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Polyrhythm Study - 4 over 3
I was inspired the other day to film a 4 over 3 Polyrhythm from Gojira's Magma album, track 'Low Lands'. I love this track - in an age of one-upsmanship and 5 year-old youtube sensations, it sometimes feels as though the actual music takes a backseat to the technical proficiency from one face-melting riff to the next.
Sometimes though, I wanna keep my face.
It was refreshing to hear a band with such progressive chops as Gojira show the patience and restraint to actually sit within one rhythmic construct for the entire first half of the 6 minute song. Doesn't hurt that it was also a sweet polyrhythm.
Check the Video:
Let's take a closer look at the construction of a 4 over 3 polyrhythm:
We'll start with the primary rhythm (the 'three' of '4 over 3') which assumes the main pulse. Then we subdivide this pulse into the secondary rhythm's note value (secondary value is 4 - therefore we subdivide into 16th notes (groups of 4). Next, add an accent spaced within the 16th note subdivisions, at the rate of the primary rhythm (every three 16th notes). The polyrhythm will resolve itself on the common multiple of the Primary and Secondary rhythms (3 times 4 is 12 so every twelve 16th note the rhythm repeats. See below:
4 over 3 Polyrhythm - three being the Primary rhythm and four being the Secondary rhythm. The secondary rhythm dictates the subdivision of the primary rhythm's pulse. In this case, the hi-hat represents the primary pulse divided into 16th notes (as dictated by the secondary rhythm) and the bass drum represents the secondary rhythm (repeats every three 16th notes).
Now we have to transpose this example into the context of a 4/4 time signature. Since we know there are 16 divisions within each bar of 4/4, and the polyrhythm resolves within every twelve divisions, the entire rhythm will resolve on the common multiple of 12 and 16, which is 48 - 16th notes - or simply 3 bars of 4/4. Next we add snare drum on the 3 of each bar to anchor the rhythm in 4/4. See below:
A 4 over 3 polyrhythm takes 3 bars to resolve within a 4/4 time signature with 16th note subdivisions.
Note in the example above that the quarter notes of the main pulse repeat 3 times in the same time frame as 4 bass drum strikes - hence 4 over 3.
Messing with 5 Note Groupings
Practicing with loops is a great way to work on your phrasing, musicality AND timing, all at the same time. It also helps to build vocabulary within a specific musical context instead of just within blank pulse. It's also way more fun than playing to a click.
My obsession at the time of writing this was with 5 note groupings, as 16th notes, repeated over a two bar length. To make it easier to practice, I created a 2 bar loop with a similar 'feel' (5 note groupings) but with defined regions (bars) - that way when I inevitably get lost, I have a very clear 'jump in' point to get back on track - time saver hack!
Check it out: