The best way I found to learn the feel of a specific polyrhythm is to create is in some DAW(I use MIDIeditor), then play it slowly and tap along, I then increase the speed, practice tapping to it, and keep going until it sounds like a rhythm. I don't think any polyrhythm is particularly difficult to get a basic feel for using this method, though longer ones should take proportionally more time.
@@guycxz I may be mythicalizing Jacob collier, but I feel like this method is basically just memorizing the polyrhythm rather than truly like feeling and understanding it I feel like Jacob is just like on a different level than most of us when it comes to like basically being one with the music and speaking it as a fluent language
@@bryanchandler3486 The idea is to memorize the polyrhythm and keep playing it until you start feeling it, I'm not sure how and when exactly the transition happens, but it tends to happen eventually. And I do agree that Jacob is fluent in music.
To be fair, he did declare with each hand which value he would be playing… for example, with his right hand he said “Five” and “Seven” with his left. So that’s probably what his brain defaulted to when beginning to play the beat(s) as opposed to which pillar he was playing the corresponding signatures on. 🤷🏼♂️ That’s probably just me being overly analytical though.
I guess he's counting the number of counts each subdivision gets and not the number of subdivisions. That is, each of the "fives" gets 7 counts, and each of the "sevens" gets 5 counts. We hear five "fives" and seven "sevens," so that's what we call them--but Jacob counts seven for each "five" and five for each "seven," so it probably makes more sense to think of it that way for him.
@@UlisesRockerHR It's trivial to explain with 2:3 in the context of 3/4 and 6/8. Naming according to the usual convention, the "two" part of 2:3 is dotted quarter notes--or, the beats in 6/8--and the "three" part of 2:3 is quarter notes--or, the beats in 3/4. However, each of the two 6/8 beats gets 3 eighth-note pulses, and each of the three 3/4 beats get 2 eighth-note pulses. So, while the usual naming convention makes the most sense for the listener (because they hear 2 occurrences of the "two" part, and 3 of the "three" part), the other convention--that is, switching the names--makes some sense from the performer's perspective because it more closely matches how they might be counting.
@@professorweedington4962 that’s the explanation i give when people ask me why i don’t like his music. it just seems like masturbation to me, complexity for the sake of showing off how talented, educated, and skilled he is. he loses any genuine beauty by obsessing over including esoteric music theory in his songs, almost completely forgetting about the basics that make music attractive in the first place. he’s talented, we get that, but is he capable of creating some beautiful works like chopin, temperton, or williams?
@@Edude117 I think he capable but he is just doesn’t even trying to do something average and habitual. It’s more like experimental stuff. I personally don’t like so experimental music but it is what it is and I sure it have sense cuz his music can give other musicians some ideas for creating non experimental things. So for me his art is quite strange but sometimes I can hear some cool and new staff in it and thats the point. P.S. my English kinda sucks so I hope you’ll understand what I’ve tried to say
@ The worst part is any criticism you levy against someone like Jacob gets brushed off as jealousy. You can dislike the work of someone great without it being due to jealousy. Do you know who else is significantly better than I'll ever be? Beethoven. Yet I find his work to be phenomenal and you won't see me criticizing him. So am I somehow jealous of Jacob but not Beethoven? Even phenoms who do kind of show off sometimes, like Keith Emerson, still don't warrant this kind of criticism because at least they still prioritize making good music.
one hand claps 5 times and the other 7 times, but at the perfect speed in each hand so that both hands finish at the exact same time. it's very difficult to focus on what each hand is doing separately - also sorry if i'm not clear, english isn't my first language (on the hand on the right, if you count 7 times, the time after, the two hands will clap together. and if you focus on the hand on the left, after 5 claps, the sixth one will be at the same time with the 8th of the right hand)
Something called polyrhythms, where both hands play a different number of beats in the same length of time. Can be done with easy numbers like 3 against 2 but it can sound really weird or cool or both the more irregular the numbers get
I'd like to know if he practices this stuff or if it's just no challenge for him. I practice this stuff, as a drumset player. I have to start at 40 bpm and subdivide the beat in to 5s ('one-i-vers-i-ty two-i-vers-i-ty') and then accent every 7th note, it takes a long time
@@elinemay I think so too. Like my russian piano teacher said years ago "5% is talent, 95% is sitting on your butt playing piano for 5 hours a day". Often we deify virtuosos for their natural talent, maybe because we are in disbelief that their skill is attainable through ordinary means, as a way of defending our mediocrity. Maybe what all virtuosos have in common is believing that they can achieve greatness (with a lot of practice).
