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DisplacedAccentsandPolyrhythms
GregHowe
January14,2010
Oneofthemostimportantaspectsofimprovisation,atleastforme,istheabilitytosteadilydeliverastreamof
16thnotes(fournotesperbeat)containinginterestingandsomewhatunpredictablelineswithinthecontextof
midtohightempomusicscenarios.Playing16thnotesatatypicalmidtempospeedsuchas120bpmisnot
necessarilyadifficulttaskformanyguitarists,howevertodosoinamannerthatdoesntrelyontheuseof
overlypredictablesequencesorprerehearsedlickscanoftenprovetobeabitmorechallenging.
OneofthemethodsIvefoundtobeveryhelpfulinassistingwiththisquestisdisplacingtheaccentsinthese
setsoffours,resultinginaparticularkindofpolyrhythm.Thevariousofficialdefinitionsofthewordusually
includelanguagethatgoessomethinglike,thesimultaneoussoundingoftwoormoreindependentrhythms.If
thisconceptwerenewtome,thatdefinitionwouldlikelybeoflittlevalue,sobeforewetrytomakeuseofthis
conceptletsfirsttrytounderstandit.
Forourpurposes,apolyrhythmwillbedefinedasanoddnumberedsequenceorgroupingofnotesusedinthe
contextofatimesignatureforwhichtheywerenotoriginallyintended.Inthiscase,alloddgroupingswillbe
16thnotes(fournotesperbeat).
Forexample,Exercise1illustratesaverysimplesequenceinGmajorthatdescendsthreenotesatatimefrom
eachconsecutivelowerdegreeofthescale,implyingatriplet(threenotesperbeat)feel.Thenaturaltendencyis
tokeepcountingtothreeasweplayitinordertoensurethatthedesignofthesequenceremainsconsistentwith
thecorrelatingnumbers.

However,Exercise2showshowthatsameexactsequencecouldbeplayedina16thnote(fournoteperbeat)
fashion.Asyoucansee,nothingactuallychangesotherthanourperceptionofhowthesequenceisheardwithin
thecontextoftherhythm.Inthiscasewereusingathreenotesequencewhilecountingtofour,whichmeans
thatfromafournoteperbeatperspective,wenolongerhaveaseriesofidenticalsequences.Infactwewould
nowgetthreedifferentsequencescontainingfournoteseach.Thispolyrhythmwouldgenerallybereferredtoas
threeintofour.

Sincethedominantcharacteristicofapolyrhythmisthatitguaranteestherhythmicdisplacementofsequenced
and/oraccentednotes,theuseofpolyrhythmicideaswithinpassagescanbeveryhelpfulinbringingaboutmore
creativeandlesspredictablesoundinglicksandlines.Thehighlightedsectionsofthefollowingexamples
illustratetheactualsequencebeingused,whilethedottedlinesillustratethe16thnotecontextinwhichtheyre
beingapplied.


GregHowe
GregHowehasenjoyedasuccessfulrecordingcareersinceburstingontothescenein1988,andhistalentshave
beensoughtafterbysomeofthebiggestnamesinthemusicentertainmentindustry,suchasMichaelJackson,
JustinTimberlake,andEnriqueIglesias.Forexample,Exercise1illustratesaverysimplesequenceinGmajor
thatdescendsthreenotesatatimefromeachconsecutivelowerdegreeofthescale,implyingatriplet(three
notesperbeat)feel.