@malachi, do you mean the syncopated rhythm? This song is way above my playing level, so I haven’t taken a look at the sheet music…sorry if I’m wrong on my assumptions. I’m terrible at rhythm in general, so syncopated beats are even harder for me to play. I always want to play on the downbeat!
Andrew would probably be better at answering this, but it just means the notes fall on the upbeat or off the beat (not on the downbeat). From what I gather by watching the beginning of the video, this is a 4/4 time signature which means there are 4 beats to a measure and a quarter note gets the beat. The downbeats are the 1, 2, 3 and 4 of every measure. Upbeat would be the “&” between each beat (1& 2& 3& 4&) where the emphasis is on the upbeat rather than on the beat (downbeat). The main beat might be silent or played through from the previous upbeat, but when the emphasis is on the upbeat, it means it’s syncopated. This type of rhythm is pretty typical of jazz or spirituals/gospels (anything that has an African heritage, hip hop too). It’s a departure from traditional (European) rhythms that are on the beat.
Sometimes I’ve heard of syncopated referred to as emphasis falling on 2 and 4 beats (1 2 3 4) rather than the regular 1 and 3 (1 2 3 4). I might be wrong here…Andrew help!
Beat just stopped being a word because I used it too many times and now it sounds weird. LOL.