The struggle of Gps learning music and sheetmusic

[brandystarbrite]

Enola Gay is that syncopated or not ?

Yep. Apparently, it is.

[musikbear]

Enola Gay is that syncopated or not ?

well, not entirely in my understanding of the term
a song as such should not be considered syncopated or not syncopated.
The term syncopated is regarded a sound

Lets say we have
duuuu..... duuuu..... duuuu..... duuuu

then we could syncopate to:

DudududuuuDudududuuuDudududuuuDudududuuu

we have same pitch! but a different expression due to different rhythm

ao

Dudu..duuuDudu..duuuDudu..duuuDudu..duuu

Then the syncopation has a groove. Very common in jazz, and everything out of jazz (r&b hiphop etc)

With no doubt hiphop is the most syncopated. The hole idea of hiphop is syncopated words/ sounds and grooves over a (break)beat

[Gps]

I draw two conclusions from you're answer.

First I do not grasp syncopation 100% yet, but I am getting close.
Second, every time syncopation comes up, people start to list my most favorite music genres. lol

I love hip Hop but not what they call r&b these days.

I assumed enola gay to be syncopated because of a midi file I saw.

Hope this make clear were I get confused.
The picture is from the midi file in lmms.
The du da du di du da, I am talking about.

I am torn between two thoughts.
It has notes not just on 1 2 3 4 but also in between so its syncopated,

Or this not a change in rythym as mentioned before by slipstick, so its not syncopated ?

[musikbear]

so its not syncopated ?

Yes, not syncopated. All the notes has the same length, it still could be, but there are no grooves either, because you can have completely identical note-length, but grooves spaces them rhythmically

[slipstick]

That's pretty much the opposite of syncopated. All the notes are same length and same spacing so there's no rhythmic variation at all. That's just playing straight 1/8th notes. For syncopated you need at least some changes in note length or spacing. To hear what serious syncopation does to a tune try these:
Bach Bouree in Em - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7aDW1kWbAU
Jethro Tull syncopated version of that same bouree - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2RNe2jwHE0

You only need to listen to the first 20 seconds or so to hear the difference.

Steve

[Gps]

Thank you guys.

I think I get it now

Syncopation is about a change in rhythm (note lengths / spaces).

I am surprised I recognized that bouree instantly. Not sure from what, maybe I know more classical tunes then I thought.

Its interesting though, I think I hear the difference in what I would call rythym in the jethro version.

[Gps]

I am starting to have more and more fun with making music in LMMS.

When I don't like something I made, I am starting to get better and better at shaping it into something I do like.

It makes me smile, that a lot of the feedback given to me, on this great forum is finally falling into place.

Looking back at my struggle, I should have learned to play a keyboard-synthesizer years ago. Piano lessons would have done it too.

Many times I got so frustrated, I was close to totally smashing my pc and the two keyboards into pieces.

This had nothing to do with LMMS or the pc though. My frustration was about the music and sound I got from LMMS,

Why did tracks from other people sound so much better ? I am not talking about taste, I have seen people make music with lmms, I totally don't like, and prob never will, but that did not stop me from noticing they were ( are ) doing a better job then me.

But prob the biggest frustration of all. if I had some tune in my mind I wanted to get into lmms, I failed every time, because I did not have a clue on note lengths and bpm. By the time I then had found the right note lengths and bpm, I had forgotten the tune.

I should look forward though, the tunes I currently get from LMMS, make me very happy.

Right now working on sequential, changing the first track.

To some up my progress in a screen shot, its even syncopated if I finally understand this term.
I can listen to this for hours lol
( synth1, Ouroboros bank, [DNC] regal )

Minor chord and then a tweaked chord, to stay in scale and to not having to go up too much in tone height.

[brandystarbrite]

But prob the biggest frustration of all. if I had some tune in my mind I wanted to get into lmms, I failed every time, because I did not have a clue on note lengths and bpm. By the time I then had found the right note lengths and bpm, I had forgotten the tune.

That problem happens to all of us. Even up to this day, that problem still bothers me.
The worst, is when you can't find a choir sound, or make a synth sound, that sounds like the one you want.
And then, as you just said, it happens,........you forget how the track/tune should sound.

[Gps]

LOL, yep that happens to me too.

Over all I am quite happy though. The songs I am starting to get out of lmms, are sounding better and better.

Listening to some old school hip hop, I think I am starting to hear why hip hop is syncopated.
I don't know how to put it in words though. When I try it, I would say the rythym of the word spoken is not exactly following the bassline, so its syncopated.

Run DMC - It's like that.
( original)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hN1SKVx31s

This remix might be known by more people though. ( Jason Nevins's )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwDVEmowHlo

dooka dooka dooka dooka and on top of this the rap,

When I listened to the original n the radio, I was still young
Memories, listening to pirate stations because main stream radio did not play hip hop, nor, was it called electro ?
wiki wiki wiki wiki

Newclues jam on it. 1984
( I still cant sit still while listening to it )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpxaaM6wkZw

Or the jam on revenge, electro funk according to the poster.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmwEG-vtZB0

[Gps]

Looking at funk and found this:

One Nation under a Groove
How funk came alive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_dXS8UMrxE

From james brown and sly and the family stone, and a Scotish cover band of only white guys, who started with covering James Brown.

Then scored a hit with a track of their own

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfAJLGFWxYo

I would never have guessed those guys to be white and Scottish. If you watch the documentary, you can see more people were surprised.

Edit: At 50 m, the difference between Funk and Disco gets explained.

Disco is 4 to floor and not syncopated. Thank to the guy on the right I finally really understand what 4 to floor means.
His explanation of syncopation is also the best I have seen.