Some additional notes- 12/8 is the king of signatures for creating a 3:4 polyrhythm. Try creating a melody or riff in 12/8 then experiment with the rhythm section switching between either steady 3 or steady 4, or BOTH at the same time. Also, polymeters CREATE polyrhythms if you remove the "in between" notes. Watch my video on polymeter and you'll see the relationship- if you play the FIRST NOTE of every polymetric section, what you have is a polyrhythm!
Jake, do you have any actual online or downloadable courses? I find that videos on specific topics are great when you want to zone in on a particular technique or idea but its easy too get overwhelmed and hit roadblocks. A structured course from you I think would be amazing. Particularly focusing on metal and prog styles. I'd definitely buy it.
Signals Music Studio Can you make a video about how to recognize certain time signatures in different genres? Can you cover how to tell the difference between double-time and slow common-time? Also, how is common-time done in R&B/Hip Hop as opposed to in rock? Also, I’ve been undecided for a long time about what time signature/rhythm Michael Jackson’s song “Heartbreaker” has and what genre(s) it is. Do you know?
I am a professional West African drum instructor. That said, I'm thoroughly impressed by the simplistic yet conclusive way you introduced polyrhythms here. You are a phenomenal instructor of music!
I like that instead of asking me to join his Patreon, he said: "If you did like this video, you can thank my Patreon supporters for making it possible."
"Musical or chaotic" Chopin: Hold my beer! THANK YOU! I've been learning the Fantasie Impromptu by Chopin which has a 4/3 polyrhythm and this explanation helped SO MUCH.
By far the best practical explanation of polyrhythms I'ver ever seen. Musicians tend to be pretty bad at explaining things easily. This guy is an exception. I'm sure he's an excellent musician but he's even better as a teacher.
yea, feel you, beat boxed poly till throat and fingers red lined. Now, I just count in eights and try to keep the mind's loop box going pass the sometime "invisible end" of the measure, whether I like it or not.
@@SignalsMusicStudio The part I liked best was a throwaway comment towards the end where you talk about combining polymeters. I did a column for Premier Guitar on polymetric concepts and the comments consisted of people telling me that the more common term is polyrythms... no matter how much I explained the difference, they didn't get it...
@@LeviClay Can you share the link to your column? Sounds fun... And yeah, through running this channel and reading comments, I can percieve that there is a huge misunderstanding about polyrhythm vs polymeter. I plan on doing a lot of rhythm and poly-based stuff this yr on this channel and I needed a good foundation groundwork video (besides my polymeter video) to reference later on. The stuff that blew my mind lately was Digital Gerrymandering by Intronaut- the nastiest combos of polymetric polyrhythms I've heard in a loooong time!
@@SignalsMusicStudio Of course! www.premierguitar.com/articles/26211-obsessive-progressive-how-to-decode-advanced-polymeters I have the Intronaut track on now... yeah... this is music to make you seasick! haha But it's VERY cool. Going to add the album to my spotify for the gym later - it's excellent! I really grew up on the prog thing, but none of the bands I dug (Symphony X, Ron Jarzombek, Opeth etc) were big on the polyrhythmic stuff, so it's a huge weakness in my ear now. When I work on it I feel an aneurysm coming - but I've really got into Meshuggah in the last year or so as I've come back to metal - so it's something I want to have a better control off. You can only compose the stuff you can imagine right? Gotta expose yourself to it to imagine it :( Really looking forward to whatever you come up with!
Really good article! But good god that comment section :( I guess the only thing we can do is make more rhythm based content and hopefully clear up the air. I find the ultra-complex polymetal stuff to be hilarious and fun, but it's not the stuff I really want to listen to. I feel it'll be a great medium through which to teach rhythms though, since djent and math metal is somewhat "in" right now. And I finally have a 7 string so more poly-metal stuff is inevitible. Most of my knowledge of the stuff comes from the little I've learned about indian music, specifically Konnakol. Carnatic music is saturated in polyrhythm, polymeter, and even weirder concepts like Tihais and reductive measures. Just scratching the surface is enough to make you realize that us westerners are woefully unprepared to handle those sorts of concepts but I just flat out find it fascinating and fun, albeit rarely practical, lol.
