Quick Songwriting Tips: Shift Melodies to Not Start on the Downbeat | Tip 7/8 | Berklee Online

[@paulawilliamson637]

Thank you so much for this wonderful information !!! I can really grasp this stuff because of your special way of teaching. I have written many songs & in need of some knowledge to add some flavour, curiosity & interest to my compositions. Your skills are brilliant & I am very excitedly running through the kitchen towards the dining room heading towards my silent writing partner, - Chopin, an ancient baby grand piano, to try these new skills out !!! .......

[@jlebaron1]

watching your video left me wracking my brain trying to remember a past song that I knew starts on the off beat and changes the whole feel of the song, finally came to me, "since you're gone" by the Cars. Pretty cool effect

[@alfonshomac]

I understand the downbeats to be, say in 4/4: [ ♩♩♩♩ ] and the upbeats to be [ q ♪ q ♪ q ♪ q ♪ ] , where the q represent 1/8 rests. In my head, You're smacking that guitar on beats 2 and 4 like a snare would usually do in pop and rock. In essense, what I'm trying to say is that I still understand your phrases as starting on downbeats, just not on the first one. Is my understanding wrong? I really like your videos, btw. Thank you for them.

[@pacomaco5126]

From my understanding, the downbeat is the first beat in a bar and the upbeat is the last beat in a bar. Then there's 4 on-beats in a bar which is the 4 strongest points in a bar, and lastly the off-beat which is between the on-beats. I'm not sure this is correct, but this is how I interpreted it.

[@artistaccelerator]

Hey Guys! Officially: The downbeat is the first beat of a measure, and the upbeat is the rhythmic pulse (the beat!) preceding the downbeat of a measure (so in 4/4 time, the upbeat would be beat 4; in 3/4 it would be beat 3; in 6/8 the upbeat would be beat 6; etc.) Unofficially, you'll hear it called how you said it. :) I've also heard "offbeats", and "anticipations", and others. Hope that helps! Thanks for commenting. Best to you and your music! Cheers, ~Shane

[@starcrash13]

@@artistaccelerator In common usage, an "upbeat" is an unaccented beat that precedes and accented beat. In typical 4/4 it is the "ands" of each measure. I've never, ever heard it used to describe the last beat of a measure.

[@AutumnLuz]

You are not wrong 🙂

[@starcrash13]

A little confusing because you are counting half time compared to the rhythmic "backbeat" feel of what you are playing

[@AutumnLuz]

Yes he definitely changed the counts because the off beats are hard and it made me laugh 😆

[@erock11520]

Great way for thinking outside the box

[@bboymac84]

Kool, keeps em on their toes

[@artistaccelerator]

Right on Mac! That's the idea! :) ~Shane

[@jamalaggoun1404]

No offense but I think there is a lot of confusion going on here. First, I am pretty sure the downbeat is not the first beat of the measure. If you count a measure like : "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and" the downbeats are the numbers and the "ands" are the off-beats. Secondly, past 1:40 it was really difficult to follow. 2:01 Errrrr, that was beat three not beat two ? 2:24 That was on beat one again and not beat three ? 2:37 Sorry but that was on beat three not beat 4. I don't know if this is a montage issue but it seemed really unclear to me. If you do the count-in like he does at the start of each demonstration like "5 , 6, 7, 8" then you have to stick to it, you can't suddenly start counting half time. Not trying to diss anyone here just trying to clarify. Regardless. those little tips are really useful and inspiring. Really good content.

[@seblxx]

Jamâl Aggoun yea sometime he started on 3 instead of 2 but it’s a normal human mistake haha

[@Jacob-iv7qg]

first of all, he is a Berklee teacher, so he knows what he says And also, you should check it, the downbeat is the first beat of the measure, (you can also borrow the term for every beat)

[@jdtp9586]

in the beat 2 example you did the 3

[@Thir13eenBeatz]

Iove love love

[@artistaccelerator]

Thank you Thirteen Beats! Glad you enjoyed it! Good luck with your music! ~Shane :)

[@ppsayl1235]

Nice work. Thanks for sharing. I will give this a try as it is obviously different than syncopation with changing measure timings. This would not be as hard and still has the same "flavor" of the original melody, but with the added anticipation and resolution.

[@artistaccelerator]

You're very welcome! Glad you liked it! Good luck with your writing! :) ~Shane

[@MrMikomi]

Your counting is not the best but we get the gist of it I think.