Syncopation

What makes rhythm fun

(Meta-level note: I rewrite this explainer every few years and now that I have a couple of new music theory gigs, I am rewriting it yet again.)

Syncopation is to rhythm what dissonance is to harmony: conflict, surprise, defiance of expectation. If you place your rhythmic accents where listeners expect them, then the music gets boring fast. If you place them where listeners don't expect them, that's where the fun starts.

To understand syncopation, you need to understand the concept of strong and weak beats (and subdivisions of beats). The strong beats (and subdivisions) are where you expect accents and other important musical events to fall. If you accent weaker beats (or subdivisions), syncopation is the result. The weaker the beats that you are accenting, the more intense the syncopation.