Odd Meters, Compound Meters and Polyrhythms: A Guitarist's Field Guide

Odd time signatures like 7/8 or 11/8 look scary, but playing them takes one skill: feeling every rhythm as groups of 2s and 3s over a steady pulse. Odd meters are uneven chains of 2s and 3s (7/8 = 2+2+3), compound meters are even chains of 3s (6/8 = 3+3), and polyrhythms and polymeters are two groupings running at once over the same pulse.

You will learn how to:

Try every concept as you read with the Polyrhythms Machine below.

Quick answer: odd meters (5/4, 7/8, 11/8) and compound meters (6/8, 9/8, 12/8) are both built from groups of 2 and 3 eighth notes; polyrhythms are two different subdivisions in the same time span, and polymeters are two loops of different length over the same pulse. Learn the grouping first, count the groups (not the total), and the notes will follow.

If you only have two minutes, here are the three ideas to take away from this page.

1. Odd and compound meters are both built from 2s and 3s. In 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8 (the compound meters) the beats are dotted quarters, and each one splits into three. 5/4, 7/8, 11/8 and their friends are irregular, or additive, meters: they mix long beats (3) and short beats (2), as in 7/8 = 2+2+3 or 3+2+2.

That's why I suggest you always learn the grouping before you learn the notes. "Take Five" is 3+2. "Blue Rondo à la Turk" is 2+2+2+3. The bridge of "Here Comes the Sun" has an 11/8 bar grouped 3+3+3+2. Same building blocks, different order.

2. Polyrhythm and polymeter are not the same thing. A polyrhythm is two different subdivisions in the same time span: 3 against 2 inside one beat or one bar. A polymeter is two different cycle lengths over the same pulse, like a 3-beat riff over 4/4 drums ("Kashmir", or Meshuggah's "Bleed").

To work out any ratio, lay it on a grid as long as the lowest common multiple of the two numbers: 6 cells for 3:2, 12 for 4:3, 20 for 5:4. Then use a spoken phrase to hear the combined rhythm: "hot cup of tea" for 3:2, "pass the god-damn butter" for 4:3.

3. Many famous "odd-time" songs are only partly odd. This is worth knowing before you pick a song to practice (or to teach). "Money" is in 7/4, but the guitar solo moves to 4/4. "Tom Sawyer" is in 7/8 only for the synth section. "Hey Ya!" is mostly 4/4 with one 2/4 bar every 22-beat phrase, so it isn't really "in 11/4". And "Schism" alternates 5/8 and 7/8: one analysis cited by Wikipedia counts 47 meter changes, and the band jokingly says the song is in "6.5/8".

Before we start counting, we need to agree on what the numbers at the start of a bar are telling us, and, more importantly, what they aren't telling us.

A1. The time signature

A time signature is made of two numbers stacked on top of each other. The top number tells you how many units are in the bar. The bottom number tells you which note value is the unit: 4 means quarter notes, 8 means eighth notes, 16 means sixteenth notes.

So far, so simple. Here's the catch: the top number tells you how many units there are, but not how they're grouped into the beats you actually feel and tap your foot to.

Take 6/8 and 3/4. Both contain six eighth notes per bar, yet they sound and feel completely different, because the six eighths are grouped differently. That difference is, in a nutshell, the whole subject of this guide.

Drill down: if you need a refresher on the basics, read my tutorial on how to read time signatures and the one on how to count music.

A2. Simple, compound, irregular

Every meter you'll meet falls into one of three families, depending on how its beats divide. The table below sums them up.

A handy rule of thumb: if the top number is 6, 9 or 12 and the bottom number is 8, the meter is usually compound, with 2, 3 or 4 dotted-quarter beats.

If the top number is 5, 7, 11, 13 and so on, the meter is irregular, and you must decide on (or discover, by listening) the grouping.

A couple of meters sit on the fence. 9/8 and 15/8 can go either way: 9/8, for example, can be compound (3+3+3) or additive (2+2+2+3), as in "Blue Rondo". The numbers alone won't tell you which one you're dealing with; your ears will.

A3. Additive meter and the long/short beat (aksak)

An additive meter is built by stringing short (2-unit) and long (3-unit) beats together, like LEGO bricks of two sizes. Musicians in the Balkans, Turkey and Greece call this kind of limping rhythm aksak, which is Turkish for "limping".

This is the most important mental shift in the whole guide. Felt this way, 7/8 isn't "seven quick things" that you have to count nervously. It's three beats of unequal length: quick-quick-SLOW (2+2+3).

Classic Rock magazine's analysis of Led Zeppelin's "Four Sticks" explains the distinction very well. Most of Zeppelin's "odd" moments keep an isochronic beat, meaning all beats have the same length; what changes is the length of the bars ("irregular length bars"), which shift and reset the bar line.

