Terminology

AlienWeapon

AlienWeapon

Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2013
This is something I have been unsure of, speaking with different people they all seem to use the same jargon but in different ways, which has led me to be a bit confused. What exactly is a break? I thought it was a drum beat, but I could be wrong, is it more general than that?
 
yes pretty much. there are many famous ones, the amen being the most famous. you can also make your own breaks, and if you buy a sample pack, a full drum beat that has kick, snare, percussion and cymbals would be classed as a break. dont get too tied up with the jargon. you will quickly realise that words sound more complicated than they are. eg. resample
 
A break is a type of drum beat that uses off beats and syncopation. This type of beat was used during the 'break' of a song, but soon became the main beat of many types of music.
 
Basically what the above two just said. Think of any jazz, rock or funk song from '60s- early '80s where there was suddenly a really nasty and wicked solo for the drums, and that's your break. Some rock songs also give their drummers a solo here and there which technically could also be classified as a break, but in terms of Jungle and DnB most breaks originate from early rock, funk/soul and a lot of types of jazz music.
 
Mason John said:
Basically what the above two just said. Think of any jazz, rock or funk song from '60s- early '80s where there was suddenly a really nasty and wicked solo for the drums, and that's your break. Some rock songs also give their drummers a solo here and there which technically could also be classified as a break, but in terms of Jungle and DnB most breaks originate from early rock, funk/soul and a lot of types of jazz music.
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This
 
What do you call the bit after the drop, the main part of the tune?
 
a break is a drum loop, a single 4 step bar, bars all music uses

shit means anything else

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bars.. music score sheets, have bars

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if you take a single bar, and divide into 4, those are steps the metronome clicks too, drum machine use step to show a single bar, to make a loop on, any smaller notes are tenth notes 1/16th etc

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Even though the word 'break' is commonly used for describing offbeat drum patterns as a general term, people commonly use the word to describe the drum beat of a specific song, like the Amen break (from Amen, Brother by the Winstons) and the Think break (from Think by Lyn Collins)
 
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