This document provides an introduction to odd meters and groupings for drumming. It discusses odd time signatures like 5/4 and 7/4 and how to feel subdivisions within them. Examples of grooves in 5/4 and 7/4 are shown. Odd groupings like triplets and 5-note patterns are also explored. The document demonstrates how to combine odd meters and groupings, such as using triplet patterns within 4/4 or mixing 3-note and 5-note groupings in 3/4. It concludes by discussing applications of these concepts like orchestrating rhythms across multiple drums.
This document provides an introduction to odd meters and groupings for drumming. It discusses odd time signatures like 5/4 and 7/4 and how to feel subdivisions within them. Examples of grooves in 5/4 and 7/4 are shown. Odd groupings like triplets and 5-note patterns are also explored. The document demonstrates how to combine odd meters and groupings, such as using triplet patterns within 4/4 or mixing 3-note and 5-note groupings in 3/4. It concludes by discussing applications of these concepts like orchestrating rhythms across multiple drums.
This document provides an introduction to odd meters and groupings for drumming. It discusses odd time signatures like 5/4 and 7/4 and how to feel subdivisions within them. Examples of grooves in 5/4 and 7/4 are shown. Odd groupings like triplets and 5-note patterns are also explored. The document demonstrates how to combine odd meters and groupings, such as using triplet patterns within 4/4 or mixing 3-note and 5-note groupings in 3/4. It concludes by discussing applications of these concepts like orchestrating rhythms across multiple drums.
This document provides an introduction to odd meters and groupings for drumming. It discusses odd time signatures like 5/4 and 7/4 and how to feel subdivisions within them. Examples of grooves in 5/4 and 7/4 are shown. Odd groupings like triplets and 5-note patterns are also explored. The document demonstrates how to combine odd meters and groupings, such as using triplet patterns within 4/4 or mixing 3-note and 5-note groupings in 3/4. It concludes by discussing applications of these concepts like orchestrating rhythms across multiple drums.
This handout will serve as a reference to move through the different sections of the workshop. Here I will show you all the basic examples on how to feel basic odd meters in 5 and 7, and odd groupings in 3 and 5.
We will also see different examples of grooves in 5 and 7 along with the combinations of groups of 3 and 5 applied together on exercises in 3/4, 4/4 and 7/4. At the end of the handout you will find a bibliography that includes books that specialize in odd meters and groupings. Also, you will find a small discography that emphasizes odd meters. It will include a list of drummers well known for their odd time dexterity and a few albums that I think are an excellent representation of their work. It’s up to you to look up further and listen to other albums that showcase their work in odd times and read interviews with them to find their influences and use those to expand your knowledge in those areas.
I hope you enjoy this material, study it and use it as a foundation to build your odd meter and odd grouping understanding and development
1 | JOSE RUIZ [ODD METERS & GROUPINGS PRIMER]
SECTION 1: ODD METERS
1. Odd Meter Introduction
Meter and time signature refer to the pulse of the music. Most of the music we listen in PR is based on 2/4, 4/4 6/8, 12/8 and 3/4 meters. These are natural meters for us and are easily followed. They create an even, steady pulse which gives the music a sense of stability. 3/4 meter is technically an odd meter but based on the way it's commonly used (Waltz), it creates a steady pulse, just like 2/4 and 4/4 meters do. When we move to things like 5 or 7 the listeners would find difficult to follow the music. They normally feel as if the music is rushing or skipping beats. Odd numbers cannot be divided in half, so we end up with a bar that cannot be divided into two (or more) equal time segments. This is the main cause for the complexity of the odd meters. When we think of groups of 2 on a 7/8 meter we get: 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 causing the listener to feel a skip. To avoid this they will have to constantly be aware of the meter’s main downbeat. Eventually, the placement of accented beats within the meter creates different “feels” for the same odd meter.
2. 5/4 and 7/4
5/4 and 7/4 are the most commonly used odd time signatures. The quarter note still receives one beat in both, but each has a unique feel.
