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In music, notably in jazz, a ghost note (or a dead, muted, silenced or false note) is a musical note with a value, but no discernible pitch when played. In musical notation, this is represented by a cross " ×" for a note head instead of an oval, or parentheses around the note head." False note", OnMusic Dictionary. It should not be confused with the X-shaped notation () that raises a note to a double sharp.
On stringed instruments, this is played by sounding a muted string - "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 a figure, they are purposely deemphasized, often to the point of near silence. In popular music drumming, ghost notes are ones played "very softly between the 'main' notes," (off the beat on the ) most often on the snare drum in a drum kit.Mattingly, Rick (2006). All About Drums, p.61. Hal Leonard. . Ghost notes are often used by electric bass players and double bass players 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.
, including the human voice, and are examples of instruments generally capable of ghosting notes without making them synonymous with rests, while a pianist or percussionist would have more difficulty in creating this distinction because of the percussive nature of the instruments, which hampers the resolution of the volume gradient as 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 that and 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 volume rather than of duration.
Examples can be heard in the drumming of Harvey Mason, Mike Clark, Bernard Purdie, Gianni, Jason (2003) The Drummer's Bible: How to Play Every Drum Style from Afro-Cuban to Zydeco, p. 35. See Sharp Press. "Purdie Shuffle" At Google Books. Retrieved 11 May 2013. Brad Wilk, David Garibaldi, Karen Carpenter, and Chad Smith. Ghost note drumming is a distinguishing feature of R&B music.Strong, Jeff (2006). Drums for Dummies, p.116. . Particularly recognizable examples of this technique are Gregory C. Coleman's drum break in "Amen, Brother" by The Winstons, Clyde Stubblefield's beat in "Cold Sweat" by James Brown and Jeff Porcaro playing the beat for the Toto hit "Rosanna".
On the double bass and electric 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 the slap bass style, as a way of creating a percussive, drum-like sound in funk and Latin 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 in rockabilly, Bluegrass music, and traditional blues and swing jazz.
Bassists James Jamerson (of Motown), Carol Kaye (of Motown), Rocco Prestia (for Tower of Power), and Chuck Rainey (for Steely Dan, Aretha Franklin, and others) all include "tons of ghost notes done right" in their playing.
As an extreme example, the opening number of The Music Man, "Rock Island", is written almost exclusively in ghost notes.
This notation may also indicate Sprechgesang or rapping.
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