Syncopation - the key to groovy rhythms

Let's talk about strong beats, weak beats, and accenting those weak beats to create groovy tension in your dance music. It's the best way to create a little counterbalance to your straight drum grooves and it generates a physical, ultra-danceable response.
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Contents:
0:00 Syncopation example
2:10 Syncopation is stressing weak beats
2:45 Rhythm theory definitions
4:56 Strong beats vs Weak beats
7:23 Stressing weaker beats
9:59 Next steps

[@OscarUnderdog]

Oscar's video courses ► courses.underdog.brussels 🖤🖤🖤 Underdog Discord channel ► discord.gg/z5N9CTA 👾👾👾 Torc ► soundcloud.com/torcaudio 🏴‍☠🏴‍☠🏴‍☠ Patreon ► www.patreon.com/underdogmusicschool 🌱🌱🌱

[@ProfessorSaibertin]

Thx man!

[@jacobdejaneiro]

love your knowledge

[@lundsweden]

This is ridiculously well explained. It's hard to explain too due to the fuzziness of musical concepts and the multitude of genres that have different cliches!

[@boundlessmind5083]

That's the best sentence I've ever heard to describe it. "We want a physical response to the music" ....Well said.

[@raul.77]

It takes me 20 years to find someone talking my musical language.... Really interesting ang usefull explanation. Thanks Oscar!!

[@kamsplanz]

The “try dancing to your own music” comment made a lot of sense. Another great, informative video!

[@MORTIFICER]

Coming from someone who has a decent grasp of theory from metal and classical standpoint you make the most comprehensive tutorials on how to apply all that to electronic composition.

[@OscarUnderdog]

Much appreciated 🫶🏻

[@lazyporcupine2360]

I gotta tell you as someone walking away from classical and lofi into EDM your channel is making my life a lot easier than any theory book possibly could because you explain it in a way that is human, for lack of a better term. Thank you.

[@Chi_Mecha]

"The idea is not to overwhelm people with hits on all the weak beats" Me, a psytrance producer: Wait,what?

[@DaddaPsy]

[@ezeparanoiac1462]

But you are “a psy producer” or a musician making psy music and living as “psy producer” ( I mean living by money from music) I ask this because people believes having a daw and making tricks makes them producer.. And success make it.. and success happens when you balance the “overwhelmed things”, air, spirituality and for sure good taste.

[@santiagomarcano6354]

@@ezeparanoiac1462so success is necessary to be a producer? I don’t think so

[@AlfonzTheGrateful]

@@ezeparanoiac1462 a producer is someone who produces music dude get the stick out your ass

[@ezeparanoiac1462]

@@santiagomarcano6354 well, what you think, not always have relationship with reality.. If you are not a professional or a person with success, you need to get a normal work to pay your bills! or you live by mom yet?? XD And if you work, you have not enough time to learn, promote, create and grow. So you are one who believe that getting ableton and making some free gigs or for coins, and taking some selfies, become you A PRODUCER? Your profession is what gives you money and a life.. Your hobby is music (if for you success is not necessary to be a producer) So, i will buy paints, and if anyone book me to paint, i will continue saying: "I am an interior painter in castles" XD Anyone can believe or lie to ownself (im a Producer, i am a producer, i am a producer" )what they wants.. The only importan is the truth. this is why some girls, when they meet a musician they run,,, Because of all the aspirants, with ANY professional experience (or payment) when they meet a girl, they don't tell "i work 8 hs in a office" they tell "im a musician" Then the girls (the basic ones) believe that all the musicians are poor.. and no, professionals are not poor.. Only people who take this as hippie or people with no talent. Nowadays ANYONE can grow and success! (if is an artist) so, its very simple.

[@onlinescammer8291]

I'm stressing over my weak beats all the time!

[@ernestvasko2472]

Your videos are always useful, they remind me all the different things that can be done to music

[@DeepDoseMusic]

I feel like ive finally found someone who can explain things in exactly the way I need to fully understand and also retain the knowledge. This was the most intuitive explanation of syncopation I've ever heard

[@MarcVFons]

Man, you are a great teacher explaining in a short time and methodycally tons of things that requires tons of tutorials of other artists that simply apply this unconciuous, mecanically by default or just saying "trust your ears" or "whatever sounds good to you". AWESOME!!!

