Hello Everyone,

I learned something useful tonight that i'd thought i'd like to share. I know most people will already get this concept but if you're like me and are used to counting in 4/4 then this will be excellent for you. Dividing your melodies by switching between groups of notes and/or the timing of the notes by a 7/5 count or 7/5/4 count will help to add another kind of character to your melodies (difficult to explain but if you try it out you will see what I mean).

Simply count as follows: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 (use one group of notes or alter this in some way to make this group of time different than the rest)
then 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 (use another group or sequence, see above).

And if you want the total count to be 16 instead of 12 then:
count 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 (yet another group)
So just keep counting a total of 12 or 16 by dividing the measures between non-even groups (like 5 and 7 above).
So sequentially it goes like this:
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
Just counting a total 12 is common in funk (I believe it is a polyrhythm over four measures of triplets??)

My instructors want to concentrate on these kinds of rhythmic excercises and techniques so expect to learn more on the subject.

I constructed a simple example on this page that uses the 7-5-4 division in counting in G7. Notice how I sort of use a different group of notes or change the progression just slightly when I reach the 7th and 12th beats. Ofcourse you don't have to play each quarter note but it's good practice. Once you get a feel for it you can change things up within those groups of time.

enjoy!