

Sampling reggaeīecause of this unique swing, reggae songs are a popular target for hip hop producers that are looking for samples. This is exactly what makes reggae music so attractive to such a wide scale of different audiences. In addition, reggae also tends to have more emphasis on the first beat, as opposed to many songs in swing. However, the delay usually tends to be less strong in reggae songs as in music with the pure swing approach. In reggae music, every second and fourth note are slightly delayed, just as in swing music. Because what makes reggae so danceable and addictive, is the fact that reggae combines the straight and the swing approach! Essentially this is what makes music that is played in swing so danceable. This is because the offbeat notes (every second and fourth note) are played as if they were part of a triplet and hence, they are slightly delayed. It is mostly found in jazz and sounds something like this:Īs you can hear, you can still count to 4, but the feel is really different (and it probably makes you want to move or at least nod your head to the free drum samples). The swing approach is more difficult to explain.

The straight one, is as you could probably guess, the most straightforward and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ song is a nice example. The two most significant approaches to the 4/4 time are ‘straight’ and ‘ swing’ rhythm in drum samples. This is an example:īut within this 4/4 time, huge variations of feel are possible. The most easy and well-known one is quadruple time, or 4/4.

Straight and swingįirst of all, let’s go back to the core of all music: time signatures and beat variations. But, there are some principals and lessons to be thought that can clear up mythical concept of swing. Of course, how certain rhythms or feels affect you is personal, and it might be different to how others are experiencing it. While these words can actually mean different things, they’re often used interchangeably to describe how a piece of music affects your eagerness to start moving to it. How come it seems that almost everybody bounces the same way as soon as a solid reggae song is played? What exactly is it that triggers us, time and time again?It is the rhythm of the drum samples, the feel or the swing, if you may. What is it about reggae music that just makes your head swing and your feet want to move? the secret lies in that the top reggae producers use the best drum samples to simply get you into the groove man! The magic of the reggae feel: Making you move!
