Rhythm & Meter
Swing Timing: What the Notation Does Not Say
Jazz notation asks for swing and leaves the ratio to the players, because the timing is tempo-dependent and a fixed written value would be wrong at most speeds.
Swing
A performance feel in which paired eighth notes are played unevenly, with the first longer than the second.
Also called: swing feel, swing rhythm, swing eighths
Swing is a rhythmic feel, closely associated with jazz, in which pairs of written eighth notes are played unevenly. The first is held longer than the second, so each pair is long and short rather than equal. The ratio varies with tempo, style and performer, and it ranges from close to a triplet pattern, two parts to one, to something nearer even. A beat at 160 beats per minute lasts 375 milliseconds. At a 2:1 ratio its eighths fall at about 250 and 125 milliseconds. The same notes written straight would sound even. The swing is an interpretation of the score, not a change in the notation, and it is separate from the placement of accents, which is a different device.
Related terms
- TripletThree notes played in the time of two notes of the same value, marked with a figure 3 over the group.
- GrooveA repeated rhythmic pattern, usually syncopated and locked to a shared pulse, that makes a passage feel steady and move the body.
- SyncopationAn accent placed where the meter does not expect it, on a weak beat, an offbeat or across a bar line through a tie.