Syncopation: what it is, how to count it and the songs that use it

The syncopated strums and exercises shown here are printed in the Hal Leonard Guitar Method, where Book 2 introduces syncopation once Book 1 has made eighth notes steady. The Complete Edition puts all three books in one volume, with 164 full-band tracks to play along with.

Syncopation is what you hear when a rhythm lands somewhere you did not expect. You clap along to a song, your hands land on the beat, and then the melody arrives a little early or between your claps. You can learn to count those notes and play them.

This guide gives a plain definition of syncopation, then teaches the “1 & 2 &” count that makes it readable. It shows the four common kinds side by side with a straight rhythm, with a sound example for each, and lists songs where you can hear them. It ends with a practice routine, a free printable practice sheet and answers on swing and the backbeat.

Syncopation is a rhythm that puts the emphasis where you don’t expect it, on a weak beat or between the beats. It usually works by starting a note on the “and”, holding it over the next beat, or resting where a beat would fall. Syncopation is what makes ragtime, funk and most pop melodies feel as if they push forward.

What syncopation means in music

Most music has a steady pulse, the beat you tap your foot to. In 4/4 time there are four beats in each bar, and they are not equal. Beat 1 is the strongest, beat 3 is the next strongest, and beats 2 and 4 are weaker. A plain rhythm puts its notes, and its weight, where the strong beats are.

Syncopation moves that weight. A note starts halfway between two beats, or it starts on a weak beat and keeps sounding through the strong beat after it, or the strong beat is left silent. Your body still feels the beat, so the note that arrives against it stands out. The guide to note values and time signatures covers the beats and bars this builds on.

The picture below shows one bar of 4/4 cut into eight equal slots, the four beats and the four halfway points between them. In the top row every note starts on a beat. In the bottom row two notes start between the beats and keep ringing through the next one.

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How to count syncopation: “1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &”

To read syncopation you need names for the spots between the beats. Count the four beats as numbers and say “and” halfway between them: “1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &”. Each number and each “&” is one eighth note, so a bar of 4/4 holds eight of them.

Tap your foot as you count. The foot goes down on every number and comes up on every “&”. A note on a number is a note with your foot down; a syncopated note is one that starts while your foot is in the air. Keep the foot steady and notice whether each note arrives with the foot on the ground or lifted.

Learn the count in three passes. First say the full count out loud at a slow, even speed. Then say it and clap only the notes of a rhythm, keeping the spoken count going under the claps. Last, drop the spoken “&” to a whisper and let the foot carry it. When the foot keeps going while the claps land between its taps, you are counting syncopation.

The Hal Leonard Guitar Method teaches the count with three short exercises on a single note. Its definition is close to the one above: stress on the “ands” of beats, made by tying eighth notes together or by placing quarter notes on the off-beats. The counts are printed under every bar, and a count in parentheses marks a beat where no new note starts.

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Read the second bar of exercise 13 as an example. The note on the “&” of beat 1 is tied into beat 2, so nothing new happens on beat 2, and the count shows it as “(2)”. The weight lands on the “&” instead. In the third bar a quarter note starts on that same “&” and rings through beat 2, which sounds the same and is easier to read.

Four common kinds of syncopation

Each of the four kinds below is shown as a pair: a straight bar on the left, the syncopated bar on the right, with the count under both. Listen to the straight bar first so your ear has something to compare against.

Notes on the “&”

The simplest kind starts notes between the beats. Rest for the first half of beat 1, then play notes that begin on every “&”. Quarter notes that start on the “&” are sometimes called even-note syncopation: the notes are evenly spaced, only shifted half a beat late.

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A note tied over the beat

Here a note starts on an “&” and is tied into the next beat, so the beat itself brings nothing new. The tie hides the strong beat and moves the accent to the start of the held note. This is the kind most often written with a tie in the score, and it is common in melodies that sound relaxed and conversational.

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The spiritual “Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho” is built on this figure. In its second, third and fourth bars a note starts on the “&” of beat 2 and is tied over beat 3 into a long note, so every line seems to arrive early. The Hal Leonard Guitar Method prints it right after the exercises above, and its recording plays the tune slowly and then faster.

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Play the recording and tap your foot on the beats. Listen for the long notes in bars 2 to 4: each one begins while your foot is still in the air.

A rest where the beat should be

A silence can syncopate too. When a strong beat is left empty, the note right after it carries the weight the beat would have had. Funk and soul horn parts and bass lines lean on this, with short hits placed just after the beats.