[@vittya4373]

Maybe it sounds ridiculous, but most of the newcomers could learn a lot of the 2006-2008 period of minimal techno, not matter how hard techno are they making nowdays. At one single beat, the grid should't be only split into 1/4's. If you listen to those tracks, you can hear there are actually 1/8's, which gives the groove a lot more tension and funk into that. If we just slide right some hihats in this smaller scale, it can gradually lift up almost any groove. For example, Adam Beyer's "A Walking Contradiction" from 2005, no matter if we talk about A or B side. Those tracks are so simple, but the groove implicated in it just can't let go the listener. My advice for anyone who read this: try it out if you stuck with a seemingly boring groove!

[@woulg]

I think you might be talking about swing or shuffle? Also super interesting, and gets even cooler when combined w syncopation.

[@totallynottrademarked5279]

That was such a good time for dance music. Easily my favorite era. So many weird and quirky sounds coming out of everywhere. Now everything sounds so much like slow trance I just want to go to bed.

[@vittya4373]

@@woulg yeah, grid swing. That's the word I was looking for. 🙂

[@helisoma]

Thanks for making this all so accessible...i'm getting back into music production after trying it out many years ago and your channel is a godsend and my goto for inspiration...😎👍🏻

[@kintsugi-kw1zp]

Your dancing and smiling brings me joy every time I watch your vids

[@treesart6914]

This was great! Very clear.

[@LondraCalibro9]

one of the best yt music tutorial channels regardless of the genre you produce. thank you for the great work!

[@pavelpipovic5656]

Everytime I'm stressing my beats I am the one, that's stressed the most

[@GetIndieGaming]

Huge thank you for all of these tutorials - the attention to detail and easy to understand explanations is always hugely appreciated. Cheers!

[@tweak592]

Great video. Even for someone familiar with syncopation, it once again shows the importance of it when it comes to producing electronic music. Love the track at the end

[@pmaggs]

I'm just getting started on electronic music with pocket operators and Jummbox. I'm learning so much about stuff I even knew existed before in name only but didn't understand from this channel. Thanks!

[@analog-j]

Just wanted to say thanks for the clearest and most intuitive/practical explanation of syncopation I’ve seen. This was super helpful!

[@OscarUnderdog]

😁👍

[@MrSyNRG]

Oscar is the key to groovy rhythms. Best channel ever.

[@52188972]

Wtf. I did dancing for like 10 years and during that time, instructors used the word syncopation without ever explaining what it meant and you did it in 5 seconds... I wish I learned this in high school

[@OscarUnderdog]

Also wish I understood it sooner :D a lot of blind trial and error could have been avoided.

[@standjers]

Simple and very clear explanation, as always. One hour sitting in a college seat and I still had questions. Ten minutes of Oscar dancing and I get it.

[@TastySanchez]

I'm a DJ with no production training but this was really easy to follow and I felt like I learnt a lot. Thanks!

[@mikeaporter]

Hi Oscar, Thanks for a great video. You are so right when you say the terminology used to talk about these concepts can be very confusing. I've spent far (far) too long searching for info on how to create interesting ('groovy') rhythms. More often than not explanations start off with something that's already pretty danceable and head straight to the concept of groove as used/defined in Ableton - i.e. changing the 'feel' of an established (and usually already pretty 'groovy' to my ears) rhythm by moving the 2nd/4th sixteenths in every beat off the grid to some degree to add 'swing' . Good explanations of why the 'basic' rhythms (prior to the addition of any Ableton 'groove') are danceable/groovy are few and far between. Your video fills that gap. Really helpful - off to play in the DAW now! Thanks again.

[@Reg-Edit]

Great point about the dancing …… sometimes we get lost and forget that’s what we are doing it for … great video Oscar 🖐❤️

[@citan554]

Dude you’re just the best teacher I’ve seen on YT for this stuff, thank you. I’m def going to have to buy some of your courses soon

[@nashmichaeld]

BRO! Just heard of this and applied it to a song I’m making. WOW. Such a change! From 2D to 3D!! Thanks for sharing!

