What is Swing? Swing Explained in 2 Minutes (Music Theory) 

You can also follow me on Spotify here → bit.ly/DaveWave 😊🎹 🎶🎧

I was searching for copper and I found gold

No click bait, straight to the point. And explained easily. Instantly subcribed.

For anyone looking for the name of the song, it is the legendary "In The Mood" by Glenn Miller and his orchestra.

“Rose! I’ve just realised!” “What?” “I can dance!”

I guess the only one who disliked this just wasn't... In The Mood?

Dude. This video should be named: "A hundred pages on music in 2 minutes.."

In an age of short attention span and unending thirst for interesting content, this video is gold. 2 mins, no voices, no talking heads. Just visuals and sound. No complex music theory, no 20 minute video essay on the origin of the genre. Just the barebones of what makes swing sound like “swing” in layman’s terms. Cool stuff!

The way it builds up is so interesting and really makes you appreciate all the layers that go into it! This made me discover an appreciation for swing music I didn't know I had, gonna listen to it now lol

lol I clicked so fast the video was private

As a swing dancer, this is one of my favorite videos on RU-vid. I love feeling the energy of the music rise as each new section is introduced and seeing each section play their fundamental role in this awesome genre of music. Simply amazing!

Real question is why doesn't it exist anymore

You, sir, are an educator. I'm a swing dancer and this is one of the best explanations of swing music I've ever seen, succinct, easy to understand with straightforward use of visual and audio tools. I've shared it with many dancer friends already. Please keep up this wonderful series!!!

I've watched your Ragtime and Boogie Woogie videos as well and they are very well edited! I am extremely impressed with how you created clear visuals and used clever audio mutes to succinctly explain the nuances of music. Not only are the visuals clear, but there are several minor details that really up the quality of your work---clearly you are more than just a musical professional, but are skilled at art/graphic design as well. Hope your channel grows a bit more since this level of quality (and the time it takes to put something like this together) deserves more viewership.

i love the walking bassline for swing, it brings the extra mood!

I thought the thumbnail was a picture of a computer keyboard and this video was about coding in Java Swing, but this is a much better video.

After watching this I just feel the urgent need to play Swing right now!

Really enjoyed this one.

헐 사람들이 스윙 설명하는거는 다른 내용 말하며 계속 늘어트리면서 시간만 끌던데... 이분은 2분만에 완벽하게 핵심만 집어 말하네요 스윙에 대해 잘 몰랐었는데 이 영상 보고 알게 됐네요 감사합니다!

Folks, here’s the thing with social dancing... Guys: asking a girl to dance on a ballroom floor doesn’t mean you want to date them, or that you have a crush on them, or anything like that. When you ask a girl to dance, ask her because you want to dance, because she looks nice or dances well, or just because you know her. Don’t be nervous, the worst that can happen is that they say no. Then just ask the next girl. Additionally, dancing with lots of girls doesn’t make you ‘a charmer’ nor does it make you look ‘just desperate’. It just means you want to dance. A lot. Which is great because that means you are ahead of 90% of the other guys there. Girls: it may go two ways depending on the situation. In one, lots of guys want to dance with you. This is because they know you personally, or have seen you dance before, or because you look around a 7-8 out of 10(I’ll explain later). Just accept the first dance you seem comfortable with. Guys understand that we need to be fast to get the girl we want to dance with us. Don’t worry, you will have a chance to dance with the next guys after that song is over. The other way it can go is where guys are too anxious to dance with you. This may be because (and this may seem counter-intuitive) you look like a solid 9 or 10. This isn’t bad, but guys with no confidence will be scared to dance with someone so beautiful, so they won’t even ask. If this is happening, look around and find the guys who aren’t talking with friends, eating the snacks, or on their phone. See if anyone sends a look your way, and then quickly looks away and acts nervous. Then ask them to dance. Yes, it can seem weird at first, but it doesn’t make you look desperate like some may think. It just mean you want to dance, and no one is asking to dance with you. Just because no one asks doesn’t mean no one wants to dance with you. A social dance is a game of mental strength and confidence, and the ballroom is the playing field. Let me know if this helps, and one last thing to know: confidence is everything. And if you don’t have any confidence, just fake it. Fake it until it becomes real. (boy this was quite a blog post of a comment)

2 minutes. Simple. Sophisticated. To the point. How it should be - perfection. Thank you!