Count each hand. He accents on the 1 of each measure, playing 2 measures total and ending with a beat on 1 Right hand: 5 per measure Left hand: 7 per measure
@Ryandal Gilmore That's ridiculous. Count them musically and see that his intervals are all even, therefore meaning he did it right. You seem to be implying that because you personally can't focus on it in a way that satisfies _your own mind,_ you don't want to believe it. That's fine, do whatever you want, lol Also, who decided we require ultimate perfection for this candid moment to not be "wrong"? Just 'cause he's known to be smart and talented, I guess?
@Ryandal Gilmore if you count quintuplets in each beat of the 7 you can see pretty accurately if he’s right (and also do it yourself if you clap every 7th quintuplet)
Seemed impossible at first, but 15 minutes of practice and I managed to do it. Had to use one hand and count loud to 7 at first, and then try to make the other hand match the rhythm I was singing.
I guess you have to start with quintuplets in 7/4 time. Just like triplets in 4/4 (or sixteenth notes in 3/4) to do 3 against 4. Folks doing things like 7 against 11 are crazy to me.
The trick is to find a phrase of words that just by coincidence happens to produce the polyrhythm you want. All piano teachers know how to teach four against three: just recite to yourself “not difficult” - - - “not-dif-i-cult” - - - and alternate your hands as you play along to the natural rhythm of the verbal phrase. I’ll bet he has discovered such a string of words by coincidence happens to produce five against seven just by alternating his hands while thinking of that phrase. [UPDATE: I meant to say three against two, not four against three for “not difficult”]
It’s all about creating some sort of word scheme, where the syllables lineup with this. Like when I play 3 over 4 my brain isn’t really doing 2 things at once. I just learned it a beat at a time so now it’s muscle memory. The crazy thing is that Jacob is so talented. His brain probably is doing two different things at the same time.
I guess he's counting the number of counts each subdivision gets and not the number of subdivisions. That is, each of the "fives" gets 7 counts, and each of the "sevens" gets 5 counts. We hear five "fives" and seven "sevens," so that's what we call them--but Jacob counts seven for each "five" and five for each "seven," so it probably makes more sense to think of it that way for him.
While it is not mathematically PERFECT, it is so close to it that the errors may as well be played off as limitations of the human body and a lack of 100% control of muscular twitching, rather than a lack of technical prowess in a musical context.
Well you just learn it like a melody don’t you, then it’s simple. That way, it’s actually one thing in your mind rather than two (which is impossible, although you can jump from one to the other quickly). Also, watch the timing of the left in isolation, I’m not sure that’s great timing!
not to take anything away from the man but i bet over half the people in this comments section could learn how to do this with 30 minutes of free time and 2 metronomes.
I know this video is almost a year old, but you are absolutely right. Technically, I am a terrible drummer, but I do love the music of Tool so I suppose that helps. I’ve been working on this with no metronome, just mimicking the video for about 30 minutes and I’ve just about got it. It’s really similar to 3 over 4, it’s almost the same at the beginning. The difference between me and Jacob is his brain is probably actually hearing these two rhythms independently whereas I am just learning this beat by beat and copying it.
I envy people who know how to appreciate this. Because i dont know how to appreciate it. I have no idea why is that 5 on 7 is special. Maybe because i have zero knowledge on music, notes, rhythm and theories.
even if you're not musical, you could try doing a 2 over 3 polyrhthym. take an arbitrary amount of time (a bar) and subdivide it into 3 equal beats, tapped by the right hand. subdivide the same amount of time into 2 beats (so divide in half) and tap it with the left hand. if you do it right, the 4th tap of the right hand and the 3rd tap of the left line up perfectly. it's a little hard to do at the same time if you haven't ever done it before, much less more complicated subdivisions like 4 over 3 or 5 over 7
Can someone explain to me what 5 against 7 is? I understand he was tapping at two different rhythmic tempos. But what is the significance of 5 against 7, why say 5 “against” 7?
Shoot, I can do this. I'm pretty sure most people would say I suck at rhythm haha. I'm just a regular dude who listens to regular music. I don't know anyone who thinks polyrhythms sound good. It's just noise. I think it's a code to make crappy rhythm acceptable.
A lot of people envy his perfect pitch, but I would kill for his sense of rhythm
Exactly my thoughts. I’d rather have complex rhythms than perfect pitch tbh lmao
Many people can do this... perfect pitch isn't something you can learn
@@GreenToast01 exactly
@@GreenToast01 but relative is and it's not worse then perfect
Ehh you can learn any polyrhtym with prime factorization and least common multiples etc.
I thought I was a boss because I trained myself to do 4 against 5. We are all mere mortals before this god.
bruh it just takes a little bit of practice. i can do 11 against 7 pretty fluently
The best way I found to learn the feel of a specific polyrhythm is to create is in some DAW(I use MIDIeditor), then play it slowly and tap along, I then increase the speed, practice tapping to it, and keep going until it sounds like a rhythm. I don't think any polyrhythm is particularly difficult to get a basic feel for using this method, though longer ones should take proportionally more time.
