Although the word polyrhythm technically means "many rhythms", it's most commonly used to describe the layering of multiple time signatures. For example, Steve Vai's The Attitude Song, in the main riff, has the guitars playing in 7/8 and the drums in 4/4 simultaneously. What happens is this: 4/4 is the same as 8/8. So, when one bar of 7/8 is complete, the bar of 4/4 still has one eighth note remaining, so the "1" beat of the second bar of the 7/8 rhythm falls on the last eighth note of the 4/4 rhythm. Read On.....
Now, after the second 7/8 bar has finished, the "1" beat of the third 7/8 bar will fall on the second-last eighth note in the second bar of the 4/4 rhythm. What you will notice from the example, in which guitar 1 plays in 7/8, and guitar 2 plays in 4/4, is that the "1" beat of the two rythms become increasingly displaced from one another by one eighth note, until eight bars of 7/8 are complete, at which point the "1" beat of the 7/8 rhythm meets with the "1" beat of the 4/4 rhythm again.
Example 1. A simple PolyRhythm using 6 over 4 |----------------------------|
|----------------------------|
|-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2----|
|----------------------------|
|-0-----0-----0-----0--------|
|----------------------------|
Listen to 6 over 4 example
The top 12 notes (A 3rd string 2nd fret) is played as a sextuplet. The lower line of four notes (open A 5th string ) represents the basic pulse in 4/4 meter. Example 2. Is played 7 over 4 in A major. The open A (5th string) is the basic 4/4 pulse and the A chord is 7. |--------------------------|
|-2--2---2--2---2--2----2--|
|-2--2---2--2---2--2----2--|
|-2--2---2--2---2--2----2--|
|-0----0------0------0-----|
|--------------------------|
Listen to 7 over 4 example
Note: this is just the starting point to PolyRhythms so there's endless ways to include them in your rhythms,leads etc....
Next time we will combine different PolyRhythms together and look at other more complicated PolyRhythms.
Make sure you listen to Steve Vai's "The Attitude Song" to get a more in depth idea of what where talking about.
Until next time have fun!
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