These have quickly become some of my favorite music theory videos, and I didn't even know I wanted that in my life. They so simply explain and breakdown a genre into its parts that even a total newbie like me can understand it easily.

this is what a real knowledge-based youtuber should be. straight to the point, simple and clear explanation.

Been trying to understand the swing for a while now (especially on the piano) and you explained it so clearly, thanks!

I love how Dave explains music theory. Enough music terms to get tought the topic, but also not too much in order to keep it in laymans terms. Very succinct, and in building block format. I love it. I subscribed the minute I arrived to the channel late 2019.

Amazing content as usual Dave ! I'm so glad channels like yours exist so you can share a kind of music more people should know 👌 Keep it up like that 👏

I love these videos of yours, I’ve always been aware and listened to these genres of music, but I like to see how the whole thing unfolds.

You're amazing, dude. All your videos never disappoint. Keep it up.💕 (Also full version please)

Expertly explained. I've been trying to understand swing for ages. I love the piano arrangement. I would pay for a sheet music version of it honestly.

Your channel is so good 👌

That was the clearest, most enlightening and just plain fun two minutes I can remember! Thanks!

i have never subscribed to a channel so fast. the way you broke it down is so refreshing, and so easy to understand (especially for us non-"music theory" people)! thank you!

was waiting another of these videoss!! excelent work!!

Again, this is the best channel for videos about music. Can't wait to see what the next project will be about!

These are some of the most interesting music videos on RU-vid! And they keep getting better

What's not to like? We were only hungry for some musical food, now we're absolutely, positively in the mood.

This video is incredible. Straight to the point, no rambling on, well made, easily undesrtandeable. Subscribed

Man I'm just back to the channel after a couple of years and it was for youtube recomendations, I'm not disapointed at all. Just keep working on that, your job is awesome .

Wow. Such an amazingly polished and well-made video. Very, very well done.

These videos are just perfect, no waste of time, straight to the point, well structured. Congratulations.

Love these videos honestly :D RU-vid keeps making me unsubscribed from your channel for unknown reasons, but I still check to see for new videos!

This was a song my grandmother still danced with, practically up until the day she passed away. One of my favorites. And VERY well explained!

Swing is my favorite genre of music so this is great

Não sou americano, mas estudei jazz em Tatuí. Percebo o quanto a gente consegue aprender mesmo não estando lá. Mas acho que quando a gente toca na frente de um americano ele percebe os sotaques. Quando vejo musicistas tocando choro, axé, funk, samba etc eu consigo ver o sotaque do exterior mesmo as pessoas tocando certinho… Acho que issso tem conexão com a nossa escuta e prática desde a infância…

I always return here once in a while, couldn’t get enough of this type of videos, love it

Honestly I love this format of instruction. It leaves it up the viewer what song they wanna write- all its showing is how to write it as swing. From this point it's up to us how we wanna experiment and make the song our own. I love that it doesn't even provide a general sense of the chords and progressions that make swing. Of course that can be helpful, but I feel like that's the sort of thing I'll be able to find anywhere else.

Great in theory & even better in practice: Perfect audio-visual demonstration of the musical facts behind!!!

I continue to love your videos :) excited for your next one!

Very nice! Another top-tier video. Will be referencing this for my own compositions for sure!

I just love that you put the sketches exactly where the musicians are in the music video. Great work

I love your videos, theres so much effort and thought put in all of them even when its pretty subtle. And it does explain everything necessary really well. Thank you!