Figure 1: Basic 5/4 beat
Figure 2: Basic 7/4 Beat
A typical way of counting and/or feeling an odd meter is to think of the subdivisions, we can think of 5 as 2-3 and 3-2 as we will se in the following figure:
Figure 3: 2-3 and 3-2 subdivisions
2 | JOSE RUIZ [ODD METERS & GROUPINGS PRIMER]
We can phrase those subdivisions as:
1. RLRLL 2. LRLRR 3. RLRLR / LRLRL
The same can be done for a 7/4 beat. You can sub divide it as 2-2-3 or 3-2-2
Figure 4: 2-2-3 and 3-2-2 subdivisions
We can phrase those subdivisions as:
1. RLRLRLL 2. LRLRLRR 3. RLRLRLR / LRLRLRL
When you internalize these groupings it’s much easier to just use them as a starting point to create grooves. The tendency is that sooner than later your odd grooves will feel funkier than your typical 4/4 beats. Here are some examples of 5/4 and 7/4 taken from Odd John Hawkins, a project I work with where our main ideas are mostly based in Odd Meters. The record is called Detective and you can find it on Spotify
Figure 5: Main Groove – Pass The Bucket
The next groove, also from the same song is based on a RLRRLRL sticking at an 8th note ratio, that when played twice fills up one bar of 7
Figure 6: RLRRLRL groove, notice it creates a quasi-half time feel
3 | JOSE RUIZ [ODD METERS & GROUPINGS PRIMER]
The following 2 examples are taken from a song in 5/4 called 5 Pack
Figure 7: 5 Pack main groove, notice how the hi hat / ride takes 2 bars to repeat itself as it is played on an even subdivision against an uneven base
This second groove implies a much faster feel and is very simple. It’s just 4 paradiddles and an inverted paradiddle to get back to the next downbeat. The sticking is Rlrr Lrll Rlrr Lrll RllK
Figure 8: 5 Pack solo groove – not in the record, I came up with it after we recorded the song, so we use it live
SECTION 2: ODD GROUPINGS
1. Odd Groupings Intro
An odd grouping is like an odd meter, an uneven group of notes. While the odd meter deals with time signature, odd groupings deal with ratios against a pulse. The most basic and widely use example is the triplet. If we play an 8th note triplet we are dealing with 3 notes within the space of a quarter note. At the same time if we play a five-note grouping using an 8th note triplet ratio we must move through 5 quarter notes until we hit the downbeat and the cycle starts again.
Figure 9: Triplets within an 8th note ratio accenting every 3 notes. The accent falls on every quarter note
Figure 10: Changed to a 5-note grouping inside an 8th note triplet ratio. It takes 3 cycles to go back to starting on a quarter note creating 3 evenly spaced accents within a bar of 5/4 – AKA as 3:5
4 | JOSE RUIZ [ODD METERS & GROUPINGS PRIMER]
2. Examples of groups of 3, 5 & 7 on an 8th, 8th note triplet and 16th note ratio
You can experiment moving the 3 note odd grouping to a 16th note ratio, originally every group of 3 will start on a quarter note but when you change the note ratio from triplets to 16 th you will need a cycle of 3 quarter notes to start a group of 3 on a downbeat.
Figure 11: the 3 note grouping moving on a 16th note ratio. This creates 4 evenly spaced notes within a bar of 3/4 – AKA as 4:3
3. Combine groupings and ratios for the concept of diminution and augmentation
An interesting thing to do is move a grouping from one note value to another without changing the actual grouping. This means that we will take a 3-note grouping and move it from a quarter note ratio, to an 8th note ratio, to an 8th note triplet ratio to a 16th note ratio. This is called diminution. The opposite or going from 16th note ratio to a quarter note ratio is called augmentation. Let’s see:
Figure 12: an example of diminution, a 3 note accent moving from quarte notes to 16th notes. The cycle goes along with the new ratio. Quarter notes 1 cycle, 8th notes 2 cycles, 8th note triplets 3 cycles and 16th notes 4 cycles.
The same can be done with a 5-note grouping. Let’s see how it moves using a RLRLL sticking:
Figure 13: 5 notes grouping inside a 5/4 frame and moving from quarter notes to 16th notes. The same thing happens. The grouping moves with the note ratio. From once within quarter notes to 4 cycles within 16 th notes.
5 | JOSE RUIZ [ODD METERS & GROUPINGS PRIMER]
After you understand and can play the previous exercises make sure to orchestrate them. Here is a simple way to play a groove within the 5-note sticking.