[@amarokker]

I have that feeling this lesson will not only change my music but I will even wash my teeth differently. Awesome explanation!

[@OscarUnderdog]

😄

[@Vincent_Lindeman]

These videos are great because they help me not having to stress about my weak beats

[@hygro9625]

Snare on the 2 and 4 is the most fundamental example of syncopation.

[@shonkyboy]

Oscar you are straight up the best teacher ever. Mate i went to find , you are on or as better than Knock Squared, St Joe , you do something better than anyone else

[@blakeeleven389]

You make this information so consumable - simplicity is truly key, thank you my friend

[@RandallFishwick]

Really enjoying your videos, Oscar. They always spark new creative ideas!

[@user-xt5ms1eo2e]

The concept of syncopation saved my life.

[@DielectricFailure]

I’m glad you map these out cuz I try to do it but it doesn’t look right. But it sounds right. I think this stems from when I wrote metal but people commented that my guitars were off. No matter how I listened to it… I didn’t see it but it was exactly what you’re talking about here. Thanks again for the awesome lesson! I hope you’re getting paid decent for the free lessons you put here.

[@andycordy5190]

Very thoroughly explained. The acid synth example was really direct. Did you catch the Bicep set at Glastonbury while it was online? The Beeb, or at least Mary Anne Hobbs, who's really on it, said that Four Tet ruled the dance floors at Glasto but as a show, Bicep knocked it out of the park. BTW nice shirt!

[@emilselistean4360]

But can we take a moment to appreciate his nails? 😍

[@EtreNameless]

As someone who started learning Music Theory in the Classical Tradition last year, I will tell you that you are doing fantastic. Classical training is basically treated as a way to weed out people from music programs by making music uninteresting, rigid, and completely robotic. You are explaining a simple concept in short words. This is great. Don't worry about Classical Theorists being mad at you; the true theorists will appreciate you for bringing this concept to modern music and doing so creatively. To add to your description of strong and weak; technically the first and third beats are treated as the strong beats in 4/4 music. This would imply heavier velocity of a kick for the 1 and 3. This may not work for Electronic music but that would be the Classical tradition for strong and weak within a meter. It gets much more complex depending on the measure and meter of the music etc.

[@muschimiau]

My first comment, yet I subscribed to the channel and watch every video. The topic today I found relatively simple and you explained it very broadly. I would like to see the same for more complex techniques. Other than that, keep up the good work.

[@AramZero]

Well, that's been helpful to a metalhead and orchestrator. Thanks mate!

[@lucasjose9119]

Essa explicação foi incrível! Obrigado amigo

[@allyouracid]

Thanks, Oscar. As always, a very informative video. Also, love your posters, I think I'll really print them out. Helps to have such things in direct sight.

[@hugosantos1476]

I'xe been using syncopation in all my tracks without even knowing it. Thanks for the info!

[@victorIIIofc]

Man this is so useful, thank you so much for taking the time for giving this information to us! There is a place where I can find all the posters you've been making?

[@jussiniemi9560]

I think the key to groovy rhythms is seeing you do the dance. Kidding. Great stuff here.

[@michaeladesanya7822]

This is so good and accessible information and answered a lot of questions about giving an extra element of sweetness to a beat

[@themattschulz3984]

At any given moment, there are two Oscars in the video :D Thanks a lot dude ... really helpful

[@Szuxon]

Literally putting headphones on, turning on YT with intention to research about syncopation and this pops up in my recommend.

[@creepyoldman4156]

as always, clear and informative, favourite music production channel

[@theasadoguy]

At the beginning of the video i already felt like I learned to move an arm I already had and didn't know how. Still watched it whole tho, thanks👍

[@Carlocoem]

This is gold, Oscar. You are an amazing teacher! love your videos (L)

[@BB-55]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.

[@joelmartina3455]

Absolutely legendary. thanks again

[@dieromerin3549]

love you Oscar, you ARE yourself a most beautiful syncopated Rhythm ❤

[@melekcicek6668]

you are best teacher i have ever seen , thank youu!!! 🥰

[@frekvensnord]

Thank you Always expanding my creative horizon❤️

[@hughjanus6975]

Ive been accidentally doing this in my production in years without knowing it was called something

[@kuverab.7730]

Nice and interesting philosophy. 👏 Nothing wrong regarding more classical speeches, plus, as you say we do music that ask for a physical response. So, dance to the music like Garnier used to.

