This video single-handedly solved YEARS of overcomplicating time signatures. Thank you. Definitely subbed.

Im a drummer and drum teacher of many years and my approach to teaching odd times has been through the lenght of the composition melody. I show that the meter exists because the melody only lasts a certain amount of beats and then so the drum beat needs to be a groove that both matches the math of the melody its playing for but also has rhythmic accentuations that compliment the odd meter melody in question. What this drummer and his lesson here though does better than mybprior teaching attempts is that he considers bthe drum students experience in dealing with odd meters and he offers an approach that facilitates quicker understanding. My flaw so far so was to lean on melody alone and wxpect my students to learn the melody and then figurebout the beat for the odd time. This drum teacher though has a more considerate approach and it allows the student a sense of control of the measure more immediately. I like this lesson snr im happy to point my odd meter students to watch this video after their next class with me. Its a nice and clear approach and one I hadnt thought of tor my students prior. im learning too still it seems and this video will be recommended to my students learning odd meter this course. Thanks for the lesson, I appreciate it alwo

I overthink everything.

I woke up today confused as hell because I struggled with time signatures but now I have a much better understanding. youtube videos like this are a godsend

I wish I saw this video years ago. Best explanation I have ever seen for odd times and how to think them

I used to count using numbers but as soon as I learned the South Indian counting system (Konnekol) if that’s the correct spelling, I fell in love with it and it made a lot more musical sense to me. Especially for odd time signatures. 5 / 8 for example can be counted several way depending on the rhythm and feel you want. 3+2 or 2+3 or 1+4 or 4+1 or simply 5. Ta-ki-da+ta-ka or Ta-ka-ta-ki-da or ta-ka-Di-mi+ta or ta+ta-ka-Di-mi or ta-ki-ghi-na-ton. This creates a mantra and you are engulfed by the rhythm allowing you to flow and make music. Plenty of people giving examples but off the top of my head Pete Lockett steps up. Keep practicing and stay safe.

I watched many videos to understand odd meter, but this is one of the best! Thank you, I subscribed :)

Good lesson. Here's another way for faster tempos, I think it was Dave Weckl that does a half time count, so in 7/8 you would count 1.3.5..1.3.5..etc.

Another great lesson Jay! I find your teaching principles are very easy for me to follow. I've always tended to break down odd time signatures into smaller chunks i.e. 1-2 1-2 1-2-3 for seven. But I definitely dig your approach, it's a very cool method. Counting odd time while still feeling that common time pulse. Very cool method!

Hands down the best rhythm lesson on KZfaq, thank you sir!

I have watched a few video's about odd meter signature, but this is by far the clearest explanation I've found! Thank you!

COOL I NEED THIS LESSON THANKS

I keep coming back to watch this because I learn somthing new each time! Jay you are a great teacher, Thanks!

Very helpful for my younger students! I used to overthink like crazy, but I found that when I clear my mind and just let my hands go to work I'm spot on. When I think about what I'm doing, that's when I start dropping fills and screwing up easy stuff.

Really great breakdown. It's strange how with drumming you can take a time signature or beat, rudiment, whatever. And all it takes is a slight adjustment in the way you think about it and it just CLICKS. And then you're like 'why was I struggling with this?' 😁

This video will be forever in my rotation. Great job explaining!!

That dramatic pause at 6:11, odd silence with odd stares "...one? it's one, right?"

Oh. My. Gosh. You are the first person to explain odd time signatures that actually makes sense. I don't think that previous sentence made a great deal of sense but... LOL. I overthink my English grammar sometimes! But, seriously, thank you!!

great video.. I'm a guitarist actually just looking to improve playing odd times awesome video

Definitely a very good explanation on odd time signatures! Thank you for helping with odd time signatures even as a bassist!

I was taught early on to break odd time signatures into their smallest pieces: twos and threes. I feel it helps when tracks start moving quicker to feel the pulses this way. Love how you approach it, too!

Thank you very much sir!!! I have never even took the time to learn about time signatures. Mainly out of fear, but thank you so much for this great lesson. It is started to make sense to me and am excited to add this to my repertoire.

