Where Do The Consonants Go?

Where on the beat do initial consonants belong?

In much vocal music, we generally put the initial consonant not on the beat, but just ahead of it. It allows the vowel to begin on the beat, and works well for uniformity in choirs.

But today my bass singer and I discussed an important exception to the rule: if you’re walking a bass line with the popular “hi hat on 2 & 4” sound incorporated. (“Doom tsoom doom tsoom”).

If you put the “ts” of “tsoom” where you would any other consonant – slightly ahead of the beat – you’ve just created a rushing drummer. Bad news!

It seems that whenever we establish a good rule, we also need to explore the exceptions.

Walking bass lines need to have their consonants directly on the beat, not before.