Accent
Playing one note or chord noticeably louder, or harder, than the notes around it to mark a rhythmic position.
An accent is a dynamic instruction, written in notation as a wedge or a dot, and its purpose is to say which part of the bar should feel like the anchor. On guitar the same accent can be made three ways: by picking harder, by using a downstroke where the rest of the pattern alternates, or by letting a chord ring while the others are chopped. Players who accent the same beat every bar create a groove; players who move the accent around create tension.
Example: A reggae part that chops the off-beats but hits the third beat of every bar noticeably harder is using accents to shape the feel.
See also
Related
- PageSyncopation
- PageDownstroke
- PageStab
- PageAction height
- PageAlternate picking
- PageAmp modeler
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley