How do you even play that on drums EDIT: im dumb, you can play that with tuplets of 10 or 5, it sounds really interesting and I'd like to experiment with it. And a swing with tuplets of 9 what percentage would it be? great vid btw
If you are interested, I am almost sure that in the song With the love in my heart of Jacob Collier at minute 3:20 it is a septuplet swing, in my opinion the best one I heard, soo fucking groovy
@@m.dave2141 I love how at the beginning of that part, it sounds like a jumbled mess of notes and sounds trying to come together, and they finally do right as the lyrics come right in
And regular triplet swing would be more accurately described as 67% rather than 66%. I hate how this rounding mistake happens every time in the general public.
This is definitely one of the most well crafted, no-bullshit videos I've seen on this platform. You have a real talent for explaining things. Keep it up man!
my jazz instructor talked about how as the tempos got faster if you kept sticking to the straight triplet pattern actually swinging the notes it started sounding weird which was why people played straight 8ths at fast tempos. could you demonstrate something similar?
What is fun about that is that diferent players play with diferent swings at the same time, usually at tempos over 200 bpm the drummer keeps a somewhat triplet swing while the soloist plays straight. But that is very hard to replicate with a computer as it is done by feel.
Yes, swing naturally changes depending on tempo. If you listen to faster tunes, you will notice that people play almost straight. But all in all, this isn't a thing that people consciously think about. If you think about it, playing with a high swing percentage really fast is simply difficult, so the swing percentage naturally goes down as people play faster. In slower tunes, people may play with a "higher swing percentage". For example Frank Sinatra's Fly Me to the Moon has a pretty high swing percentage (higher than triplet swing). Same thing with Pride and Joy by SRV. Wouldn't say they are slow tunes, though (they are more like mid-tempo), so it also depends on style. But as you get faster, high swing percentage just gets unnatural. And you don't want swing to sound like you are trying too hard - it should feel good and effortless.
@@MaggaraMarine This. Playing e.g. a typical swing ride pattern with a lot of swing is easy at lower tempos and becomes increasingly more difficult and eventually impossible at higher tempos, your hands/fingers can only do so much.
@@ertertz9408 You could certainly explain some of the basic principles to a five year old. The way you do it is by: - Knowing your subject matter so intimately that you can condense the main ideas, or heart of the issue down into one simple point or idea. Think of one thing that is essential or right at the heart of the concept that you would like people to understand, that if they understand this then they've got a great start. - Think about what the child already knows about that you can make comparisons with. That is how we as humans build our base of knowledge and understanding- it's by gathering, classifying, comparing and building on past knowledge and understanding. So you can help a student do this by comparing what you are explaining to what they already have experience of. In this case, maybe it is trading snacks or using physical cash to buy something, or paying for things on a video game. - Ask questions to find out what they already know and if things are making sense. You are essentially working as a translator. You need to translate your wealth of knowledge, which in your mind uses all kinds of complex language and concepts that you have built on to gain this level of understanding. Now you have to imagine not having that language or foundational concepts, how can you impart some level of crucial understanding to this kid? You need to get inside their mind and re-interpret your fundamental view of the subject, that's why you need to know it so well. It's like being able to drive a car vs being able to pull it apart and put it all back together again. That's what you need to do with a complex topic - know it so well that you can pick apart each element, know which ones are the most important, and package it all together again in a way that is digestible to whomever you are explaining the subject matter to.
This was so simple to understand, and even with an understanding of swing percentage, this provided a way to contextualize it in a new and enlightening way. Love it.
I Think 80% swing is in piece like foxey lady and pride and joy of SRV. Really cool seeing that each musician has its own swing, i think, according to different lifestyle and background.
Fantastic demo. They go by so quick though, before I can really feel them. Can you do a vid where it hangs out longer on each one? Or examples of tunes in the wild would be amazing.
