There are many ways to build metric fluency. Some of my favorite players describe experiences that are essentially playing-based. Their ‘practice’ was on the bandstand or in the jam session, listening and doing their best to adjust phrasing to the new meter at hand. Others prefer to work more methodically. I suggest some of each approach. Ultimately, you (or you and your teacher) will have strike that balance that seems to work best for a given practice period.

There's no mystic experience resulting in solid odd meter playing. Play it. Practice it. Practice aligning short rhythmic fragments in the same place in the bar, bar after bar. Practice placing the same rhythmic fragment in all parts of the bar, -on 1, on the & of 1, on 2, etc. This can evolve to many places, -some of which are presented in the pages below.

A Beginning Intermediate Method

Step 1

Check in with your ability to phrase in meters other than 4/4 and 3/4. Play through the pieces provided below under Familiar Repertoire in Unfamiliar Places. How comfortable are you? Maybe it’s time to adopt a more methodical approach, for a while at least. Or maybe you're cool with the basics and you'd get more done skipping on ahead to later steps.

Step 2

Let's start with 5/4. Pick a tune. Outline the changes with arpeggiations of eighth notes on scale degrees 1 3 5 7, and sustain the final pitch (the 7th) for the remainder of the bar. Don’t know what I mean? Ask for a free pdf of some examples. Try this with and without a play-along that clearly defines the meter.

Step 3

Let's stay with 5/4 for a while. Or if that's old news, perhaps apply this methodology to another meter that is less comfortable. Using your arpeggiated tune as a song form to play over, pick any two chord tones and play them as two consecutive eighths on every downbeat (beat one). Experiment with different tempos.

Step 4

Continuing to use your arpeggiated tune, play any two chord tones as two consecutive eighths, but play them on beat two of every bar. Experiment with different tempos. Play them on beat three for the entire form. Try beats four and five.

Is this stuff uncomfortable? Can you do it in 4/4? Maybe there is something to be said for locking in the most familiar meters first. Up to you.

Step 5

Keeping two notes per bar, create a rhythm other than the two consecutive eighths you've been using. Many of my students like to try two consecutive quarters. If the eighths were comfortable, then two quarters are probably no big deal. Play an entire song (or at least an entire phrase of several bars) with placement beginning on the same beat in each bar. Be sure you can play them beginning on beat 5 and bleed over into the next bar. Are you adjusting to the harmonic change when need be?

Step 6

Ready for more? Let me know how this is working out for you. I'll send the next bit by email for free.

An Advanced Method

Step 3

Repeat step 2 until I find the hours to get the Reason play-alongs edited sufficiently. Push me to do so with kind emails.

PDF Etudes

5/4EvidenceEtude#1.pdf  

This ensures downbeat familiarity by avoiding downbeats. Some of my most productive personal practicing took place when I led group practice sessions through material like this. An essential element is to have some of the group (or an mp3) lay down a groove.

5/8 comping patterns, p.1.pdf

7/4 ipanema bridge etude.pdf

Many of the pdf links above are examples from a series of 20 or so etudes written while teaching at Berklee College of Music in 2001.

Click here to request a free booklet of odd meter jazz standards:

Some files on this page may need to be saved to disk rather than opened directly. Click on the "Save to disk" option should that query arise when you click on the links above.

JD