polyrhythm

[warsofwinter]

I know Tool and Meshuggah know them well but could someone fill us in on what a polyrhythm is.

 

[Ermz]

This is a polyrhythm

Taken off a page:

Some Definitions of Poly rhythms:

First definition: To qualify as a poly rhythm, the contributing rhythms should be chosen such that the numbers denoting their rhythmic relation, are relatively prime to each other.
Second definition: If the sum of two (or more) simultaneously sounding rhythms results in a subdivision of the beat that is not present in either of the constituting rhythms, we call this resultant rhythm poly rhythmic. Third definition: Two different rhythmic patterns do not result in a poly rhythm (when played simultaneously), when one of those rhythms can be contained in the subdivision of the beat that is implied by the other rhythm.

 

[yoldz]

an example would be a drummer playing in 5 4 and a guitarist playing in 4 4 simultaneously

 

[LakeOpeth]

Meh...I'm so unmusical its not funny. Though I hear there are a fair few polyrhythms in the new Morbid Angel album ("Heretic"). I'm not sure what to be listening for though.

 

[The Scourge]

Morbid Angel has always used polyrhythms. It is just usually a triple meter played against a duple meter, as Moonlapse showed. 5/4 is definitely the most popular one employed by composers. To make it easier, instead of thinking 5/4, think 3+2/4 which is a 3/4 and 2/4 meter playing simultaneously. A few famous examples could be Tchaikovsky's second movement of his 6th Symphony(the "limping waltz"), Holst's "Mars, Bringer of War" from his "Planets," or the popular jazz tune, Take 5. To try to hear a polyrhythm yourself in 3/2, have one hand clap a triplet on one leg, and the other hand clap a quarter note. Cool stuff.

 

[Bereaved]

So, could anyone list some specific songs by some metal bands like the ones mentioned that use polyryhthms.

 

[Leper_/-\ffinity]

Damnit, now Im going to have to make my own cover.

 

[Mayh]

So Moonlapse... from what webpage is this?

 

[flipjargendy]

I thought that was called compounded timing...

 

[[0hr]Sunlapse]

So, could anyone list some specific songs by some metal bands like the ones mentioned that use polyryhthms.

any Meshuggah song. they really take them to the extreme.

 

[anonymousnick2001]

I thought that was called compounded timing...

Yeah. Like a polyrhythm.

Opeth has them all over. Advent, Leper Affinity, In Mist She Was Standing, they all have extended polyrhythm sections. Also, Meshuggah, Tool, Cynic, Mr. Bungle, and Dream Theater are bands with loads of polyrhythms in their music.

 

[Ermz]

Would the start of Meshuggah's Exquisite Machinery of Torture be considered polyrhythmic? Yknow the snare and all.

 

[Scourge of Amalek]

A good example of polyrhythmic mastery is Tool's "Ticks and Leeches," from Lateralus. Listen to the drum intro. There are at least two different meters being executed smoothly side-by-side.

Also, compound meters are meters where each beat can be broken up into three seperate pulses. Think about 9/8. You have 3 dotted quarter notes, and those are normally broken into 3 eighth notes apiece. 9/8 is a "compound triple meter." It is compound because its notes can be broken into three seperate pulses, and it is a triple meter because its principal pulses are THREE dotted quarter notes.

For more information, you might want to check out http://www.musictheory.net. This stuff is covered pretty well there.

 

[Judas Pissed]

To put it very simply and fairly accurately, a polyrhythm is two or more rhythms being played at together.