Phenomenal Accents

By this, Lerdahl means the patterns of stress in measures. For example, in 4/4 time stress on 2 & 4 is a different type of phenomenal accent than 1 & 3. Blues based rock and roll is interesting because while on one level emphasis is placed on the "backbeat" (2 & 4), the bass drum always emphasizes the downbeat, and sometimes 3 as well. In funk, on the other hand, it's not uncommon for the bass drum to be played in between beats, with a triplet feel.