SO-CALLED “ODD” METERS ARE SCARY TERRAIN for many musicians. Defined generally as time signatures that fall outside the common 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4 meters, the relative infrequency of their appearance in Western music means they aren’t in our musical DNA like the conventional meters. In odd-meter music, bass players are often the primary time-keepers, so for us, being rhythmically secure is the key to feeling relaxed and free within the music.
I had a terrible time learning how to play odd-meter music. My feel seemed so wrong, and reading tied rhythms over the bar-line just knocked me out. Then a drummer taught me the subdivision concept as a way to untangle metric problems. At last I had found a consistently effective procedure to interpret rhythmic figures!
The basic premise is that by thinking and feeling smaller rhythmic groupings, you can subdivide rhythmically intricate music into familiar pieces. Complex rhythms are easily subdivided into various groups of 1, 2, or 3 beats. Larger rhythmic groupings are just compounds of these smaller units. Using this technique, you can master any syncopated figure in any meter, odd or even.
Here’s the trick: First, find the lowest common rhythmic denominator for the rhythmic figure in question. This would be the shortest note value in any lick. Once you’ve found the lowest common rhythmic denominator you can then organize it into groups of 1, 2, or 3. Longer rhythmic groups will be composites of these three smaller rhythmic units. No matter how the music is notated you can use this technique to find the melodic rhythm of the bass line.
This is important: Work out the rhythms before you apply them to a bass line. Tap or clap the rhythmic figures out. You need to do this physical process to get the rhythm out of your head and into your body. Feel the basic pulse in your feet while you play all the subdivisions with your hands and sing the accents. Your bass lines will be constructed of the longer rhythmic groupings of the accented notes you sing. The Indians are major proponents of this approach. Check out Jonathan Herrera’s Homework column in July ’08 for tips on using the Indian art of Konnakol to sound out the rhythms.
Once you’ve worked out the rhythms and have considered which pitches to play, you should finally practice with a bass. Use a metronome to regulate the tempo. In 5/4 meter with rhythmic figures involving eighthnotes, use an eighth-note click to hear the smallest rhythmic unit involved in the figures. If the rhythms involve 16ths, use a 16thnote click.
Let’s apply this concept to an odd-meter rhythm. Ex. 1 shows several interpretations of 5/4. Bar 1 has five quarter-notes. In bar 2 you can see beat three divided into two eighthnotes. In 5/4 you have to think in an eighthnote pulse to divide each group of five quarter-notes evenly (ten divided by two equals five eighth-notes). Bar 3 shows the eighths and quarters tied together, and bar 4 is the same, written with half-notes on beats one and four tied to the eighths in beat three.
Dividing a 5/4 bar into four equal parts requires a 16th-note subdivision, as in Ex. 2. Bar 1 groups the 16th-notes into five groups of four against the quarter-note pulse. In bar 2 you see four groups of five 16ths.
Now that I’m thinking in groups of 16ths, I’m getting lost counting to five, so in Ex. 3, I’ve grouped the 20 16th-notes into four 3+2 units in bar 1 and four 2+3 units in bar 2. In bar 3 you see the 2+3 16th-note groupings written as an eighth-note and a dotted eighth. In bar 4 the groups of three and two 16ths are notated respectively with a dotted eighth and an eighth-note. Either way, you end up with one odd and one even grouping that gives you some aural reference to delineate the beginning of the bar.
Ex. 3 shows one way to play a 12-bar blues that’s in 5/4. Learn the line here, and then come up with your own.
You can mix up these subdivisions at will. Thinking in these small rhythmic groups creates unusual melodic phrases that become the melodic rhythm of your bass line and are easy to remember. I hope you’ve enjoyed our odd time together and been inspired to do some experimenting in odd meters.