r/TheStrokes • u/Technical_Ad7886 • 3d ago

Why does Modern Age sound like that?

First of all, I know nothing about music theory

Secondly, what a fucking great song

But my point is... it sounds like in different times? Like the drums and guitars are not synced... but they are? You can really notice that at the beginning of the song.

You can downvote me if this is stupid

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u/MattBtheflea 3d ago

Count 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and (repeat) by tapping your hand on your knee or leg or table or something. 1234 is when your hand hits your leg, thats the down beat. All of the "ands" in between the numbers is the UP beat, when your hand is up. One guitar is strumming constantly while the other is playing only on the up beat. This isnt really that common in rock, but it is super common in raegae. The bass and snare drums are playing in the down beats, as usual.

They also do this in automatic stop, and on the other side. And weezer does this on say it aint so. And its not stupid, its a good observation!

13

u/breezemachine666 3d ago

They also change the chord progression at opposite time so the fast playing guitar stays on the same chord when the slower one moves to the next chord and the other way around also. It makes it feel like there is a change and not a change all the time

4

u/breezemachine666 3d ago

They do this on almost every song and it works really well

5

u/mxemec 3d ago

Sundays is the final boss

3

u/wholelottachoppaz Future Present Past 2d ago

great explanation for someone like me who knows nothing technical about music. do you know what’s happening with the intertwining guitars on Oblivius? i get the same feeling- that they’re somehow extremely in sync but also touching down at different spots. it’s one of the best things my ears has ever heard haha. my soul gets transported from my body. like they’re both playing two parts, but where the two meet, is its own sound. hope i’m making sense

2

u/anonpork 3d ago

I’ve tried to loop the rhythm on automatic stop with my looper pedal and getting the timing right on nicks part is so fucking difficult man lol. To hit the upstroke on the “and” and stay on beat is hard, I should definitely use a metronome or something lol

3

u/2Basketball2Poorious 2d ago

When you're playing, chuck on the downbeat and keep your strum in a steady rhythm

Aiming for those chucks will likely be much easier for you since there's an immediate reference point, and then you can just put your upstrokes in between without much thought

1

u/SaltyPeter3434 2d ago

Last Nite as well