In this lesson I’m going to show you the other half of why the 3/2 Polyrhythm is so great to work with – it allows us to time travel.
The reference groove I’m going to use for this lesson is the verse groove from the song Luminary by TesseracT – this is the groove that immediately follows on from the intro. If you’ve worked through the 3/2 Polyrhythm Lesson 1 and Lesson 2 (from the Progressive Drumming Masterclass), you’ll have an understanding of the feel when working with the ‘2’ of the polyrhythm as the leading count to a 4/4 groove while keeping the ‘3’ on the pedal hat.
In this lesson, we’re going to pick up that ‘3’ and use it as the main count on our right hand, but while listening to a metronome counting the ‘2’s of the polyrhythm.
Why is this useful? Because it unlocks the ability to seamlessly switch between either feel – it allows us to play with a form of metric modulation, where we’re effectively changing the perceived pulse of the song but we’re actually still locked in with the original metronome count. This idea specifically is an immensely useful concept to unlock and this is simply one example of how it can be used.
These exercises can be done in any order but I’ve presented them out in a way that I think makes logical sense to work through sequentially:
Exercise 1 – Looping the ‘3’ to a ‘2’ metronome
Exercise 2 – 4-bar alternating loop
This exercise switches between the ‘2’ feel and the ‘3’ feel every 4 bars – it’s a great exercise for working on the transitions between the two feels, to a consistent metronome count. Also, I’ve decided to upload a slower version of this groove as it’s hugely challenging to maintain ‘groove’ at a slower tempo.
Exercise 3 – 1-bar loop
This exercise challenges us to switch between the two different timing elements while listening to the same metronome. This is very useful for quickly working on those timing transitions.
