Polyrhythms

As mentioned in the previous lesson on polyrhythms, here are the exercises I promised. They should take you outside of your comfort zone and will definitely trip you up at first.

But once you get the “feel” for them, they are a blast to play. So give them a try and be sure to check out my previous lesson on Polyrhythms for a more in depth explanation of how they work and how to write your own.

You may also want to see my lesson on Time Signatures as these examples are in “odd” time.

3/4 Examples

The following beats are in 3/4. Before attempting to add hi hats, you should focus on getting the conflicting snare and bass patterns down.

Ex. 1 is a 4 over 3 while the second is the opposite, 3 over 4. Ex. 3 shows you how you can use accents to create conflicting patterns. In the final exercise, cymbals are used in place of accents to create a unique sound.

5/4

Higher time signatures allow for more variation and complexity. The first two 5/4 exercises use a 4 over 5 and its opposite. The final exercise gets even more complicated by adding an accented cymbal rhythm to the four over five. It must be played over three measure to be completely resolved.







Now that you have a feel for how to these rhythms work, you can start writing your own. Just remember as you write that you may not be able to resolve your beats within one measure.



See More Drumming Techniques or, Learn How to Play the Drums with these free online lessons.