4/4 : 4/3 type Polyrhythms or Cross Rhythms (mixed note values)

These are polyrhythms with the measures also polyrhythmic. E.g. 4/3 has four beats to a measure, but the beats are third notes instead of quarter notes - so it has three beats for every four beats of 4/4. So the four beats of 4/3 span a measure a third longer than 4/4.

So though the beats come together after each measure of the 4/4 (say) the measure beats only coincide after several measures of the 4/4. If you play them fast enough then the measure beats themselves also beat out a polyrhythm.

Who are these rhythms for?

They are of special interest for Djent, and Math Metal or Death Metal, and likely to be of interest to composers generally looking for new rhythm ideas to explore. It's particularly a "must have" feature of Bounce Metronome for Djent.

You can play all these rhythms in Bounce Metronome Pro, the software used to make these videos

4/4 : 4/3

3/4 : 3/3

4/4 : 4/3 with two subdivsions of each rhythm

3/4 : 3/3 with two subdivsions of each rhythm

2/4 : 2/3

4/5 : 4/3

6/8 : 5/4

6/8 : 4/4

6/7 : 6/5

4/8 : 4/5

4/5 : 4/3

6/8 : 6/7 : 6/9 : 6/10

4/4 : 4/3 : 5/7 : 3/5 : 7/5 : 2/11 : 9/5 : 10/3

About the time signatures such as 4/3

If time signatures such as 4/3 are new to you, it may help to read the wikipedia article about them here:

Irrational Meters

So in 4/3 you have four beats each a third of a whole tone. While in 4/4 each beat is a quarter of a whole tone. When you play them together then you get two rhythms both in 4/4 time, but one is played faster than the other, by just the right amount so that three beats of the 4/3 are played for every 4 beats of the 4/4.

More about the notation

The more usual polyrhythms such as 3 : 5 can be shown in music notation with quarter note symbols for both parts, i.e. as 3/4 : 5/4, with the understanding that the measures are the same size and the quarter notes adjusted to make the notes fit the measure. This saves the need to write lots of triplet and quintuplet signs etc.

So with this way of looking at it, in 3/4 : 5/4 the quarter notes of the 5/4 are shorter than the quarter notes of the 3/4 and the measures are the same size.

So, the upper number shows how many beats there are to the measure. Then you can use the lower number to show how the measures are related.

How the notation works for more complex rhythms like 3/4 : 5/7

If you follow the implications through then e.g in 3/4 : 5/7 the entire measure of the 5/7 is 4/7th of the size of an entire measure of 3/4.

Or another way of thinking about it, in 3/4 : 5/7 the measures beat a slow 4 :7 polyrhythm which you will hear if you play the rhythm very quickly. Within that polyrhythm each measure of the 3/4 is exactly divided into 3 and each measure of the 5/7 is divided into 5.

When played fast then 3/4 : 5/7 sounds like a 4 : 7 polyrhythm with each beat of the 4/4 divided into 3 and each beat of the 7/4 divided into 5.

Comparision with Polymeters notation

In polymeters, then all the rhythms have the same pulse. So the quarter notes are the same size in all the rhythms.

So for instance in 4/4 : 3/4 as a polymeter then a measure of 3/4 is three quarters of the size of a measure of 4/4.

Notated as a polyrhythm you could express the same rhythm as 4/3 : 3/4. That's because, interpreted as a polyrhythm, the 4/3 has three beats in the same time as the three beats of the 3/4.

Use these videos as a resource

You can use any of these videos as a resource for your own website or wikis, or make more of them yourself - see Add videos like these to your own site

Play these rhythms and animations at any tempo with Bounce Metronome

You can use Bounce Metronome Pro to practise these and many more rhythms at any tempo, including changing tempo.

For these rhythms see the Polyrhythms like 4/4 : 4/3 feature.