Im a beginner drummer and I’ve been practicing just shy of a year and I’ve been stuck in the 4/4 rut with no idea how to understand 3/4 let alone translate it on the kit. This video helped me understand so now I can take that knowledge and FINALLY start practicing. Thank you so much for the easy to understand explanation :)))
That's amazing... I improvised this 3:4 polyrhythm when playing percussion for years and years and never knew what I'm doing or why it sounds so awesome. Thanks for clearing that up
I'm a drummer who also teaches social studies. I'm doing a lesson on West African drumming today in my global history class, and I brought in my djembe. This video is PERFECT for explaining to any non-musicians in the class. Thank you so much!
You know when you learn something amazing and you exclaim "dude that just blew my mind" this is like, Dude you just took my blown up mind and put everything back together and rewired it so I understand music that i've always been experiencing but now in a totally different and refreshing context
Man, this is the best lesson on this in the existence of this world. Been clapping all day and FINALLY get it! Thanks for teaching a music noob that he can learn something I thought previously far too complex to comprehend.
This is fantastic. The way you break it down is the most teachable method I've ever seen (over 20+ years of music experience and discussion and teachers). Great job!
I understood the concepts of polyrhythm and I have even 'accidently' wrote polyrhythmic riffs but I've never understood how to count them from both perspectives. After 27 years of playing, I still have a lifetime to learn. Thanks bro! I appreciate your instruction but more importantly, your perspective!
Step 1, write a simple melody using 3:4 polyrythm step 2, add some Spanish lyrics step 3, Congratulations, you just wrote a new summer hit that every goddamn radio station will engrave into every ones minds
The Reggaeton Rhythm is not a 3:4 polyrhythm. It’s in 4:4 and goes 1, + of 2, 3, 4; a dotted quarter note, then an eighth note, then a quarter note, and then another quarter note.
I love it when some arrogant twat tries to act all snobby and arrogant on RU-vid and ends up being completely wrong. Delicious. Also, the rhythm is called a "tresillo", and it's prevalent in many, many forms and styles of music all over Latin America. It's been around much, much longer than Despacito (which is an alright tune, and shut up).
That mindblowing accent change happens in "I Can Talk" from Two Doors Cinema Club. Sometimes I hear "a O a a O", but the "right" way to hear is "A o A a o".
Thank you so much for explaining this! Playing the piano part of an Intermezzo for Horn by Gliere (Op. 35/11) and I could not figure for the life of me how to put 3 against 4 together. This has helped a great deal.
Your tutorial incorporates all of the most important and effective considerations, teaching techniques and examples. A true leader in tomorrow's most powerful education revolutions. Thank you does not express my gratitude adequately.
I don't really know sheet music but I understood everything you said. I can play along with periphery and meshuggah because of you now. Great video pal!
This is something that all percussion folk eventually encounter, at least for their own curiosity and entertainment. And flipping 3/4 and 4/3 and counting both is SUCH a sweet little concise service to us because one is intuitive and for whatever reason the other isn't, and like your said, that's where most people/lessons stop. So... passing the butter to the left, is one of those supremely simple solutions to a seemingly complex problem.. much appreciated.
Brilliant video man, never heard of the 'pass the stinking butter before'; works really well! I just put one of the rhythms an octave higher when I was learning them. I reckon the butter is a far superior system.
Created by Africans, give ‘em credit. Easily the best advanced rhythmic lesson I’ve ever had. Phenomenal teaching, really... organized in a way that’s actually digestible, and not just one simple progression.
Even if you never consciously decide to use polyrhythms in your playing, practicing this stuff will be a game changer for your GROOVE awareness. No matter how simple or complex your music is, a strong groove and sharp inner time is perhaps the main difference between amateur and pro level playing, regardless of style and instrument. Great video! Keep it up!
What you are de-mystifing is what African culture expresses instinctly! African music is polyrhythmic but, also poly meter! This is what JAZZ is all about! Playing syncopated polyrhythms on monophonic instruments! thats how come the largest forced migration in human history resulted in the creation of the greatest musicS (plural) on the planet! A famous musician from my birthplace once said “all music comes from New Orleans!” I think he meant all popular music!
Well written. He is basically teaching soul. I feel like it’s more about the “feel” not some silly pass butter to left. It’s sounds like a gimmick to me, in the end I feel the musician should feel the music. People want everything written, talk to the music directly.
