Re: Odd timing signatures.
Having the affinity to play odd meters is a great thing to have. My first exposure to it was playing (roughly) "Take 5" by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, with the great Joe Morello on drums. Then later on, when I dived heavily into progressive rock music, listened to a lot of Yes, Rush, Genesis, King Crimson, ELP.....the classic earlier stuff, before I kept listening to more and more (way to many to list, but I have a taste for some pretty obscure groups). And Led Zeppelin should even be part of your listening routine, Bonham was pretty good locking in with John Paul Jones. Another source of inspiration for odd meters for me, which has been pretty much a treasure trove, has been ethnic music, particularly Greek, Balkan, Armenian, Eastern European and Indian music. I try when I can to go and see drummers that do this.....for instance, a friend of mine Steve plays at Greek wedding receptions in one band situation, and heavy metal in others! I'm pretty okay with 3/4 (waltzes for but one example), 5/4, 7/8 and 7/4.....9/8 is a bit tricky, especially if you lose your count, it's a lot harder to recover your count than in 7/8, trust me!
As it might have been mentioned elsewhere before, the best thing to do when you have an odd time signature, is to break it down into smaller units, so if you see 5/4, think of it as 2/4 & 3/4. Or 3/4 and 2/4. Or a 7/4 can be 3/4 & 4/4. Or even 3/4, 2/4 & 2/4, if you take it out further. When you have more involved time signatures over, say x/8 (don't even get involved with stuff that's x/16 until you're confident enough with previous mentioned signatures).....if you have 11/8, think of 6/8 & 5/8. Then you can break that down even further, say 3/8, 3/8, 2/8 & 3/8. Or a 4/4 and a 3/8. And that's just for starters.
Now here's another thing. Don't just work out rhythms and grooves in odd time. Figure out fills in odd times as well. Plus combinations. In fact, over time I've been keeping a folder of manuscript paper (jeez I'm old-school) that I keep writing in variations of odd meter rhythms and fills that I've been working out over these years. Bear in mind I don't do this every day (as I've a ton of things I have to keep working at) but they're been added to bit by bit. Two pages revolve around 5/4, three around 7/4, five or more around 9/8 & 9/4.....you get the idea. Some are hard for the sake of being hard (to keep me on my toes), but others come about because I'll think or hear a musical phrase and figure out some rhythm to accompany it. Having a few musician friends that get deep into it doesn't hurt either....in fact well over a decade or so back I played in a band where we played probably two tunes that were in straight 4/4 and everything else was....well, odd....but not as the audience would know it, lol. But I'm like that....sometimes I'd be thinking of odd exercises just so that I can work on a certain sticking that will keep me occupied. For instance:
R L R L L, R L R L L, R L R L L....followed by two regular paradiddles R L R R, L R L L. that will give me:
R L R L L, R L R L L, R L R L L, R L R R, L R L L.
Now try it between two toms, or right hand on ride, left hand on snare. Or substitute your right foot for your right hand, whilst you play 1/8th notes with your right hand. And then, when you want to 'up the ante'.....try it as 1/16th notes! What I would do is play the sticking as you see as above without worrying too much to say "1e+a" etc. Then, when the sticking feels comfortable on a practice pad, count the fives as "1 2, 1 2 3" whilst the two paradiddles you'd call perhaps "1e+a, 2e+a". You can even put a bass drum on all the '1's. Frustrating as all buggery, but a heap of fun when you move it around the kit as a drum fill!
"...it's the Paradigm Of The Cosmos!" Stewart Copeland on Youtube
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