:Swing time redirects here. For the film, see Swing Time.

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In music, swing rhythm is a convention that the half beats are played not equally as written, but with the first longer than the second and the shorter second note having an accent. Generally the first note of each of these pairs is twice as long as the second, giving a triplet feel. A rhythm that is not swung is called a straight rhythm.

Related Topics:
Music - Beats - Triplet

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In jazz, this interpretive device is assumed in most written music other than latin jazz, but may also be indicated. For example, Satin Doll, a swing era jazz standard with a pronounced swing rhythm, was published written in 4/4 time, but at least some versions also note medium swing.

Related Topics:
Jazz - Latin jazz - Satin Doll - Swing era

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In dance music, swing rhythm generally refers to the metre of the music, rather than to this convention of notation, so any music played with the triplet timing and swing accent will be referred to as swing rhythm however it is written, see below.

Related Topics:
Dance - Metre

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