@@rootsdubz I get your point, and think it's a valid one, but because we all grew up in slightly or very different cultures, there are certain things that tend to come less naturally to some of us then others (& I'm sure it's the same the other way around); everyone learned differently, and while, agreed, the sound should be "inate" or become inate in feeling when played, for a lot of young musicians in other parts of the world (maybe not just west, but possibly also east Asia, for example) it can definitely be a process/learning curve..😅 I guess a shorter way to put it is some of us need it explained differently, or even both ways, to being the learning and later/eventually the mastery process 😄 (But this is just my view, currently, on it)
I've been playing instruments over 15 years and I've never had a lesson or learned chords or scales or fully understood what I was doing. I can play a lot of stuff, write my own music and jam decent. This helped me understand a lot of stuff I've been doing on multiple instruments and didn't even know I was doing it. Now knowing im curious to see what I can cook up. Thank you for this simplified video for beginners and people like me. 👌
In fact, I stopped the video so I could get the swing of doing it. Eventually I noticed I was playing the drum, focusing on the hands individually. Really good concept
This was GREAT! I was practicing this on the plane last week by tapping on the tray in front of me. Fortunately I was flying to Nashville where everyone is a musician. The guy in front of me turned around and said “you practicing 3 against 4?” He was very kind as I wasn’t thinking about him 🤦🏻♂️. Anyway I was stumped when I was trying to focus on the 4. Excellent video!
I had a drummer friend of mine, drill this into my head. I'm glad he helped me figure it out. From a guitarist point of view, it's like rocket science at times. Especially when you have to write it out.
You sir..... are amazing 😭🤙🏼 13:00 Him: "That would get kinda nutty, let me give it a try." *Plays it flawlessly* Me: Wait so... parenthesis exponents and what?
Best part of the video - expressing what it is, why you think it's interesting, and you did it while leaving it clear that opinions can vary and not making anyone feel like this has to be liked or disliked. Nothing makes learning easier than when you don't have to feel like someone is stitching personal opinions to the subject and cramming it down your throat!
A big fan of yours, but this reminds me of the meme, "How to draw an owl: Draw a circle. Now, draw the owl." (I understand. "It's a complicated business".)
@@SignalsMusicStudio I agree you make it look easy, but you definitely gave a lot more clear instruction on how to 'draw the owl'. i will say, i found 3:4 poly to be pretty easy, and 4:3 to be weirdly difficult. Also king crimson does some pretty cool polyrhythm / polymeter stuff on their 80s abums (which you probably already know, but in case you didnt!
@@SignalsMusicStudio I understand. I'll get it eventuality. It takes me years to understand anything "poly" before I Master it. For example: polyester.
Congrats, you just got a subscriber and an advocate. It's so unusual to find someone capable of conveying knowledge in a format that readily pickup up by others. You have that gift my friend, cudos and thanx. Be seeing ya...
This was very impressive. If I tried to talk while doing these polyrythms, my sentence would make no sense. Lol. Incredible and very informative video. This guy is so good.
Not just you mate, I tried for about 15 minutes, ended up getting another video up explaining it, i managed to see it anti-clockwise after about 10 minutes, then could't un-see it, then i left it for 5 minutes, walked away, came back and watched it again, then i could only see it clockwise again... No wonder i struggle with poly rhythms!!
Thanks for this! Like other polyrhythms, I like to play one with my hands while feeling the other with my body, then switch back and forth. This creates a third “in between feel” that opens into another dimension.
LOL Yes I deicded to put that into my Polyrhythm Supplemental video- I will make a follow up to this on how polymeters create polyrhythms, and how polyrhythm occurs in your daily life. That will feature the PolyRhythm Walk and some other silly things. I wanted to keep this video as straightforward and practical as possible (except the 7 string part :P)
@@SignalsMusicStudio At one stage in this video, my mind associated to the offset rhythm of the windshield wipers and sideways indicators. Which then made me think of the Captain Beefheart song 'Bat Chain Puller' which was apparently inspired by windshield wipers. :D
Hi I'm from India, and you know there's a chanda (rhythm) in India called the "Tisri Yati" of a cycle, where you kinda do the same... But you taught it very well 😍. I loved it so much and would like to learn more music concepts from you guys. Actually you know, you taught it better and easier than my teacher 😁😁😁
I've learned about odd meters and polyrhythms when I studied music theory. But while developing an ongoing love for odd meters, I never really got my head wrapped around the polyrhythm thing... After watching this video I listened to some radiohead and all of a sudden I realised, that the piano part of "Daydreaming" is 3/4 on the right hand, but 4/4 on the left. Thank you so much for sharing!
I don’t think I’ve heard a riff heavier than your example! Thanks for this! I’ll have to incorporate some polyrhythms into my own composing. Also how do you achieve such a crushing guitar tone?
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