"Four Sticks", in contrast, has non-isochronic beats: a 5/8 bar made of two long and two short beats (3+3+2+2 sixteenths).

The magazine calls this construction "additive meter", "a staple of North African, Eastern European, Mediterranean and other traditional music forms".

The table below lists the most common groupings for each meter, and where you can hear them. Don't try to memorize it: use it as a reference when you meet a new time signature.

Grouping options table

A4. 3/4 versus 6/8, the most important comparison

If you understand the difference between 3/4 and 6/8, you understand most of this topic. Both meters have six eighth notes per bar, but they organize them in opposite ways:

You can feel this clearly on the guitar. In 3/4, the bass notes and the chord changes tend to land on 1, 2 and 3: it's the classic waltz. In 6/8, your strumming hand swings in two big arcs, with a downstroke on 1 and another on 4.

Now, here's where it gets interesting: put the two side by side, or alternate them bar after bar, and you get hemiola.

A5. Hemiola

Hemiola is the 3:2 relationship heard as a regrouping: the same six units felt first as 3+3, then as 2+2+2, or both at the same time. The name comes from the Greek hēmiolios, "one and a half".

Once you learn to recognize it, you'll hear it everywhere.

In flamenco bulerías, the 12-beat compás is accented on 12, 3, 6, 8 and 10. You can think of it as a bar of 6/8 followed by a bar of 3/4: a hemiola built right into the rhythm itself. And it's typically played at 195–240 bpm, so it's a very fast hemiola!

In Baroque and Romantic cadences, the 3/4 bars just before a cadence often regroup as one big bar of 3/2. Brahms and Chopin both use this device. It's a standard textbook example, although I haven't verified specific bar numbers here.

And then there's "Carol of the Bells": its famous ostinato is the combined pattern of a 2-against-3 hemiola.

A6. Polyrhythm vs. polymeter vs. cross-rhythm

These three terms are often used as synonyms, especially on forums and in YouTube comments, but they describe different things. Let's put them side by side.

If you're not sure which one you're hearing, there's a quick test: ask yourself whether the note durations differ between the parts. If they do (for example, triplets against eighths), it's a polyrhythm.

If the note values are identical but the loop lengths differ, it's a polymeter.

A classic example of the confusion is Meshuggah. Their riffs are often loosely called "polyrhythmic", but they are actually polymeters: every part uses identical, simple note values, grouped into cycles of different lengths. The band itself describes this as "odd groupings superimposed over 4/4".

A7. Metric modulation

Metric modulation is a tempo change produced by reinterpreting a note value: one note value from the old meter becomes the beat of the new one. It sounds complicated, but a rock example makes it clear.

Led Zeppelin's "The Ocean" is a clean one. The riff alternates bars of 4/4 and 7/8, and at around 3:14 the song moves into a 12/8 shuffle.

The Unbehind blog (2013) hears the 7/8 bar as two quarters plus two dotted eighths, and argues that "'The Ocean' speeds up by 25%--the dotted eighth, which is 75% of a full beat, becomes the beat".

The result is that the music feels about 25% faster, yet the pulse never "breaks". The general method you can apply to any song is simple: find the note value the two sections share, sing it, and let it become the new beat.

A8. Feel, pulse and grouping

Before moving on to counting tricks, one reassuring thought: experienced players count less and feel more.

Tool's Danny Carey has said that in odd meters he drums to the "feel" of the song, establishing a general "inner pulse" for the meter instead of counting every subdivision.

Soundgarden's Kim Thayil went even further: he told interviewer James Rotondi that the band usually didn't think about a song's time signature until after writing it, calling the odd meters "a total accident". In other words, many odd-meter riffs are simply riffs that felt right.

So yes, count at first (the next section is all about counting), but always aim to hear the long and short beats. Counting is the scaffolding, not the building.

Now that the theory is clear, let's get practical. In this section you'll find the counting methods, the word tricks and the metronome settings that make odd meters and polyrhythms manageable.

B1. Count the groups, not the total

A very common mistake is counting "1-2-3-4-5-6-7" in a 7/8 bar. It works on paper, but it gives you no sense of where the strong beats are, and you'll get lost as soon as the tempo goes up.

Instead, count the groupings, restarting from 1 at every group:

An even better option is the syllable method, borrowed from Indian (Carnatic-style) rhythm. You say ta-ka for groups of 2 and ta-ki-ta for groups of 3.

So 7/8 (2+2+3) becomes ta-ka ta-ka ta-ki-ta, and 11/8 (3+3+3+2) becomes ta-ki-ta ta-ki-ta ta-ki-ta ta-ka.

Why does this work so well? Because the syllables keep the subdivision even and stop you from rushing the group of 3, which is exactly where most players stumble.

