The 5 Step Method for Learning Polyrhythms Quickly

Ahh, polyrhythms. A great way to show off that you know how to play at least two different time signatures. Though difficult to comprehend at first, they can make two (or more) simple parts sound incredibly intricate when layered on top of one another. They crop up in all types of music, though more difficult ones are usually associated with genres focusing on more technical musical ideas. Math rock or modern jazz bands might use 7/11 polyrhythmic ideas, but simpler ideas using 3 over 4, for example, are more prevalent, often even in very simple pop songs. A few weeks before writing this, I saw this incredible video by Mike Dawes, detailing how to play polyrhythms on one guitar. He does this by playing in one time signature (5/4) with the right hand, and another (12/8) with the left. I was so inspired by this, that I immediately attempted to write a polyrhythmic idea on the acoustic guitar. Let’s just say, this is not as easy as it looks.

I started by writing the parts and learning to play them individually. This was easy enough, but figuring out how to play them at the same time seemed impossible. After a long time playing and transcribing the two parts, first trying tablature and then sheet music, I finally managed to find a quick method of doing it by using the (VERY) flawed notation tool on Logic Pro 10. Normally I wouldn’t recommend this tool for notating on guitar, but for this purpose, it works efficiently.

This method requires music editing software (I used Logic Pro 10, but others should work just as well), a little knowledge of music theory and you should be able to read music to a fairly decent level. I have written this from an acoustic guitarists point of view, but this can work with any instrument that can play multiple passages at one time. Let’s get started!

Step one: Making sure both parts can be played together

So, first of all, we have to figure out how to play two different things on one instrument. If you look at the Mike Dawes example, his right hand fingerpicks the higher strings for the melody, while the left hand plays the lower strings as a sort of bass riff, by playing hammer-ons and pull-offs. I’ll be doing the same thing for this example, but feel free to experiment switching around. Maybe you could hammer-on and pull-off on the higher strings, while the left hand plays low open strings, or go crazy and play a drumbeat on the guitar with one hand and a steel pan solo with the other. Essentially, you need to make sure that each part you write can be played as the other is being played. Don’t let your fingers trip over each other.

Step two: Writing and inputting the melody

For this step, you can use previously written parts, or you can input the notes yourself and see what sounds good. Begin by creating two separate tracks, each representing what one hand is going to play. For some reason, this only works if each track is set to a different instrument. As you can see, in this example I’m using an Acoustic Guitar and an Electric Piano. The Acoustic Guitar represents the right hand picking pattern, and the Electric Piano will show what the left hand plays using hammer-ons and pull-offs.

For the purpose of this tutorial, I will be writing an acoustic guitar piece using a 5 over 4 polyrhythm, but this method will work with any time signature. Since the default time signature on Logic is 4/4, let’s begin with writing the 4/4 section. Create an empty MIDI region, and draw, or play, the melody you want the right hand to play on the acoustic guitar track. If you are playing the part using a MIDI controller or keyboard, be sure to quantize so that the notation is accurate. As you can see in this picture, I have written a part suitable to be played in DADGAD tuning using only open strings, freeing up the left hand to play the counter melody.

Step three: Writing and inputting the second melody

Now, let’s prepare the lower bass riff on the D and A strings (Remember, this is in DADGAD tuning). I’ve changed the time signature to 5/4, and written a low bass guitar sounding riff, beginning with a pull-off from the 3rd fret to the open D string. Make sure you don’t change the length of the MIDI region to match the bar lines. It still needs to be one bar of 4/4. Now, loop each passage until the ends of the regions line up. Now we have 5 bars of 4/4, and 4 bars of 5/4. As Mike Dawes says in the aforementioned video, a bar of 5/4 has to be played 4 times to sync with a bar in 4/4, and vice versa (a bar of 4/4 would have to be played 5 times to sync with a bar of 5/4).

Step four: Transcribing

Okay, now we have the polyrhythmic piece written, but It doesn’t sound great on Logic. We need to play it on a real instrument to get that intricately technical sound. Highlight both MIDI regions, then click score to see the notation. You can choose to notate this piece in 5/4 or 4/4, either time signature works. It usually works best to find which passage uses more notes of a longer value, crochets and minims etc., and notate in the corresponding time signature. If one part uses a lot of quavers or shorter notes, it’s easy to read it in a different time signature. For this example, the 5/4 part uses longer notes, so it makes more sense to notate in that time signature.

Step five: Playing the polyrhythmic piece

After printing out the score, you can see how the notes align, showing you what to play on the right hand (the acoustic guitar notation) and the left hand (the Electric Piano notation). As with everything in music, begin as slow as possible (ALWAYS using a metronome), and keep repeating it bar by bar until you can play through it easily, then gradually speed up. Try experimenting with more time signatures, and suddenly it becomes second nature to play polyrhythmically.

So there you have it! A great sounding, intricate polyrhythmic passage. I find that these pieces work best for a midsection or breakdown when played on a solo instrument, but experiment and see what sounds best. Happy polyrhythming!