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The push: arriving early

The push, also called an anticipation, is the most common syncopation in pop, rock and gospel. A note or chord that belongs on beat 1 of the next bar arrives half a beat early, on the “&” of beat 4, and is tied over the bar line. The ear hears the new chord before the bar begins, so the chorus seems to start early.

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Guitarists meet the push in strumming. In the next two patterns from the Hal Leonard Guitar Method the hand keeps moving down and up. It misses the string on beat 3, so the upstroke on the “&” of 2 rings across the beat. The guide to guitar strumming patterns teaches both with the chords to play them on.

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Syncopation types at a glance

The table sums up the four kinds with the count to say for each.

Syncopation in songs you know

Syncopation is in almost every style, so the fastest way to hear it is to put on a song and tap the beat. Each title in the table opens sheet music on musescore.com, so you can see where the off-beat notes sit and play them back slowly.

Songs from our instrument lists are good practice too. The verse of “Happy” is nearly one repeated note, so the list of trumpet songs for beginners uses it as a syncopation lesson. The fingers have little to do, and all the attention goes to timing.

Where syncopation came from

Syncopation is old. Baroque composers used it, and Handel’s Hornpipe from Water Music is a well-known example. It became the defining sound of ragtime, the American piano style of the turn of the twentieth century, where a syncopated right-hand melody plays against a steady left hand. Scott Joplin was its leading composer, and his “The Entertainer” is among the famous piano pieces most learners want to play. From ragtime the off-beat accent ran into jazz, then into funk, rock and the pop songs in the table above.

How to practice syncopated rhythms

Syncopation gets easy through repetition at a slow tempo. Work through these steps with one rhythm at a time.

1. Set a metronome to 60 BPM and tap your foot with the click.
2. Count “1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &” out loud for two bars before you play anything.
3. Clap the rhythm while you keep counting. If a clap drifts onto the beat, slow down.
4. Play the rhythm on one note of your instrument, still counting under your breath.
5. Play the real line, the melody, riff or strum it came from.
6. Raise the tempo by 5 BPM once you can play it cleanly three times in a row.

It also helps to write the rhythm down. In MuseScore Studio, the free notation app, enter the bar on a single note, add a tempo marking set to 60 and press Play. The playback keeps perfect time, so you hear exactly where each off-beat note falls. Raise the number in the tempo marking as the rhythm settles.

Reading syncopation quickly is mostly a matter of seeing the same few note groups again and again until you recognize them at a glance, the way you recognize a word. A workbook of short drills builds that recognition faster than pieces do, because each page repeats one group. The Syncopation Workbook by Wesley Schaum is 24 pages of such drills for pianists at the early intermediate level. It is the next step once the eight rhythms on the practice sheet below feel easy.

The free practice sheet collects eight one-bar rhythms from easy to hard, with the count written under each. Print it, put it on the music stand and work down the page with the metronome.

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Frequently asked questions

What is syncopation in simple terms?

Syncopation is a rhythm that accents the parts of the bar you don’t expect: a weak beat, or the halfway point between two beats. Count “1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &” and tap your foot on the numbers. A syncopated note is one that starts while your foot is in the air.

What is an example of syncopation?

“Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho” is a clear one: in its second to fourth bars a note starts on the “&” of beat 2 and is tied over beat 3. Ragtime pieces such as Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer” are another, with a syncopated right-hand tune over a steady left hand.

How do you know if music is syncopated?

Tap the beat and listen to the melody or the riff against it. If notes keep arriving between your taps, or a long note starts just before a tap and rings through it, the music is syncopated. In the score you see it as notes on the “&”, ties across a beat or rests on beats 1 and 3.

Is syncopation the same as swing?

No. Swing changes how long the eighth notes are: the first of each pair is played about twice as long as the second, a long-short feel also called a shuffle. Syncopation changes where the accents fall. A rhythm can be swung, syncopated or both, and the 12-bar blues often combines the two.

Is a backbeat syncopation?

Teachers disagree. A backbeat accents beats 2 and 4, the weak beats in 4/4, usually with a snare drum, so some count it as syncopation. Others don’t, because every note still lands on a beat. Either way, the off-beat notes described above are a different, stronger effect.

Find the “&” in the next song you hear

To play syncopation, you keep the beat steady while some notes land between the beats. Learn the “1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &” count with your foot, hear the four kinds side by side, then work through the practice sheet at 60 BPM. After that, put on a song from the table, tap the beat and pick out the notes that start on the “&”.

To practise syncopation inside real songs, with a band track for each exercise, work through Book 2 of the Hal Leonard Guitar Method – Complete Edition.