Is 7/4 Easier Than I Thought? 

Honestly, the thing that has helped me the most with odd time stuff is simply actively listening to music with odd time sigs. No music will ever feel natural if you don't actually listen to it.

Thank you! This channel is truly a hidden gem.

My best friend is a bass player who spent years in orchestra pits, and big bands and he counts every odd signature in this way. Same as he counts 5/4 ; 123, 12.

Bob, thanks a ton; I really enjoyed your approach and enthusiasm here. Keep it simple, stay in the groove, gradually build on that foundation. What are some of the favourite odd-meter tracks you've played on or listened to?

Song title at beginning? Some of the coolest song ive ever heard ❤

Nicely done Bob. Thanks for this! 👍😀

This is very helpful! Thank you for this tutorial 👍🏾🎶🎶🎶🎹

Very cool! Thanks man.

Drummer here. When anyone asks Vinnie Colaiuta how he plays so fluidly in odd time, his answer is basically that you just need to go play a ton of that time signature. Two things that were game changers for me when shedding odd or even mixed meters. 1. Use all your favorite cadences in the new meter. So like if you play something funky in 4 and you want deceptive endings on the last 16th of beat 4 or maybe the and of 4, or if you wanna wrap your cadence around the bar line into the next measure. Go do it in 7! Early on, people getting comfy in odd time usually render something that becomes really heavy on One or really down-beatey (if that's a word)... This will really get you out of that place and make your new odd time 'one of the boys' 2. Use meter equivalencies. This is a POWER TOOL. It's not a toy. But the payoff is huge. If you are going for a feel in 7, and the underlying note rate is 16ths or 8ths, you would essentially want to start playing feels that give you SEVEN BARS of 4/4. If you can get to a place where you have an internal sense of a seven bar phrase, you can also dip into eight bars of 7. This is a great way to go from an established place in your song into a place of tension. A lot of great drummers use this device to take their solos out. It's great because you can draw from all your well honed material in 4, but you can also reframe it into this new odd meter.

thank you! Bump, Bump, X, Bump.

Interesting explanation. 👍

Perfect lesson!

What a great lesson, thank you! Are your drum loops available for download to exercise along with? That be so helpful. Thanks again!

VERY eye(ear)-opening! Like AMAZING!

Awesome! Thank you, great presentation.

Great stuff - thanks for the pdf!

Thank you ! 🙏

Really helpful and interesting, thank you.

Really good!! Thank you!!

Good stuff Bob

Super video! BTW, to me the click at 3:00 is actually spelling out a subdivision feel, of (8+3+3)/8. I wouldn't call it 7/4. But doesn't really matter, it's a very helpful video.

Interesting 🤩

I think that counting 4 and 3 is actually harder than just thinking in terms of 8 - just feeling the pulse of two measures of 4/4 - and dropping the last beat and coming in one beat early. You don't need to count to 7 - just feel and play the next 1 one beat early. You're going to want to be playing strictly by feel, so why not get right to it?

I wish you guys did VIRTUAL piano!