Editing Disco (section)

==Musical characteristics==
[[File:Characteristic disco bass rhythm.PNG|Disco bass pattern. {{audio|Characteristic disco bass rhythm.mid|Play}}|thumb|upright=1.15]]
[[File:Characteristic rock and disco drum patterns.png|Rock & disco drum patterns: disco features greater [[divisive rhythm|subdivision]] of the beat, which is [[Four-on-the-floor (dance)|four-to-the-floor]] {{audio|Characteristic disco drum pattern.mid|Play}}|thumb|upright=1.15]]

The music typically layered soaring, often-[[reverb]]erated vocals, often doubled by horns, over a background "pad" of [[electric piano]]s and "chicken-scratch" [[rhythm guitar]]s played on an [[electric guitar]]. [[Lead guitar]] features less frequently in disco than in [[Rock music|rock]]. "The "rooster scratch" sound is achieved by lightly pressing the guitar strings against the fretboard and then quickly releasing them just enough to get a slightly muted poker [sound] while constantly strumming very close to the bridge."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Beginners/en-us/What-the-Funk-!-How-to-Get-That-James-Brown-Sound.aspx|title=What the Funk?! How to Get That James Brown Sound|website=Gibson.com|access-date=October 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304045402/http://www.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Beginners/en-us/What-the-Funk-!-How-to-Get-That-James-Brown-Sound.aspx|archive-date=March 4, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> Other backing keyboard instruments include the [[piano]], [[electric organ]] (during early years), [[string synthesizer]]s, and electromechanical keyboards such as the [[Fender Rhodes]] electric piano, [[Wurlitzer]] electric piano, and Hohner [[Clavinet]]. [[Donna Summer]]'s 1977 song "[[I Feel Love]]", produced by [[Giorgio Moroder]] with a prominent [[Moog synthesizer]] on the beat, was one of the first disco tracks to use the synthesizer.{{sfn|Sanneh|2021|pp=375-376}}

The [[rhythm section|rhythm]] is laid down by prominent, syncopated [[bassline]]s (with heavy use of broken [[octave]]s, that is, octaves with the notes sounded one after the other) played on the [[bass guitar]] and by drummers using a [[drum kit]], African/[[Latin percussion]], and [[electronic drum]]s such as Simmons and [[Roland Corporation|Roland]] [[sound module|drum modules]]. In Philly dance and Salsoul disco, the sound was enriched with solo lines and [[harmony part]]s played by a variety of orchestral instruments, such as [[violin]], [[viola]], [[cello]], [[trumpet]], [[saxophone]], [[trombone]], [[flugelhorn]], [[French horn]], [[English horn]], [[oboe]], [[flute]], [[timpani]] and [[synthesizer|synth strings]], string section or a full [[string orchestra]].{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

Most disco songs have a steady [[four-on-the-floor (music)|four-on-the-floor]] beat set by a bass drum, a [[quaver]] or semi-quaver [[Hi-hat (instrument)|hi-hat]] pattern with an open hissing hi-hat on the off-beat, and a heavy, syncopated bass line.{{sfn|Sanneh|2021|p=364}}<ref name=" lessons from disco 2">{{cite web|url=https://www.attackmagazine.com/technique/passing-notes/lessons-from-disco-chords/2/|title=Lessons from Disco [page 2]|work=Attack|date=May 18, 2013|last=Curry|first=Oliver|accessdate=June 15, 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909032727/https://www.attackmagazine.com/technique/passing-notes/lessons-from-disco-chords/2/|archivedate=September 9, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> A recording error in the 1975 song "[[Bad Luck (Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes song)|Bad Luck]]" by [[Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes]] where [[Earl Young (drummer)|Earl Young]]'s hi-hat was too loud in the recording is said to have established loud hi-hats in disco.{{sfn|Sanneh|2021|p=364}} Other Latin rhythms such as the rhumba, the samba, and the cha-cha-cha are also found in disco recordings, and Latin [[polyrhythm]]s, such as a rhumba beat layered over a merengue, are commonplace. The quaver pattern is often supported by other instruments such as the [[rhythm guitar]] and may be implied rather than explicitly present.

Songs often use [[syncopation]], which is the accenting of unexpected beats. In general, the difference between disco, or any dance song, and a rock or pop song is that in dance music the [[bass drum]] hits ''four to the floor'', at least once a beat (which in 4/4 time is 4 beats per measure).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stratton |first1=J. |title=Disco Before Disco: Dancing and popular music in the 1960s and 1970s in England |journal=Journal of Popular Music Studies |date=2021 |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=50–69 |doi=10.1525/jpms.2021.33.1.50}}</ref> Disco is further characterized by a 16th note division of the quarter notes (as shown in the second drum pattern in the picture above, after a typical rock drum pattern).

The orchestral sound usually known as "disco sound" relies heavily on string sections and horns playing linear phrases, in unison with the soaring, often reverberated vocals or playing instrumental fills, while electric pianos and chicken-scratch guitars create the background "pad" sound defining the [[chord progression|harmony progression]]. Typically, all of the doubling of parts and use of additional instruments creates a rich "[[wall of sound]]". There are, however, more minimalist flavors of disco with reduced, transparent instrumentation.

Harmonically, disco music typically contains major and minor seven chords,{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} which are found more often in jazz than pop music.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kendall |first=Hannah |title=Learning Types of Seventh Chords: Major, Minor, & Diminished |url=https://www.hoffmanacademy.com/blog/learning-types-of-seventh-chords-major-minor-diminished-augmented# |access-date=2024-11-19 |website=Hoffman Academy |language=en}}</ref>