I didn't want to click because I felt it may be too quantitative but after watching I'm glad I did. This is the best short video on swing for musicians. If we don't have objective measures for things we more easily forget / lose them. I won't tell my band "swing at 62.5% !" but in the back of my head I know it exists like this now
I used to play cantaloupe island all the time in band back in school. I’m so glad u mentioned the name at the end cuz it sounded crazy familiar and it would’ve taken me forever to remember it on my own 👌🏼👌🏼
This is really useful... took me until about halfway through the first time to realize the music was matching the ratio... I need to pay more attention when watching your videos, especially if you're going to make more like this (though I love your transcriptions)
As I was watching I was like, "this music over the visual isn't helping me hear the percussive groove, it sounds like it's still just playing straight eighths, and then It changed back to straight eighths and my life was a lie.
You're right, this hasn't been watched enough! I love the way you visualize this, but how did you calculate the percentages? The golden ratio thing is something I've tried doing in my DAW by simply drawing the ratio on a piece of paper and zooming the piano roll until the sizes matched up, hehe
Swing is really complicated because theres so many viewpoints but i think the one that the really upper level jazz players like a handful of professionals know its a more of an accent on note rather than a distribution of time. People like barry harris or bill king or even chris potter i think realized this
70% did it for me
Golden ratio swing is 61.8 not 62.5%
75% if using classical music notation.
How do you even play that on drums EDIT: im dumb, you can play that with tuplets of 10 or 5, it sounds really interesting and I'd like to experiment with it. And a swing with tuplets of 9 what percentage would it be? great vid btw
@@m.dave2141 55.5%
Nerd alert!
@@maxprofane 😋🤓
Shame you didn’t go to 99% just for the lols
Basically a super-ultra-hyper-mega-metatuplet swing or in short - Jacob Collier
Shame for no pre-swing.
Frankly, I'm surprised dotted eighth (75%) was unrepresented.
@@tiyenin that’s not swing thats classical 🤮
@@GeorgeCollier why that emoji?
I actually kind of liked the lopsided nature of 57%
jacob collier's favourite swing percentage
If you are interested, I am almost sure that in the song With the love in my heart of Jacob Collier at minute 3:20 it is a septuplet swing, in my opinion the best one I heard, soo fucking groovy
@@m.dave2141 I love how at the beginning of that part, it sounds like a jumbled mess of notes and sounds trying to come together, and they finally do right as the lyrics come right in
Really nice! Would be cool though to hear the 'negative swing' below 50%
Just wanted to comment that! :D
Cumbia Villera vibes
Same, came here to say this.
2:1 ratio pujj
Love "inverse swing" (33%)
Hate to be a pedant but golden ratio swing is 61.8%
Haha you don't hate it
And regular triplet swing would be more accurately described as 67% rather than 66%. I hate how this rounding mistake happens every time in the general public.
@@vincenttavani6380
😏😂
@@1999yasin thank god we're not building bridges based on George's math ;-)
Engineers estimate π≈3 i think well be fine
This is definitely one of the most well crafted, no-bullshit videos I've seen on this platform. You have a real talent for explaining things. Keep it up man!
Would love for each example to be longer so i could feel each swing percentage
Click the timecodes in the description at the end of each section and it'll repeat seamlessly
@@GeorgeCollier it isn't seamless for me, I'm on Android
@@GeorgeCollier Yeah, clicking the timecodes doesn't make it repeat at all.
@@GeorgeCollier on Android it often leads to the video reloading from scratch
Brilliant work depicting swing feel by percentage with visual and audible illustrations, George! Hats off to you, man!
I love that Cantaloupe Island is the music being used here.
When the groove snaps back to 50%, that's tension and release right there! I love that effect.
my jazz instructor talked about how as the tempos got faster if you kept sticking to the straight triplet pattern actually swinging the notes it started sounding weird which was why people played straight 8ths at fast tempos. could you demonstrate something similar?
What is fun about that is that diferent players play with diferent swings at the same time, usually at tempos over 200 bpm the drummer keeps a somewhat triplet swing while the soloist plays straight. But that is very hard to replicate with a computer as it is done by feel.
Yes, swing naturally changes depending on tempo. If you listen to faster tunes, you will notice that people play almost straight. But all in all, this isn't a thing that people consciously think about. If you think about it, playing with a high swing percentage really fast is simply difficult, so the swing percentage naturally goes down as people play faster.
