Determining swing ratios?

• Jul 21, 2019 - 21:04

I'm looking for any documentation that would help me understand how to figure out swing ratio settings based on various swing notations that use note symbol equations.

For example, swing ratio for two eighths = triplet of one quarter and one eighth, etc.


Comments

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

Thank you for replying, but I don't know what to make of your answer, nor how to apply that to other cases. Would it be possible to elaborate? (For example, what would be the value to enter into the swing ratio % setting? 67/33 = 203%; 50/67 = 75%; or is it just the numerator, 67, entered in the % box? And then how are other swing notations converted to a percentage?)

Note that even if a piece of music says to use triplets (66.66%), it's normally just a rough approximation. That is, they likely don't really want triplets, there just isn't a way to notate true swing, which is normally more like 55-60% depending on tempo, style, etc.

On the other hand, there certainly are some cases where triplets are meant. These should probably have been notated in 12/8 which would avoid the next for triplets or for a "swing" notation. But to get this with swing, use 67% as mentioned, The rule is, you enter a number corresponding to what percentage of the beat the first note should take. So with triplets, the first note takes 2/3 (67%) of the beat. With dotted quarter / sixteenth, the first note takes 3/4 (75%).

In reply to by SteveBlower

Interesting article! FWIW I did a similar experiment of playing a bebop tune at different tempos with different swing ratios using a computer-based simulation, back in 1980's (!), which is where I came up with my numbers from. I used the melody rather than ride cymbal, which is indeed typically more exaggerated than the melody - just as the article mentions.

Do you still have an unanswered question? Please log in first to post your question.