Polymeter vs. Polyrhythm
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Polymeter vs. Polyrhythm
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The song ‘5/4’ by Gorillaz has guitars in 5/4 and drums in 4/4, which im guessing also makes rhat a polymeter. Cool!
Polymeters create a beautiful effect
This was actually so helpful in letting me get the guitar tones right, the recording is so clean
Fun fact: if you play a polymeter and accent the ones, you’ll get a very slow polyrhythm.
Another nice example of polymeter is the “Tonight Quintet” from West Side Story. The bass is playing an ascending pattern in 3 while the rest of the orchestra is playing a pattern in 4.
Zep’s gonna take this down.
La mer by Nine Inch Nails has 3/4 against a 4/4 drum groove
The song “Future Lovers” by Madonna is very interesting for a dance-pop act. Its refrain is sung in 7/4 (till it matches the 28th beat — 7 • 4) but the whole track is in 4/4. This is a blip of polymeter in a pop song.
Wow I love that song and I’ve never noticed that before!
@Philippo Tataranni I love it too 🙂 Tremendous album
every meshuggah song 🙂
Shorts are a great format for these snippets
Toad the Wet Sprocket’s _Pray Your Gods_ uses a great example with a 7 against 8 (7 against 4?) polymeter.
In the final section a boys’ choir sings “dona nobis pacem” in a polymetric round with some eerily haunting harmonies. Even aside this, it’s an amazing song.
One of my professors told me that the best way to remember 3:4 polyrhythm is by saying the phrase “Pass the god damn butter”
Try it, u can totally hear it.
‘Västanberg’ by Wintergatan has a 2/3 polyrhythm in some sections.
Long Distance Runaround by Yes is also polymetet.
I wondered if the intro to Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac was a considered polyrhythm because of the asymmetric feel of the pulse of the treble and bass notes being picked on the guitar.
Great explanation, i’ve always been confused by these two things
Love me some bad MuseScore Basic Marimba 😭
There’s a really nice poly meter in the second movement of ravels piano concerto
Fun fact these two are actually almost equivalent. Silencing the beats that aren’t 1 gives you a polyrhythm from polymeter
it’s also used in weird fishes by radiohead!