Ghost note

For other uses, seeGhost note (disambiguation).

Illustration of dead note inmusical notationand guitartablature

Inmusic,notably injazz,aghost note(or a dead, muted, silenced or false note) is amusical notewith arhythmicvalue, but no discerniblepitchwhen played. Inmusical notation,this is represented by an "X" for anote headinstead of an oval, or parentheses around the note head.It should not be confused with the X-shaped notation () that raises a note to adouble sharp.

Onstringed instruments,this is played by sounding amutedstring. "Muted to the point where it is more percussive sounding than obvious and clear in pitch. There is a pitch, to be sure, but its musical value is more rhythmic than melodic or harmonic...they add momentum and drive to any bass line."Occurring in arhythmicfigure,they are purposely deemphasized, often to the point of nearsilence.Inpopular musicdrumming, ghost notes are ones played "very softly between the 'main' notes," (off thebeaton thesixteenth notes) most often on thesnare drumin adrum kit.Ghost notes are often used byelectric bassplayers anddouble bassplayers in a range of popular music and traditional music styles. In vocal music, this style of notation represents words that are spoken in rhythm rather than sung.

Instrumental music

Ghost notes are not simply the unaccented notes in a pattern. The unaccented notes in such a pattern as aclaveare considered to represent the mean level of emphasis—they are neither absolutely emphasized nor unemphasized. If onefurtherdeemphasizes one of these unaccented notes to the same or a similar extent to which the accented notes in the pattern are emphasized, then one has 'ghosted' that note. In a case in which a ghost note is deemphasized to the point of silence, that note then represents a rhythmic placeholder in much the same way as does arest.This can be a very fine distinction, and the ability of an instrumentalist to differentiate between what is a ghost note and what is a rest is governed largely by the acoustic nature of the instrument.

Wind instruments,including the human voice, andguitarsare examples of instruments generally capable of ghosting notes without making them synonymous with rests, while apianistorpercussionistwould have more difficulty in creating this distinction because of the percussive nature of the instruments, which hampers the resolution of the volumegradientas one approaches silence. However, in such a case as that the ghost notes were clearly audible, while being far less prominent than the unaccented notes which represent the mean degree of emphasis within the example, then a percussionist could be said to create what we might define as ghost notes.

A frequent misconception is thatgrace notesand ghost notes are synonymous. A grace note is by definition decidedly shorter in length than the principal note which it 'graces', but in many examples the grace note receives a greater degree of accentuation (emphasis) than the principal itself, even though it is a much shorter note than the principal. In other words, while a grace note could be ghosted, the ghosting of notes is a function of volumerather than of duration.

Percussion

Drumming:Ghost notes indicated by parentheses, main notes distinguished by accents

In drumming, a ghost note is played at very low volume,typically on asnare drum.In musical notation, ghost notes are indicated in parentheses surrounding the note.According toThe Drummer's Bible: How to Play Every Drum Style from Afro-Cuban to Zydeco,the purpose of a ghost note is to "...be heard under the main sound of thegroove.This produces a subtle 16th-note feel around a strongback beator certain accents. "

The termghost note,then, can have various meanings. The termanti-accentis more specific. Moreover, there exists a set of anti-accent marks to show gradation more specifically. Percussion music in particular makes use of anti-accent marks, as follows:

1. slightly softer than surrounding notes: ◡ (breve)
2. significantly softer than surrounding notes: ( ) (note head in parentheses)
3. much softer than surrounding notes: [ ] (note head in square brackets)

Examples can be heard in the drumming ofHarvey Mason,Mike Clark,Bernard Purdie,Brad Wilk,David Garibaldi,andChad Smith.Ghost note drumming is a distinguishing feature ofR&B music.Particularly recognizable examples of this technique areGregory C. Coleman's drum break in "Amen, Brother"byThe Winstons,Clyde Stubblefield's beat in "Cold Sweat"byJames BrownandJeff Porcaroplaying the beat for theTotohit "Rosanna".

Stringed instruments

Bass:Ghost notes indicated by 'x' shaped note heads.

Aguitaristwishing to ghost a note can decrease the pressure the fretting hand is exerting upon the strings without removing the hand from the fretboard (which would result in the sounding of the open pitches of those strings). This is sometimes called a 'scratch', and is considered a ghost note unless all the unaccented notes in the pattern were 'scratched' (in which case the scratches are unaccented notes).

On thedouble bassandelectric bass,as with the guitar, ghost notes can be performed by muting the strings, either with the fretting hand or the plucking/picking hand, which creates notes of indeterminate pitch that have a percussive quality.On the electric bass, ghost notes are widely used in theslap bassstyle, as a way of creating a percussive, drum-like sound infunkandLatin music.On the double bass, percussive ghost notes are sometimes performed by slapping the strings against the fingerboard, which creates a percussive, "clacky" sound. With the double bass, slap-style ghost notes are used inrockabilly,bluegrass,and traditional blues andswing jazz.

BassistsJames Jamerson(ofMotown),Carol Kaye(of Motown),Rocco Prestia(for Tower of Power), andChuck Rainey(forSteely Dan,Aretha Franklin,and others) all include "tons of ghost notes done right" in their playing.

Vocal music

In vocal music, especially inmusical theater,a ghost note represents that the lyrics must be spoken rather than sung, retaining the marked rhythm but having indeterminate pitch. Notes with value less than a half note use an "X" instead of an oval as a note head. Occasionally a half note or whole note is represented with an open diamond note head, often representing a scream or grunt.

As an extreme example, the opening number ofThe Music Man,"Rock Island", is written almost exclusively in ghost notes.

This notation may also indicateSprechstimmeorrapping.

See also

• Damping (music)