In slower tunes, people may play with a "higher swing percentage". For example Frank Sinatra's Fly Me to the Moon has a pretty high swing percentage (higher than triplet swing). Same thing with Pride and Joy by SRV. Wouldn't say they are slow tunes, though (they are more like mid-tempo), so it also depends on style. But as you get faster, high swing percentage just gets unnatural. And you don't want swing to sound like you are trying too hard - it should feel good and effortless.
@@MaggaraMarine This. Playing e.g. a typical swing ride pattern with a lot of swing is easy at lower tempos and becomes increasingly more difficult and eventually impossible at higher tempos, your hands/fingers can only do so much.
Most of the fast jazz recordings I heard from the greats all played straight 8ths, at that speed the only swing you can push out is through accents.
i cant really explain this but Thank god there’s this video for my stupid friend
Relatable hahaha
They say if you cant explain something to a 5 year old, you dont know the topic well enough...
@@antimatter2376 As a teacher I completely agree.
@@gandalfthegrey2171 brb explaining binex to some 5 year olds
@@ertertz9408 You could certainly explain some of the basic principles to a five year old. The way you do it is by:
- Knowing your subject matter so intimately that you can condense the main ideas, or heart of the issue down into one simple point or idea. Think of one thing that is essential or right at the heart of the concept that you would like people to understand, that if they understand this then they've got a great start.
- Think about what the child already knows about that you can make comparisons with. That is how we as humans build our base of knowledge and understanding- it's by gathering, classifying, comparing and building on past knowledge and understanding. So you can help a student do this by comparing what you are explaining to what they already have experience of. In this case, maybe it is trading snacks or using physical cash to buy something, or paying for things on a video game.
- Ask questions to find out what they already know and if things are making sense. You are essentially working as a translator. You need to translate your wealth of knowledge, which in your mind uses all kinds of complex language and concepts that you have built on to gain this level of understanding. Now you have to imagine not having that language or foundational concepts, how can you impart some level of crucial understanding to this kid? You need to get inside their mind and re-interpret your fundamental view of the subject, that's why you need to know it so well. It's like being able to drive a car vs being able to pull it apart and put it all back together again. That's what you need to do with a complex topic - know it so well that you can pick apart each element, know which ones are the most important, and package it all together again in a way that is digestible to whomever you are explaining the subject matter to.
This was so simple to understand, and even with an understanding of swing percentage, this provided a way to contextualize it in a new and enlightening way. Love it.
Simple but very effective visualisation. *sees description*
*insta-sub*
I wanted to watch the video but I couldn't stop staring to the TH-cam bar moving exactly with the beat. Fucking mesmerizing O.O
it was on purpose lol its 120bpm so the timecodes all line up
I Think 80% swing is in piece like foxey lady and pride and joy of SRV.
Really cool seeing that each musician has its own swing, i think, according to different lifestyle and background.
I was gonna say, I've heard a ton of blues in that 70%-80% range
Fantastic demo. They go by so quick though, before I can really feel them. Can you do a vid where it hangs out longer on each one? Or examples of tunes in the wild would be amazing.
this is a high grade youtube video. under a minute, incredibly deep understanding conveyed. bang.
I didn't want to click because I felt it may be too quantitative but after watching I'm glad I did. This is the best short video on swing for musicians. If we don't have objective measures for things we more easily forget / lose them. I won't tell my band "swing at 62.5% !" but in the back of my head I know it exists like this now
I used to play cantaloupe island all the time in band back in school. I’m so glad u mentioned the name at the end cuz it sounded crazy familiar and it would’ve taken me forever to remember it on my own 👌🏼👌🏼
this has TED-ed levels of quality
Love cantaloupe island in the background, that is the song for beginning jazz at my school
I had no idea that this is what “swing” meant. Pretty cool to learn. And awesome to listen to lol
60% felt the most fitting for me.