B2. Word mnemonics for odd groupings

If syllables feel too abstract, use words. Any phrase whose stresses match the grouping will do the job. Fruit names are a popular choice, because "apple" has two syllables and "pineapple" or "strawberry" has three.

Keep in mind that these are teaching inventions, not standard terms, so feel free to make up your own:

B3. Polyrhythm mnemonics and the LCM grid

Polyrhythms look intimidating, but there's a mechanical method that works for any ratio. It comes straight from school math: the lowest common multiple (LCM).

Here's how it works, step by step:

The table below applies the method to the ratios you're most likely to meet, from the everyday 3:2 to the challenging 7:4.

A few notes on the table.

First, 2:3 and 3:2 produce exactly the same combined rhythm; the only thing that changes is which hand (or voice) you consider "the beat". The same goes for 3:4 and 4:3.

Second, "pass the god-damn butter" is a long-standing drummer joke. On NPR's Rhythm Section series, professional drummer LaFrae Sci demonstrated it on the kit. If you prefer a polite version, a hammered-dulcimer handout uses "pass the golden butter", with the same syllables, together with "hot cup of tea" for 3:2.

Finally, here's a tapping drill to make the ratios physical: put your left hand on the "beat" side and your right hand on the other side. Say the phrase, tap only the syllables that belong to each hand, then add your foot on the main beat.

B4. Metronome strategies

Most metronomes are designed for 4/4, so practicing odd meters with them requires a bit of creativity. Here are five strategies, roughly in order of difficulty:

Drill down: new to practicing with a click? Start with my guide on how to use a metronome on guitar, or program the groupings with the online drum machine.

B5. Common mistakes

Odd meters tend to break in the same few places. If something sounds wrong, it's very likely one of these.

Rushing the 3-group. The long beat feels like "dead air", so players cut it short and turn 7/8 into 6/8 plus a hiccup. The fix is simple: say all three syllables out loud (ta-ki-ta) until the long beat feels natural.

Dragging the 2-groups to make them "feel fair". Resist the temptation and keep the subdivision dead even. Remember: the beats are uneven, but the subdivisions are not.

Losing the downbeat in mixed meters, such as "Hey Ya!" or "Money". Here the trick is to learn the form as a sequence of bar lengths (for example 4-4-4-2-4-4), not as a single odd meter.

Treating 6/8 as a fast 3/4. This one is very common among guitarists. Strum two big beats per bar, not three.

Counting forever. As we said, counting is scaffolding. Remove it gradually, for example by singing the riff instead of counting it.

B6. Progressive exercises (easy → hard)

Here's a sequence of exercises that takes you from the simplest regrouping to real polymeters. Don't move to the next step until the current one feels relaxed, even at a slow tempo.

Theory and exercises are important, but nothing beats learning from real music. In this section you'll find famous songs and pieces in odd and compound meters, from jazz standards to grunge and extreme metal.

I checked each example against interviews, magazine analyses and transcriptions, because the internet is full of "this song is in 7/8" claims that don't survive a careful listen. Where the sources disagree, I tell you.

C1. Master table

The master table below is organized more or less by style. For each piece you'll find the meter, the grouping (when it's clear), and a tip to play it on the guitar.

C2. Compound-meter (6/8, 12/8) examples

Compound meters are far more common than odd ones, and you've probably played a few songs in 6/8 or 12/8 without even noticing. These are great songs to start with, because the "two big beats" feel is easy to hear.

It's time to grab the guitar. In this section we'll turn everything we've seen into strumming patterns, picking patterns and riffs you can play right away.

Here's the notation used in the patterns below: D = downstroke, U = upstroke, x = muted or ghost strum, > = accent, and . = the hand moves but misses the strings.

D1. Strumming patterns

Let's start with 5/4 (3+2), in eighths. Keep your strumming hand moving down and up in a constant motion, and let the accents mark the two groups:

Count: 1 & 2 & 3 & | 4 & 5 &
       >           |  >
       D . D U D U |  D U D U

Accent beats 1 and 4. If you want the "Take Five" feel, put the chord change on 4.

The same idea works at a faster level with 5/8, in both the 3+2 and 2+3 groupings. Here each stroke is an eighth note:

3+2:  D U D | D U       (accent first of each group)
2+3:  D U | D U D

Now let's move on to 7/8 (2+2+3), with a constant eighth-note hand:

Count: 1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2 3
       >     >     >
       D U   D U   D U D

You'll notice a small problem here: because 7 is an odd number, the next bar starts on an up-swing. You have two options. You can accept that bar directions alternate, or play D U D U D U D and place the accents by feel. Many players prefer to restart each bar with a downstroke (a "reset" stroke) because it feels more stable.

If you rotate the grouping to 7/8 (3+2+2), the pattern becomes D U D | D U | D U, with accents on 1, 4 and 6.

