Ask a classical pianist to play a jazz line from the page and you will hear every note in place, in time, beautifully even. And it doesn’t sound like jazz. Ask a jazz pianist to play the same line and it suddenly dances. The notes are the same. The difference is the swing.
Swing is a feel, and a feel is learned mostly by ear. But you can learn much faster if you know what you are listening for. This lesson breaks the swing feel into four things you can hear and practise: the long–short eighths, the triplet inside them, the accent on the “and”, and the left hand that pushes ahead of the beat.
Straight eighths and swung eighths
In most classical music, and in pop, rock and bossa nova, two eighth notes in a beat are even: each gets exactly half of the beat. Here is a bebop line played that way, straight, with nothing else around it:
Every note is correct, and it sounds like an exercise. Now the same notes, swung, with a bass player and a light left hand:
Hear the difference? The pairs of eighth notes are no longer even. The first note of each pair is longer, the second is shorter. Long–short, long–short. That is the core of swing.
Think of a triplet
How long is “long”? A good picture is a triplet. Split each beat into three equal parts. The first note takes the first two parts, the second note takes the last one: long for two, short for one.
Count it out loud while you tap the beat: “1-and-a, 2-and-a”. Play on “1” and on “a”, and stay silent on the middle “and”. That is a swung pair. Here it is with the band: one long–short pair, a rest, another pair, over a ii–V–I:
Listen to how the short note leads into the next beat. It is the short note, not the long one, that gives swing its lift.
The triplet is a picture, not a rule. Real swing moves with the tempo. At slow tempos the long note is often even longer than the triplet; at very fast tempos the eighths get almost even again. The players adjust without thinking about it, the way you adjust your steps to the pace you are walking. The examples on this page sit just under the triplet, the way most players swing at a medium tempo.
Lean on the “and”
Here is the second secret, and the one most learners miss: in swing, the short note is the strong one. Play the off-beat, the “and”, a little louder than the note on the beat. In classical music the beat is usually the strong part. In jazz, the accent often falls just after it.
Don’t overdo it, and don’t do it on every “and”. Accent one here, another there, almost by accident, and let the rest pass lightly. A small lean now and then is enough. If every “and” is hit hard, the line becomes stiff in a new way: you have only swapped one pattern for another. Imagine a horn player: the notes on the beat are breathed, and some of the off-beats get a little push of air. Listen to the example again: not every “and” is louder.
And keep the notes connected. Swing eighths are smooth, legato, with no gaps between the notes. A choppy line can’t swing, however perfect its rhythm is.
The left-hand push
Your left hand swings too. Instead of playing chords on the beat, play short chords just before the beat: on the “and” of 2 and the “and” of 4. Each chord arrives an eighth note early and pulls the music forward.
Dm7: F–C · G7: F–B · Cmaj7: E–B · Dm7: F–C · G7: F–B · Cmaj7: E–B
Play these chords short, staccato. The bass holds the beat; your left hand plays in the spaces between. This little push is a big part of why a jazz band sounds like it is moving forward, even when the tempo is relaxed. My lesson on comping rhythms has four more rhythms to try.
Laid back: a little behind the beat
Listen to a great player like Erroll Garner and you’ll notice something else: his right hand often sits a tiny bit behind the beat. Not late enough to sound like a mistake, just relaxed, as if there is all the time in the world. The bass and drums keep the time steady; the melody leans back against it.
This is the most advanced part of the feel, and nobody can count it. You learn it by listening and copying. For now, know it exists. When a line sounds rushed and nervous, the cure is almost always to relax and let it sit back a little.
How to practise swing
- Metronome on 2 and 4. Set it slow, around 60, and let it click on beats 2 and 4 only, where the drummer plays the hi-hat. Feel those clicks as the backbeat.
- One pair at a time. Play one long–short pair on one note, then rest, as in the example above. Then two pairs. Then a whole line.
- Sing it first. Sing the line with syllables, “doo-ba doo-ba”, putting the weight on “ba”. If you can sing it with swing, your hands can learn it.
- Add the left-hand push on the “and” of 2 and 4, short, while the metronome clicks on 2 and 4.
- Play along with records. Choose one track from the list below, play its tempo on the metronome, and copy the feel, not the notes.
- Record yourself. You hear swing far better as a listener than while you play.
Mistakes I hear most often
- Playing exact triplets like a machine. Swing breathes. The triplet is a starting point, not a grid.
- Accenting the beat. The classical habit. Lean on the “and” instead, but not on every one.
- Choppy eighths. Every note held until the next one. Smooth first, then swing.
- Swinging too hard. A heavy, jerky long–short sounds like a nursery rhyme. Relax it.
- Rushing. Nervous players creep ahead of the beat. Sit back.
- Left hand on every beat. It stops the music from moving. Push on the “and”.
Questions students ask
Should I write swing eighths as triplets?
No. Jazz charts use plain eighth notes, and players swing them by feel. Writing triplets everywhere makes the page hard to read and pushes you towards the stiff, mechanical swing you want to avoid.
Does all jazz swing?
No. Bossa nova and Latin jazz use even eighths, and many modern jazz pieces are played straight. Ballads are often swung so gently that the eighths sound almost even. The chart or the recording will tell you which feel to use.
How do I know if I’m swinging?
Record yourself playing with a recording or a backing track, and listen back. If your line sounds like it belongs with the band, you are swinging. If it sounds like it’s on its own, slow down and copy one phrase from the record, note for note and feel for feel.
Recommended listening
Ten lessons in swing. Pick one track, put it on every day for a week, and copy the feel: where the long and short notes fall, and how relaxed the time is.
- “Bye Bye Blackbird”, Miles Davis · ’Round About Midnight (1956): Red Garland, piano
- “If I Were a Bell”, Miles Davis Quintet · Relaxin’ (1956): Red Garland, piano
- “C Jam Blues”, Oscar Peterson Trio · Night Train (1962)
- “Moanin’”, Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers · Moanin’ (1958): Bobby Timmons, piano
- “Tenor Madness”, Sonny Rollins · Tenor Madness (1956): Red Garland, piano
- “Shiny Stockings”, Count Basie Orchestra · April in Paris (1956): a whole big band swinging together
- “Poinciana”, Ahmad Jamal Trio · At the Pershing: But Not for Me (1958)
- “Autumn Leaves”, Erroll Garner · Concert by the Sea (1955): listen to the right hand sitting back behind the beat
- “Blues by Five”, Miles Davis Quintet · Cookin’ (1956): Red Garland, piano
- “Freddie Freeloader”, Miles Davis · Kind of Blue (1959): Wynton Kelly, piano