These are cool! I like it
I actually never knew what swing was up until watching this video, that's an actually REALLY good way of vizualizing it
Your channel is honestly my absolute favorite new discovery on TH-cam
This is sooo good! We have text, visuals and audio swinging together in Harmony
Who needs string theory when you have swing theory
This is really useful... took me until about halfway through the first time to realize the music was matching the ratio... I need to pay more attention when watching your videos, especially if you're going to make more like this (though I love your transcriptions)
Epic! Best, and shortest, video about “swing” I’ve seen! 62.5 felt right, 70 was so good though. I have to give that a try. Thanks for the video!
The information passed by too quickly. Would have helped if we could hear each of the examples for a few bars maybe and feel the swing
Awesome vid man! Quite enjoyed the 80% swing, reminded me of some early 20’s swing
Loving that septuplet swing. So hard to subdivide, but the feel is dirty... in a good way. 😉
that is such a cool visualisation thank you george my beloved
As I was watching I was like, "this music over the visual isn't helping me hear the percussive groove, it sounds like it's still just playing straight eighths, and then It changed back to straight eighths and my life was a lie.
In my defense, I woke up with a headache and major congestion this morning.
You're right, this hasn't been watched enough! I love the way you visualize this, but how did you calculate the percentages?
The golden ratio thing is something I've tried doing in my DAW by simply drawing the ratio on a piece of paper and zooming the piano roll until the sizes matched up, hehe
YES!!! GEORGE THIS IS THE VIDEO!!! YOU SHOULD BE PROUD!!!!
Okay this is really cool
As a non musician/instrument dabbler, I found this video so interesting and intelligently made-simple yet effective visualization. Thank you!
Awesome! Good one pointing out this underappreciated vid today :)
thanks! before it was just jacob collier talking gibberish, now i actually understand it.
Great visuals!! The 80% example almost sounds like the drummer setting up a double time feel, does anyone else hear that?
Now I'm curious to hear swings below 50%.
See Brazilian music
Super helpful and informative, feels like I have a more intuitive understanding of swing for the first time
please make more of these, really good way on understanding musical theory
The pedagogy of this tool is amazing
Found myself liking the golden ratio one the most. Didn’t know about that before. Thanks
Golden ratio swing is -- as are most golden ratio things -- just perfect. Like 16x10 monitors. This makes up for the use of quavers, //barf
Why is this so satisfying?
I'm loving 57% in particular
that 62.5% swing got me swinging
I'm so proud I could hear the difference :D
Thanks. Learned something new
Thanks so much for this!
Great video! The circle is a good way to visualize it
It would be great to have a program where we could slide the percentages arround.
What an amazing visualization!
Great lesson! Thank you very much!
THIS IS SO WELL-MADE
That's an awesome visualisation
I thought I was a genius when I came up with golden ratio swing a year ago but apparently not lol
very cool and well made
Swing is really complicated because theres so many viewpoints but i think the one that the really upper level jazz players like a handful of professionals know its a more of an accent on note rather than a distribution of time. People like barry harris or bill king or even chris potter i think realized this
This is really nice
Dude keep on producing amazing content
Cool visual! :)
What a great video!! Loved it! 🖤🖤👏🏽
Love this!
this is awesome, thx!
i need more of that 70 in my life
BRO THIS IS A GREAT VIDEO SHORT AND SWEET YES
Dude you’re a genius.
Finally someone explaining Swing clearly
I Like The Music As An Example!
Personally adore 66%
70 is my favorite ngl
I love this
This is insanely cool
cool visualization !
This is actually really cool
Depends on tempo!
Shame the text at the end was partially covered by the other video suggestions, but this was super helpful. Thank you for sharing!
Woah this is so cool
Bach Bach Bach Bach Bach Bach Bach Bach
I never really knew what swing was until now
The GROOVE of 80% is too much for us mortals
70% all day!
70%, nice
66 or 70 are my faves.
Great explanatory video! Just turn down the sound of that organ like -10 dB hahahah
Oh hell yeah, this is a good one
Nice swing bro
this is cool, good job!
There's one person out there who really hates swing
Cantaloupe island
holding a 54% or 57% feel is really hard😯
Beautiful
This was great!
Thank you you are the best