Thanks for the tip. Its also cool that if you keep the quarter note going over the bar line with either of these odd times, the quarter note always plays on the down beat the first time around and on the upbeat the second time around.

super cool way to think about it. loved this way of teaching. keep rocking

This is enlightening for a noob like me. Thank you a ton sir!

Thank you I've always had a hard way of dissecting odd time signatures. I now have to knowledge and purpose to use constant repetition to learn odd times.

Your lessons easy to understand and follow. Thank you :)

This way of thinking about it is great, thank you!

Incredibly helpful thank you so much

This helped alot. Thank you🙌🏾

You've made something that seemed v difficult easy to understand! Thank you!

OMG - This is genius. I was that robotic drummer...Thanks so much

I can almost follow all this... need to really re-watch and write out what your putting down.

Best explanation

This was great man. I cannot thank you enough.

It works! Thanks maaan for your help! ❤

Very helpful! Thanks matey! ;) 👍 South Tyneside Orchestra makes me play such complicated time signatures! I’m their 1st trombonist.

Great lesson!

great video! Can't wait for more videos like this! you just gained a subscriber

This is exactly how I think about odd time signatures. 29/16 is super fun. Weirdly enough I relate it to 7/8. It’s like adding a 32nd note to the last beat of a 7/8 bar. So one first needs to feel the 7/8 like a 4/4 as you explained. In that respect it would be like a bar of 4/4 with 3 less 32nd notes. But it’s all dependent on the tempo. You just play the tempo that matches up to a normal feel just like you did when you matched the 7/8 to 4/4.

Thanks. You have helped a soul RN❤️

1:14 the smile after the joke made me crack up lol

This is awesome

I often play odd times but just didn’t know what they were Like Pink Floyd Money and some jazz tunes, but having learning disabilities and slightly dyslexic with ADD makes it a little challenging for me to figure out, but this did help me a little! Thanks plus I had a late start playing drums more frequently, I’m 70-years young😄🤘🏻🥁

Outstanding. Thanks for making this. Don't even have drums - just been guessing how to count to Tool songs for about 15 years haha.

Ty, underrated channel. Great info

Thank you It is all about how to think and count Bravo

This is cool! Thanks for this video. I learn a lot.

Actually so helpful. Thanks man

Thanks a lot!

Jesus christ... You open my mind sir❤. Thankyou 🙏😢

This is great thank you

That was dope

Love your video

Nice that you made a video about odd time signatures. I play, sing and dance a lot to music with an odd time signature (mostly Greek music). Just for your information. Dancers indeed often count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 with music in 4/4, but this covers 2 measures (bars), so the first measure is 1, 2, 3, 4 and the next measure is 5, 6, 7, 8. Salsa music is mostly written in 4/4, but in that case the clave is written over two bars. To dance correctly to salsa music, you need to know where the clave starts. Otherwise a dancing figure can start at the wrong moment, so for example not at the start of the chorus. Salsa (on one) dancers often count 1, 2, 3, -, 5, 6, 7, - , because they mostly don't step on the counts 4 and 8. The Viennese waltz is in 3/4, but dancers count mostly 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 over two measures. I like how you change 4/4 to 7/8, since then you start from a time signature that everybody knows and a little later you can play in 7/8. However, the next step is to learn about grouping. If you see 7/8 as 4/4 with the end of count 4 deleted, you will always end up with the grouping 2-2-3, because you are used to the accent on count 3 in 4/4 time, since 4/4 is grouped 2-2. Converting 4/4 to 8/8 gives the grouping 4-4. Removing 1/8 gives the grouping 4-3 and thus 2-2-3. A lot of 7/8 music (for example Kalamatianos) is grouped 3-2-2. When you want to play along to music with an odd time signature, it is very important to understand what the grouping is. This is often very easy to hear, since you hear an accent at the start of each group and the first group has the biggest accent. You can count easily 7/8 with a 3-2-2 grouping by counting 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 1, 2. Everytime that you say 1, there is an accent. Of course you know this, but just for other people that read this.

TQ so much

Good video. Suport from argentina

Great lesson. I play some songs from heart, the endings go into a "weird" section. Need help desciphering an odd time section and how to get through it. Thanks again!