At a slower level, here's a 7/4 pattern in the style of "Solsbury Hill" and "Money". Think of it as a bar of 4 followed by a bar of 3 (4+3):

1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | 5 & 6 & 7 &
D   D U   U D U | D   D U D U

Let's finish with the compound meters. For a 6/8 ballad arpeggio in the style of "House of the Rising Sun", play the bass note on 1 and then move up and back across the strings:

Count: 1  la  li  2  la  li
       B  3   2   1  2   3     (B = bass note, numbers = strings)

If you prefer to strum in 6/8, try D D U D | D D U D, with accents on 1 and 4 (the two big beats).

For a 12/8 slow blues, strum or pick triplets on each beat (D D D | D D D …), with a backbeat accent on beats 2 and 4 (that is, eighth notes 4 and 10). For a shuffle, play only the first and third note of each triplet, which gives you the classic "long-short" feel.

Drill down: for many more patterns in 4/4, 3/4 and 6/8, check out my guitar strumming patterns collection.

D2. Picking patterns and riffs in odd meters

The easiest way to build a riff in an odd meter is the pedal-tone method: alternate a low open string with fretted notes, and let the open string mark the start of each group.

7/8 (2+2+3):  E x | E x | E x x      (E = open low E accent, x = fretted note)

You can turn this into a recipe for any odd riff:

And here's a bonus: rearranging the groups (from 2+2+3 to 3+2+2, for example) gives you a brand new riff from the same notes.

Prog and metal players often take a different route and work on a 16th-note grid. Premier Guitar's "Obsessive Progressive" column recommends thinking of one 4/4 bar as 16 sixteenths, and filling it with odd groups such as 5-5-5-1, 6-6-4 or 3-7-6.

These groupings give you small, odd-sounding cells that still resolve over 4/4. The same column counts 5/16 as "2 + 3".

D3. Polyrhythms on guitar

Polyrhythms are usually associated with drummers, who have four limbs to play with. On guitar we have to be a bit more creative, using accents, the thumb against the fingers, or note groupings. Here are six ways to do it, from easiest to hardest.

D4. Making odd meters groove

Playing in 7/8 correctly is one thing; making it groove is another. A riff can be perfectly counted and still sound stiff. Here's what makes the difference.

First, accent the start of the long beat, not just beat 1. In 2+2+3, the "3" is where the groove leans, so give it some weight.

Second, use backbeats, just like you would in 4/4. In 7/4, a snare-like accent on 3 and 6 (or on 2, 4 and 6, with the extra beat at the end) makes the meter danceable. That's exactly what Peter Gabriel meant when he said that 7/4 "feels like a normal rhythm but isn't quite right".

Third, keep the subdivision constant. Whether you swing or play straight, the eighths must be even.

And finally, remember that repetition makes it feel natural. A 7/8 riff repeated 16 times stops sounding odd, both to you and to your listeners.

D5. Moving between meters

Many of the songs we've seen don't stay in one meter: they jump between 4/4 and something odd. These transitions are where most players lose their place, so they deserve some specific practice.

Start by learning the bar-length map of the song, the same way you'd learn its chord progression. For "Money", that's 7/4 verse → 4/4 solo → 7/4. For the "Here Comes the Sun" bridge, it's 11/8, 4/4, 7/8 ×6.

Then use the shared subdivision as a bridge. Going from 4/4 to 7/8, keep the eighth notes equal: the 7/8 bar is simply one eighth shorter than a 4/4 bar.

To develop flexibility, try this metric-modulation drill: play 4/4 eighths, then treat each group of three eighths as the new beat (a 12/8 feel). Then reverse it.

And when you play with others, cue the turnaround: play a fill in the bar before, or a chord change at the start of each new meter, so the band (or the loop) has a clear landmark.

Let's put it all together. Below you'll find a 10-week practice plan that follows the same order as this guide, plus a selection of books and tools to go further.

E1. A 10-week progressive plan (about 20 minutes a day)

Each week focuses on one topic, with a short daily routine and a song checkpoint. You don't need to follow the plan to the letter: if a week feels too easy, move on; if it feels too hard, stay a few more days.

At each stage, gradually reduce the help you get from the metronome: start with a click on every subdivision, then on every beat, then on beat 1 only, and finally with no click at all. That's when you'll know the meter is really yours.

A few honest disclaimers before you go.

Several of the song meters in this guide rely on transcriptions or fan analyses rather than statements from the bands: "Black Dog", "Forty Six & 2", "Frame by Frame", the later "YYZ" riffs and some "Schism" bar counts. I've flagged them in the tables above.

When sources conflict (for example "Nothing Else Matters" as 6/8 vs. 3/4, or "Money" as 7/4 vs. 7/8), the difference is usually in the notation, not in the sound. Pick the version that makes the backbeat land where you hear it.

The mnemonics and counting syllables are teaching tools, not standards: use whichever phrase fits the stresses best for you.