Ghost notes are not simply the unaccented notes in a pattern. The unaccented notes in such a pattern as a
clave are considered to represent the mean level of emphasis—they are neither absolutely emphasized nor unemphasized. If one
further deemphasizes one of these unaccented notes to the same or a similar extent to which the accented notes in the pattern are emphasized, then one has 'ghosted' that note. In a case in which a ghost note is deemphasized to the point of silence, that note then represents a rhythmic placeholder in much the same way as does a
rest. This can be a very fine distinction, and the ability of an instrumentalist to differentiate between what is a ghost note and what is a rest is governed largely by the acoustic nature of the instrument.
Wind instruments, including the human voice, and
guitars are examples of instruments generally capable of ghosting notes without making them synonymous with rests, while a
pianist or
percussionist would have more difficulty in creating this distinction because of the percussive nature of the instruments, which hampers the resolution of the volume
gradient as one approaches silence. However, in such a case as that the ghost notes were clearly audible, while being far less prominent than the unaccented notes which represent the mean degree of emphasis within the example, then a percussionist could be said to create what we might define as ghost notes. A frequent misconception is that
grace notes and ghost notes are synonymous. A grace note is by definition decidedly shorter in length than the principal note which it 'graces', but in many examples the grace note receives a greater degree of accentuation (emphasis) than the principal itself, even though it is a much shorter note than the principal. In other words, while a grace note could be ghosted, the ghosting of notes is a function of volume rather than of duration.
Percussion . Examples can be heard in the drumming of
Harvey Mason,
Mike Clark,
Bernard Purdie,
Brad Wilk,
David Garibaldi,
Karen Carpenter, and
Chad Smith. Ghost note drumming is a distinguishing feature of
R&B music. Particularly recognizable examples of this technique are
Gregory C. Coleman's drum break in "
Amen, Brother" by
The Winstons,
Clyde Stubblefield's beat in "
Cold Sweat" by
James Brown and
Jeff Porcaro playing the beat for the
Toto hit "
Rosanna".
Stringed instruments A
guitarist wishing to ghost a note can decrease the pressure the fretting hand is exerting upon the strings without removing the hand from the fretboard (which would result in the sounding of the open pitches of those strings). This is sometimes called a 'scratch', and is considered a ghost note unless all the unaccented notes in the pattern were 'scratched' (in which case the scratches are unaccented notes). On the
double bass and
electric bass, as with the guitar, ghost notes can be performed by muting the strings, either with the fretting hand or the plucking/picking hand, which creates notes of indeterminate pitch that have a percussive quality. On the electric bass, ghost notes are widely used in the
slap bass style, as a way of creating a percussive, drum-like sound in
funk and
Latin music. On the double bass, percussive ghost notes are sometimes performed by slapping the strings against the fingerboard, which creates a percussive, "clacky" sound. With the double bass, slap-style ghost notes are used in
rockabilly,
bluegrass, and traditional blues and
swing jazz. Bassists
James Jamerson (of
Motown),
Carol Kaye (of Motown),
Rocco Prestia (for Tower of Power), and
Chuck Rainey (for
Steely Dan,
Aretha Franklin, and others) all include "tons of ghost notes done right" in their playing. == Vocal music ==