[@mattshaw6259]

Was a must-know concept for jazz theory. Loved your explanation

[@micmacha]

This was a great example, thank you!

[@homelessballoon]

I enjoy your excellent video presentations! Thank you! They inspire me to improve my own music.

[@memogs4]

These videos made my vision wider

[@Seb95455]

love whene ur dancing in the background

[@Crabdust1]

Great lesson! Super clear examples.

[@AbdulKareemAbdulRahman]

omg . grt job at making this understandable for someone who's never learnt any music. subbed!!

[@SmokeConsciousHipHop]

This was a fantastic video. Thank you very much.

[@Richard-jt2um]

love the easy to follow tips, although the tips you gave are relative beginner tips I never considered the head-nod as a trick to make music. I always do a secret head dance when composing :) now I know its a usefull production dance!

[@madeline569]

Thanks so much for your tips and advice

[@whoadog8725]

You are a great teacher my friend.

[@n1c3s43]

as I always say; you are a legend

[@tuckerj456]

Ok...getting it

[@steffenlohaus]

Awesomely explained, thank you! 👍

[@DJ_BILLY]

intermediate here, thank you. Very clear explanation

[@michaelahanti9189]

Hey Oscar, were have you been all my life. Really enjoying and learning from your tutorials. I have a question. Is it worth investing in a VST drum machine/sequencer, or better to stick to samples?

[@real.demesure]

As always, thank you Oscar !

[@jakubzaluda5420]

Thanks, helped a lot 🙏

[@FuZZbaLLbee]

I think drummers use the "1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a." where the "e" and the "a"'s are the weak ones. That way you can easily specify which of the weak beats you are referring to.

[@DjAndyz]

Great examples!!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 thanks 🎶🔝💫

[@auralplex]

I'm glad I make rap/hip hop cause I would get so bored of making the same exact rhythm for every single beat I make.

[@Frankk463]

Legend

[@RemitheDreamfox]

serious big brain stuff lets gooooooooooo

[@philippebackprotips]

Eyes shirt nails match. Cool. And thx for all the awesome content. From Waver.

[@julienduvoyage]

Great content! I want more :)

[@rudyrudy6882]

Great work, the sync is for me a regular thing that I’ll use like it’s normal 🇧🇪🙏 You speak really great the hHiAt

[@misterguy9051]

i love upbeat kick and i love 5/4

[@ricardogdnb]

thanks for explaining things with a normal person vocabulary 👊

[@nsns7993]

The black and white edits 🤣👊

[@shiva007freephenix]

Well explained ! Bravo.

[@dhruvalance1323]

I love your approach and your videos, with respect I genuinely think that It is important to note that Syncopation is any rhythm that is not in downbeat. And I only say this comment because it will be on benefit of your audience and also yourself. So any upbeat is part of syncopation. So your 8note upbeat hihat that you consider straight is actually syncopated. So a truly straight rhythm would be the high hats quarter notes on downbeats, like some heavy metal rock rhythm. So level 1 of syncopation spicing your drums would be that Hihat on 8th note upbeat. So this makes your point even stronger, with real no syncopation it would be super boring, below the minimum required for Electronic Music. But yes the awareness on the space available on 4 16th notes every beat and bringing to the front the hierarchy of what you call weak 16th noes is super handy and clear.

[@quilubru]

Merci pour ce très bon conseil !

[@omaraziz95]

Oscar, you're the best

[@pltndbnn]

Bless Ya! Woof woof

[@JackMyersPhotography]

Would the weak 16th’s be the same as counting one and two and three and four?

[@cdr1105]

Hi Oscar, thanks for your videos I really think they help us all a lot !! I had for question: what is the track you're dancing at at the end of the video please?

[@OscarUnderdog]

A work in progress for my Torc project :) Follow it on soundcloud, as it will be inevitably published there! :)

[@dnelski5764]

Immediately liked the video because of the slick moves 🎉🎉🎉

[@cjacob288]

Great Explanation!

[@Leviathani]

MAte, I am so happy to find your channel!