My Top 5 Tips On Playing Odd Time Signatures

1 Understand The Relationship
“Understand the concept and how the time signature relates to 4/4. Understand that a 7/8 is short of a 4/4 or a 9/8 is a little more than a 4/4, so understand the relationship of the time signature. Understand the concept of the time signature.”

2 Get Familiar With The Feel
Become familiar with the way the time signature feels. I learned how 7/8 feels from Rush albums. Every time signature, 5/8, 11/8, 9/8, they all have a swing and a feel to them so look to other songs that have that time signature to understand the feel of it.”

3 Break It Up Into Subdivisions
A lot of times if something is any more than seven I will break it up into different subdivisions. Even with seven, I will look at it like a four and three or a three and a four. If you are playing in nine then you can break it up as a five and a four, or a four and a five, or a three and a three and a three. Look at the subdivisions that you can utilise.”

4 Shorten Your Sevens
“When you do count out loud, only say ‘Sev’ and not ‘Seven because the word ‘seven’ is the only number from one to 10 that has two syllables so a lot of drummers make the mistake of going, ‘One, two, three, four, five, six sev-ven,’ so use ‘sev’ and you’ll be on track.”

5 Mark The One
“First and foremost count out loud. That’s real important. Always knowing where that ‘1’ is. That’s not even with odd time signatures, that’s with anything as a drummer. It’s our most important role.”