Figure 14: 5 note grouping orchestrated a as groove – KRLRR / KRLRR
SECTION 3: COMBINATIONS OF ODD AND EVEN METERS WITH ODD GROUPINGS
1. Odd groupings within even time signatures
A good thing to do is to use the concepts we just saw and combine them to create grooves. We can get for example a 4/4-time signature and play a simple kick-snare groove while we play a 3-note grouping with the hi hat
Figure 14: 4/4 groove with a 3-note grouping on a 16th note ratio
The following groove allows you to play a 4:3 with 3 limbs, so you are playing the 3 possible permutations at the same time. When you put a back beat within a 6/4 bar you have this:
Figure 15: notice we are playing 4:3 starting on the downbeat on the & and on the an while keeping a back beat that helps anchor the groove
Now let’s move into an 8th note triplet ratio and use an abakwa rhythm split between a tom, a cymbal and the bass drum. To make it sound odd we will play quarter notes on the hi hat with our foot and 2 and 4 on the snare. Our base will be a 4/4 structure.
6 | JOSE RUIZ [ODD METERS & GROUPINGS PRIMER]
Figure 16: abakwa orchestrated on a drum set as a groove
2. Odd groupings within Odd Time Signatures
We can complicate our life a little bit and mix an odd grouping with an odd time signature to create interesting grooves. The first example uses a 3/4-time signature with groups of 3 and 5 going at the same time. We will play a quarter note with our left foot, a 3 note sticking RRL with a back beat on beat 3 and a 5-note grouping with our bass drum stressing 1 and 3 K + K + +. This creates a great feel. The basis of this groove can be heard on the track Rosetta Stoned by the band TOOL, it’s on the album 10,000 days.
Figure 17: 3 notes sticking on a 3/4-time signature with a 5-note grouping on the snare drum
You can also use the 3 notes grouping on a 7/4-time signature for a nice overlapping of rhythms. A variation of this concept can be heard on a track by Odd John Hawkins called NVABMNEMV available on Spotify, the chorus and solo part of the tune employs a 3 note accent moving on a 7/4-time signature.
Figure 18: A 7/4 base, with a 3 note based accent on the ride (R - - R - -), a 7-note based accent between kick and snare ( K - - K – S -)and quarter notes on the hi hat.
7 | JOSE RUIZ [ODD METERS & GROUPINGS PRIMER]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Drum Books a. Humphrey, Ralph - Even in the Odds: A Study of Odd Meters and Rhythms for the Drummer - C.L. Barnhouse (1980) - ASIN: B002LCR0MQ b. Chaffee, Gary: Odd Time Sticking: Compound Stickings for Odd-Meter Time Playing and Soloing - Alfred Music (April 1, 2013) - ISBN-10: 0739096680 c. Chafee, Gary: Rhythm & Meter Patterns - Alfred Music; PAP/COM edition (July 1, 1994) - ISBN-10: 0769234690 d. Roscetti, Ed: Drummer's Guide to Odd Meters: Essential Concepts Series - Musicians Institute Press (May 1, 2000) - ISBN-10: 0634001043 e. Lockett, Pete: Symmetrical Stickings: For Snare Drum, Drum Set & Percussion - Hudson Music; 1 edition (November 1, 2018) - ISBN-10: 1540039846 2. Drummers a. Bill Bruford i. King Crimson: Discipline b. Pat Mastelotto i. King Crimson: Thrak (double drums with Bill Bruford) c. Gavin Harrison i. Porcupine Tree: Arriving Somewhere, But Not Here (Live DVD) d. Ralph Humphrey i. Frank Zappa: Apostrophe, Overnite Sensation e. Terry Bozzio i. UK: Danger Money f. Mike Portnoy i. Dream Theater: Metropolis Part 2 g. Danny Carey: i. Tool: Fear Inoculum
Also listen to the works of Stravinsky, Edgar Varese, Steve Reich, Nik Bartsch, Glenn Kotche, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Ari Hoening, Animals as Leaders, Earthworks, Rush, Mike Keneally, Steve Vai, Dave Brubek, Adrian Bellew, Don Ellis, Chad Wackerman and Allan Holdsworth to expand your knowledge in odd meters and groupings.
