In music what's the upbeat?

Question

Like...the downbeat is the first note in a measure right?

Answer 1

NO. Most of these people are wrong. The person who said an upbeat is a beat that 'doesn't fit in a measure' is the most correct.

So, like everyone else, let's say we're in 4/4 time. There's 4 beats in a measure. A common type of upbeat will be a stray beat at the beginning of the piece. So you'll have (a beat)/(downbeat)(2nd beat)(3rd beat)(4th beat).

An upbeat doesn't HAVE to occurr at the very beginning of the piece, it could be a new section, but this time, it's more related to phrasing. The musical line will have ended, and you can have an upbeat into a new phrase. While yes, this will typically be on the last beat of a bar (beat 4), saying beat 4 is an upbeat is incorrect.

For your information, beats 1 and 3 are actually referred to as being strong beats, and 2 and 4 as being weak beats.

Answer 2

Wow. We're all over the place on this one. Coming from a professional drummer, playing over 40 years, consider this.

In 4/4 time, the downbeat is on the 1 and 3. In 3/4 time, the downbeat is on the one. In 5/4 time the downbeats are 1 and 4.

The backbeat is the "up beat".

The first note of a measure is not always the downbeat, for the simple reason that there are beats that happen before the one, such as in AND 1, 2,3,4 (an example of an eigth note or two 16th notes or 4 32nd notes and so on, [in 4/4 time]).

Neither is the downbeat always played on the kick drum. A good example is found with Reggae music, where the up and down beats are swapped. Sounds easy, but try to play it.

Answer 3

I can't believe the variety of answers to this question!

First of all, the terms "downbeat" and "upbeat" come from the motion of the director's baton. Usually he comes downward with the baton on the FIRST beat of the measure, so that is the down beat. It is always the downbeat, even if there are eighth or sixteenth note pickups, the first beat is the downbeat. Depending upon the time signature and the director's technique, there could be more than one downbeat per measure.

Terminologically speaking, the upbeat is where the baton is brought up just before coming down for the downbeat, and it depends upon the time signature. In practice, as one other answer notes, the upbeat is the eight note between the main beats. That is, where your foot would come up, in order to tap down on each beat.

Answer 4

If you are in 4/4 time, then 1 2 3 and 4 are the downbeats. The upbeats are the subdivision "+"

Think of it like tapping your foot, every time your foot comes down to mark the tempo, that's a downbeat. Every time your foot goes up is the upbeat. Simple, right?

The upbeat is not actually a separate beat, it's part of the actual beat. I'm assuming you know how to count 8th notes so every time you tap your foot, "1+, 2+, 3+, 4+," the numbers are the downbeats and the ands are the upbeats

Answer 5

The upbeat is the last note in a measure. In a 4/4 time signature the downbeat is beat one and the upbeat is beat 4. In a 6/8 time signature the upbeat would be 6 or if playing in two (the first beat is equal to 1-2-3 and the second beat is equal to 4-5-6) the upbeat would be 2. In a 3/4 time signature the upbeat is on beat 3 and so on.

Answer 6

No, the downbeat is not the first beat in a measure. The downbeat and upbeat alternate in a song, its hard to explain without a piece of music or something. Its just used for telling what part or note that you want to indicate or use. Don't know if its used for anything else.

Answer 7

Tap your foot in 4/4 time. Each beat has a downbeat and an upbeat. If you count out loud, say "one and two and three and four and." The "and" is the upbeat. Each measure in 4/4 has four downbeats and four upbeats.

Answer 8

1 and 3 are downbeats, therefore 2 and 4 are upbeats.

Answer 9

The downbeat is the accented beat in a measure of music. The upbeat is the opposite of the downbeat, unaccented. The upbeat can be a silent rest or a backbeat of less dominance. In most western music {4/4 time} the downbeat falls on 2 and 4 {accented}, upbeat on 1 and 3 {unaccented}. Also at times the downbeat maybe placed on 1 and 3, upbeat on 2 and 4. This creates the up down up down or umpa umpa feel in the music making it easy to listen or dance to.
Downbeats and upbeats can be placed anywhere in a variety of ways in various time signatures to create different feels. From straight forward to jagged to propulsion to syncopation or radom.

Answer 10

Let's assume we're in 4/4 time. The downbeats are 2 and 4. The upbeats are 1 and 3. When you go into a different time signature it becomes all different though.