Playing A 3/4 Groove In 4/4

In this lesson you will start exploring the idea of combining multiple time signatures. A similar idea was used in our level 2 lesson on playing 4/4 grooves in 3/4 but now we will start going a little more in depth. The idea of using two time signatures in a piece of music is referred to as 'polymeter' and sounds like one of those really complicated and insanely hard things to use but in reality can be as simple as you like. In this lesson I will be demonstrating the concept when applied to an existing piece of music and the polymeter will be applied between the drum kit and the rest of the music. You can achieve a polymeter pattern when playing drum kit as a solo instrument but this is more difficult and will be covered in a later lesson.

To help learn how to apply this idea I have created a short backing track which you can Download By Clicking Here. This track is a simple four bar synth pattern played four times and the bass line is constant eighth notes with a chord change at the start of each bar. There is a two bar count in before the piece starts. I have specifically written this part to be firmly in 4/4, so everything is based on blocks of four notes.

The part you are going to play here is this very simple level 1 3/4 Waltz Groove, the complication is that you are going to keep the 3/4 feel under this pice of music in a 4/4 feel. That means you will be placing natural accents every 3rd beat whilst the piece accents every fourth. Doing this requires a certain ammount of 'switching off' off to the rest of the piece and just making sure you are in time with the click.

On this page I will be showing examples of four, eight, and 16 bar version of this pattern. In each of these versions you need to be aware that your 3/4 part won't end in line with the 4/4 part, in each case there will be a small number of beats 'left over'. With these left over beats you can either add a fill or some other small variation to note the end of your phrase. The amount will vary in each case.


Four Bar Pattern

I'll start by showing you a four bar version that is quite easy to fit. It goes like this:

A four bar polymetered phrase

Let's discuss a few points about the notation to start with. First of all, the lines over the top are phrase markings to highlight where your bars of 3/4 fall. Each line marks one bar of 3/4 with the last line showing the left over beat. I have also beamed the eighth notes so that each block is a bar of 3/4, the result of which is that some eighth notes are beamed over the 4/4 bar line.

The first thing to note is that the 3/4 pattern naturally ends in the third bar of 4/4. A very common thing to do is play the polymeter to this point then play a full bar fill in the fourth bar, which I will show an example of later in the page. In this case I have tried to fit as many bars of 3/4 in as possible, which is five leaving one beat left over which in this example is played as four straight semi quavers.

When it comes to fitting this with the backing track it is important to remember that you aren't playing in the same timing. Your insticts will tell you to emphasize the start of each bar of 4/4 but you should ignore this as much as you can and put a bit more emphasis on those hi hat and kick notes at the start of each marked phrase.

The example provided here is purely to show you how the timing of the polymeter will work. Within those phrases you can vary the groove as you normall would with any 3/4 pattern, experiment with different groove construction ideas covered in previous lessons and improvise the part as much as possible. Below is another four bar example but this time I have used a slightly more complicated 3/4 groove and the whole of the final bar is made up of a fill.

A four bar polymetered phrase


Eight Bar Pattern

For these examples you are going to keep the 3/4 groove going for twice as long. That will give you ten occurances of your 3/4 groove with two beats left at the end of the block of eight bars to play as fill. I have given an example of this below, you will be able to play this twice with the backing track.

A four bar polymetered phrase

In these extended type patterns it gets even harder to keep track of where you are within the phrase. It really helps to be familiar with the music you are playing a long to and know exactly where the start of each phrase and each bar are. You will notice that the bar of 3/4 lines up with the start of each bar of 4/4 at a different point within the groove each time, this can be used to help you keep track of where you are also.

Learn the part given above then have a go at switching around the grooves and fills. Remember that you could cut off a section of 3/4 and start playing a fill earlier, there will be a point where it will feel like you should start playing a fill naturally, go with wherever that is for you.


Sixteen Bar Pattern

Finally, let's try doubling up again and keeping the 3/4 going over sixteen bars. The full pattern I have given will fit the entire backing track provided. As discussed above, the best thing to do when it comes to playing to the backing is just switch off to the 4/4 timing completely and keep your 3/4 pattern going. It will be easier to 'feel' the part than count when it comes to the fill placement, but follow the notation until you are comfortable with where this falls.

A four bar polymetered phrase


TASK

  1. Learn all exercises and fit them to the backing track.
  2. Experiment with different 3/4 grooves in each.
  3. Experiment with different lengths of phrase, maybe combine two or more different lengths to build up a full part for the backing.

Lessons

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