Brilliant video man- you've got a new subscriber here-! Any particularly good songs to start with that you recommend in 7/8/with prominent 7/8 parts?

thanks man

I actually understood this!

Money and Take Five are odd enough for me. I like 3/4, straight 4/4, and swinging 4/4. Great videos though. Thank you

This really helped me understand dream theaters music a little more😂

how did i miss this video? thank you

Guitar player digging into odd time sigs. Thanks!

can you play some short clips/tracks as samples & maybe mix some as subdivisions to understand the changes while playing?

I just count as 1-2 1-2 1-2-3 or whatever the odd time is. Works easy for me.

I'm just getting into drumming and notes/time sigs so forgive me here but as I understand it, all of these fractions and numbers are primarily a language simply used to communicate drum beats. That's it. The actual playing has nothing to do with it. I mean, who doesn't understand the concept of a beat and how it can go faster or slower and be consistent and organized? You are interchanging time signatures here as a way of simplifying them so as to get the player to focus more on the actual playing rather than getting stuck on the language. And that is great and all, as I can certainly relate to the problem of overthinking and loosing the essence of what you're actually trying to do - play a nice beat (your dancing reference is appropriate as dancers also can get stuck in their heads and loose the basic joy of dancing). But wouldn't all of this interchanging and adaptation make it so that you've rendered the language that's supposed to be able to communicate playing the drums, in the absence of actually playing the drums, useless? And so, then what's the point of the language? Again, I'm just starting out but this is my take.

Excellent breakdown and explanation of 5/7/9! I use this exact method to teach odd times! I also use this method of using 4/4 as the model for other time signatures as well! Great video, subscribed!

This is a gold lesson ! How can I contact you ?

The opening groove sounds like a 7/4. Please what's the difference between the two. That's 7/4 and 7/8

nice video boss

I alway been into drum and bass (I apologise, it was the 90s raves). I always used to count. My question is do you really count? After a while so t you just feel the time and the counting is just intuitive and just felt by the music. Obviously I'm not an expert but I genuinely do not need to count, is this normal? I've never been taught about music it just natural, I think all teachers over complicate timing. Am I off here?

so 7/8 means there are 7 eighth bits per bar simply

I never understood the problem... I just feel it... yes, you have to have a grip on things so you can have a conversation with your guitarist, but throw it at me and I get it. Hope that saved someone 15 minutes, because this video made it seem more complicated

That makes do much fucking sense!!!

Are you sure that 4/4 and 8/8 are the same just because they have the same amount of 8th notes. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the pulse of 8/8 time 2 compound beats and one simple beat?

I lovee playing odd time on drums

Wow!! +1 subscribed Greetings from Brazil 👊

I love you

13:38 ðey played ðus music at my 8þ grade pacer test

How to practice 5-lets and 7-lets?

The whole world makes sense now

The coronavirus joke tho 😂😂

18 months later, and it's still an 'odd time'.

I'm confused.

I just count up to the dang number. I play a beat that fits in it.

aaaaaaahhhhhhh genious! thats a good way!😁 thanks!

meshuggah BROKEN DOWN PLEASE

Don’t they call it “sub division” ?

Counts to 8 holds up 9 fingers 🙃😩

8/8 is not equal to 4/4 . Its an odd time meter and it has 3 accents and countains two compound beats and one simple beat and it counts like this : 123 123 12 or 123 12 123 or ...

For the love of God, please drop the background drum track…… It’s pure chaos while trying to listen to you….

There’s playing odd time signatures then there’s playing Danny Carey’s time signatures 💀 edit: they are not fun to learn but fun to play

Me to band on saying this is 4 to the floor :"Really?! Do I have to?" "No actually it's 13/8 actually - it's Prog dude we use fours ironically - got yer" Me: - smile - A*******s!

What if I told you... I'm still fucking confused. What if I told you... What you're telling me is going over my head What if I told you... I'm a fucking idiot

7:02 I thought 8 got the beat? shouldn't that be 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 not 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 ?

I can't focus on what you're saying. All I can hear is the drumming background ughhhh

9/8 is not odd it’s compound

Why am I watching this, I solo over dream Theater songs