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This article is about musical beats. For the film about The Beatles, see Backbeat (film).

In music a back beat (also called the, or a, backbeat) is a term applied to the beats 2 and 4 in a 4/4 bar or a 12/8 bar ^[1] as opposed to the odd downbeat, (quarter beat 1). ^[2] In a simple 4/4 rhythm, 1 2 3 4, the 1st beat is the down beat. If beat four immediately precedes a new bar it is also called an upbeat ^[3](see upbeat article for more information on what an upbeat is).

The up and down refer to movements of the conductor's baton. The effect can be easily simulated by repeatedly counting to four while alternating strong and weak beats:

• 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 -- the stress is on the "expected" beat

• 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 -- the stress is on the "unexpected" or syncopated beat

The style emerged in the late 1940s in rhythm and blues recordings, and is one of the defining characteristics of rock and roll and is used in virtually all contemporary popular music, bossa nova being a notable exception. Drummer Earl Palmer states the first record with nothing but back beat was "The Fat Man" by Fats Domino in 1949, which he played on. Palmer says he adopted it from the final shout or out chorus common in Dixieland jazz.

While "The Fat Man" may have been the first Top 40 song with a back beat all the way through, urban contemporary gospel was stressing the back beat much earlier with hand-clapping and tambourines. Other earlier examples of back beat include the final verse of "Grand Slam" by Benny Goodman in 1942. There is a hand-clapping back beat on "Roll 'Em Pete" by Pete Johnson and Big Joe Turner, recorded in 1938.

• Afterbeat refers to a percussion style where a strong accent is sounded on the second, third and fourth beats of the bar, following the downbeat.^[4]
• In Reggae music, the term One Drop reflects the complete de-emphasis (to the point of silence) of the first beat in the cycle.
• James Brown’s signature funk groove emphasized the downbeat – that is, with heavy emphasis "on the one" (the first beat of every measure) – to etch his distinctive sound, rather than the back beat, familiar to many R&B musicians, that placed the emphasis on the second beat.^{[5] [6][7] [8][9]}

1. ^ [www.grovemusic.com Backbeat] (English). Grove Music Online (2007). Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
2. ^ [www.grovemusic.com Downbeat] (English). Grove Music Online (2007). Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
3. ^ DOGANTAN, MINE (2007). [www.grovemusic.com Upbeat] (English). Grove Music Online. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
4. ^ [www.grovemusic.com Beat: Accentuation. (i) Strong and weak beats.] (English). Grove Music Online (2007). Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
5. ^ Lessons in listening - Concepts section: Fantasy, Earth Wind & Fire, The Best of Earth Wind & Fire Volume I, Freddie White. (1998, January). Modern Drummer Magazine, pp. 146–152. Retrieved January 21, 2007.
6. ^ According to the New York Times, by the "mid-1960s Brown was producing his own recording sessions. In February 1965, with “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” he decided to shift the beat of his band: from the one-two-three-four backbeat to one-two-three-four. “I changed from the upbeat to the downbeat,” Mr. Brown said in 1990. “Simple as that, really.”
7. ^ James Brown, the ‘Godfather of Soul’, Dies at 73. New York Times (December 25, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-01-10.
8. ^ According to Maceo Parker, Brown's former saxophonist, playing on the downbeat was at first hard for him and took some getting used to. Reflecting back to his early days with Brown's band, Parker reported that he had difficulty in playing "on the one" during solo performances, since he was used to hearing and playing with the accent on the second beat.
9. ^ Gross, T. (1989). Musician Maceo Parker (Fresh Air WHYY-FM audio interview). National Public Radio. Retrieved January 22, 2007.

• Anacrusis
  
• Syncopation