Simple, straight to the point and delivered in an informative and cool way. Great video

This video is absolute scaffolding. A very minimal amount of content in it, but it provides so much information that I feel like anyone can make any new genuine swing song from it. Barebones structure, sturdy and impressive results.

honestly love your channel, man I was the jazz pianist at my high school so I had quite a bit of fun with swing

Gosh your videos are good, I can't explain why I wasn't already suscribed ! Awesome work !

I love your videos! Entertaining and informative. Keep doing the great work!

love it!! best way to lern something about the diffrent music genres

I love these videos! I want one for every genre. Of course, that's a little much, but can you do some electronic styles next? Great video!

Excellent! One of the BEST videos on RU-vid! Subscribed.

Glenn Miller is definitely a great example to use, he practically helped pioneer the genre

You should make a mashup or a remix for all of your full songs request from these explained in two minutes guide. Loving it!

Amazing!! Instantly subbed! This video explains it perfectly!

Welcome back m8, great work!

Wow! These videos take a lot to make. Very good explanation. I'm very impressed. Thanks for all the effort you put into these videos. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

This video was awesome as always!

I just love how you balance your channel with snack-sized musical theory as well as great original music - if I had one wish, I’d wish for more frequent video uploads! 😊

got this in recommended, went to my usual music playlist i have on my channel, saw some sheet music that had "swing" in one part. wondered what it is, came back searching for the video i saw on recommended, happy

The most straight forward video I've ever seen! Wonderful work

This is a depressingly underrated channel

So what is electro swing again? 😜

Glenn Miller.....I'm no more than 20 but listened to the CD's day in and day out. I wish I was taught how to dance like my grandparents sometimes.

음악 장르에 대해 관심이 생겨서 의문이 많았는데, 스윙이라는 장르에 대해서 잘 알아볼 수 있어서 좋았습니다.😀

Amazing video. I was surprised at how slow-paced the dancing was. I'd be going crazy all over the dance floor.

I'd love it if you could do "What is waltz? Explained"!

I really like this kind of educationnal video, very informative , easy to understand and well edited indeed. Good job guys ! Hope to see more this kind of stuff. ;)

Man I just discovered this channel and it's just amazing keep going !

Clould you mix is with something? Idk maybe ELECTRO? Alright i came back to listen to this again. And i have 400+ likes? Thanks

Amazing video Dave!

I just found your channel, your videos are amazing! Never stop making them, and post more often if possible ;)

I’m playing the song you played at the beginning in my music class, I love in the mood.

Awesome content Dave :) Keep the good work!

I've been trying to transcribe In the Mood into a string orchestra for a little while now, so this video helps me figure out what the rythm section is. Thanks!

This quick theory videos are absolute amazing. There helpful entertaining and it gives you suck a good understanding of the basics of whatever style it is!!!

Love all these 2 Minute videos! Instantly subscribed too!

we need more series like this. All explained clearly

im watching this after knowing that the new title track of Seventeen, which is HOME;RUN, is a song featuring a swing genre-based retro sound & a cheerful and striking sound 🤧💓 i love this video!!

This was very nicely done. Didn't expect to like this as much as I did!

this is literally the best edited channel on youtube

Ohh god. Let's hail the RU-vid algorithm by giving me GOLD

Music is truly man's greatest invention

Loved the starting 15 secs of music..absolutely loved it. Also the whole video was amazing

Wonderful! So educative and to the point! Hats off!

Amazing, I’d love to see a lot of different genres broken down this way, old and new

Expertly explained and beautifully demonstrated, and at the same time!

As always .... very entertaining... Looking forward next video

This channel and THIS playlist is the best thing o n youtube!!

I actually got to to see the Glen Miller Orchestra play in Chicago back in 2015. I don't think any of the original members were on stage but the band did play from the original sheet music. During the dinner, my teacher grabbed the original clarinet In The Mood sheet music off the stage for myself and the other students to snap a quick picture of it. We were literally holding a piece of history in our hands.

Dave, I love the way you explain the different music styles. Keep the good work! You're so useful for me, as a music student in a college! =)

A perfect video to explain what is swing.That really helpful for me. thank you

I love your explanation videos! Keep them coming!