Backbeat

Snare on beats 2 and 4. It defines rock, R&B, funk, soul, hip-hop, reggae (where the kick joins it on 3) and ska; jazz carries the same accent on the hi-hat. The backbeat is an accent pattern rather than a syncopation: it keeps the bar in four and tells the body where to clap. Most of the straight-feel grooves in this dictionary sit on it, with the clave-derived cells layered above.