(written with small "s") the rhythmic feeling evoked by swinging music, esp. Jazz or
(written with capital "S") the most popular jazz style ever that prevailed during the 1930s and early 1940s, Swing (genre).
A rhythmic device, swing or shuffle is an augmentation of the initial note in a pair and diminution of the second. Notes which are not swung are straight (no shuffle).
Mostly common this is done with eighth notes and ranges anywhere from treating the initial eighth as a tripletquarter note to a dotted eighth (hard shuffle). However, it is usually considered ideally as in between both feelings.
When the initial and final eighth note form a ratio of:
1:1 = eighth note + eighth note, straight eighths or no shuffle
Swingmusic, also known as swing jazz, is a form of jazz music that solidified as a distinctive style during the 1930s in the United States.
Swing is distinguished primarily by a strong rhythm section, usually consisting of double bass and drums, medium to fast tempo, and the distinctive "swing" that's common to many forms of jazz.
In later decades, the popular, sterilized, mass-market form of swingmusic would often, and unfortunately, be the first taste that younger generations might be exposed to, which often led to it begin labeled something akin to 'old fogey big-band dancemusic'.
In music, swingrhythm is a convention that the half beats are played not equally as written, but with the first longer than the second and the shorter second note having an accent.
In dancemusic, swingrhythm generally refers to the metre of the music, rather than to this convention of notation, so any music played with the triplet timing and swing accent will be referred to as swingrhythm however it is written, see below.
In jazz and big band music, a shuffle is almost always accompanied by a distinctive cooking rhythm played on the ride cymbal or hi hat.