Today I’m going to show you a simple approach to creating odd time grooves for the drum-set. To me, a groove is simple a repeated pattern that compliments the music. Depending on the music, this could be something very complicated and unusual, or it could be something commonly heard on lots of different tunes.

The approach I’m going to describe today involves taking a commonly used beat, such as rock or funk, and just modifying it to make it work in another time signature.

As the title states, the concept is very simple. You just start with a basic beat in 4/4 time, and then add or subtract one or more notes from the groove. You thereby shorten the beat you started with or lengthen it as needed. It’s just basic math.





Example 1

In this first example I’m starting with a basic rock beat in 4/4 time.





You can easily create a similar rock beat in 5/4 time by just adding one quarter note. Your right hand continues to play 8th notes. I’ve added a bass drum on count 5 to fill out the groove. You can add a snare on 5 instead if you like the sound and feel of that better.





To create a similar beat in 7/8 time subtract one 8th note from the 4/4 beat instead. 4/4 equals 8/8, so subtracting one 8th note gives us 7/8 time.







Example 2

For this example, let’s say you have to create a groove in 18/16 time, or maybe 15/16 time. Sounds complicated doesn’t it? It can be complicated, but it can also be very easy.

Lets’s start with a simple common 16th note funk groove.





4/4 time equals 16/16 time. So if we just add two 16th notes to the groove, we get 18/16 time. I added a snare and bass on the last 2 sixteenth notes. You can add a couple of toms instead, or whatever you choose.





To create a beat in 15/16 time we just subtract one sixteenth note from the basic 4/4 groove.







Again, this is just a simple approach to odd time. If you want something really unusual, start moving things around. You can take the snare off the back beat and add it to a different 8th or 16th note to make things more funky. The math all stays the same though. So once you understand this basic approach to odd time, you can create whatever you want.