@@guycxz I may be mythicalizing Jacob collier, but I feel like this method is basically just memorizing the polyrhythm rather than truly like feeling and understanding it I feel like Jacob is just like on a different level than most of us when it comes to like basically being one with the music and speaking it as a fluent language
@@bryanchandler3486 you are right, memorizing is not the same
@@bryanchandler3486 The idea is to memorize the polyrhythm and keep playing it until you start feeling it, I'm not sure how and when exactly the transition happens, but it tends to happen eventually. And I do agree that Jacob is fluent in music.
unfortunately he said that the 5 was in the right pilar and the 7 was in the left one...
To be fair, he did declare with each hand which value he would be playing… for example, with his right hand he said “Five” and “Seven” with his left. So that’s probably what his brain defaulted to when beginning to play the beat(s) as opposed to which pillar he was playing the corresponding signatures on. 🤷🏼♂️ That’s probably just me being overly analytical though.
I guess he's counting the number of counts each subdivision gets and not the number of subdivisions. That is, each of the "fives" gets 7 counts, and each of the "sevens" gets 5 counts. We hear five "fives" and seven "sevens," so that's what we call them--but Jacob counts seven for each "five" and five for each "seven," so it probably makes more sense to think of it that way for him.
@@alexandersanchez9138 What the hell are you saying, this just blew my mind
@@UlisesRockerHR It's trivial to explain with 2:3 in the context of 3/4 and 6/8. Naming according to the usual convention, the "two" part of 2:3 is dotted quarter notes--or, the beats in 6/8--and the "three" part of 2:3 is quarter notes--or, the beats in 3/4. However, each of the two 6/8 beats gets 3 eighth-note pulses, and each of the three 3/4 beats get 2 eighth-note pulses. So, while the usual naming convention makes the most sense for the listener (because they hear 2 occurrences of the "two" part, and 3 of the "three" part), the other convention--that is, switching the names--makes some sense from the performer's perspective because it more closely matches how they might be counting.
@@alexandersanchez9138 never thought of it this way!! Makes a lot of sense, thanks for explaining!
This man is so prolific, he straight up starts imitating the sound my busted dryer makes perfectly.
hes just flexing at this point
that's his whole career wym
@@professorweedington4962 that’s the explanation i give when people ask me why i don’t like his music. it just seems like masturbation to me, complexity for the sake of showing off how talented, educated, and skilled he is. he loses any genuine beauty by obsessing over including esoteric music theory in his songs, almost completely forgetting about the basics that make music attractive in the first place. he’s talented, we get that, but is he capable of creating some beautiful works like chopin, temperton, or williams?
@@Edude117 I think he capable but he is just doesn’t even trying to do something average and habitual. It’s more like experimental stuff. I personally don’t like so experimental music but it is what it is and I sure it have sense cuz his music can give other musicians some ideas for creating non experimental things. So for me his art is quite strange but sometimes I can hear some cool and new staff in it and thats the point.
P.S. my English kinda sucks so I hope you’ll understand what I’ve tried to say
@@Edude117 this is exactly the issue.
@ The worst part is any criticism you levy against someone like Jacob gets brushed off as jealousy. You can dislike the work of someone great without it being due to jealousy. Do you know who else is significantly better than I'll ever be? Beethoven. Yet I find his work to be phenomenal and you won't see me criticizing him. So am I somehow jealous of Jacob but not Beethoven? Even phenoms who do kind of show off sometimes, like Keith Emerson, still don't warrant this kind of criticism because at least they still prioritize making good music.
Maxed out all his stats:
Rhythm - 99/99
Time - 99/99
Feel - 99/99
Perfect Pitch - 99/99
Technique - 99/99
Instruments - All Of Em
but why E minor only? 🙂🙂🙂
@@MrRusCrack xd
@@MrRusCrack Not E minor, it is all of them
Taste: 70/99
@@auroprasaddas6335 oh, rly?
Yeah, that sounds like the popcorn in the microwave I just made
Bets comment on this section
Drummers reading the comment section thinking: ive never played a 5:7 polyrythm without everyone telling me to stfu, let alone call me a god
Brillant comment
Lmao
Me: start with 80 BPM 4/4 strum. Somehow end up 172 BPM 17/15 strum.
Beat that, Jacob.
Man as a non musician, i have no idea what’s happening.
one hand claps 5 times and the other 7 times, but at the perfect speed in each hand so that both hands finish at the exact same time. it's very difficult to focus on what each hand is doing separately - also sorry if i'm not clear, english isn't my first language
(on the hand on the right, if you count 7 times, the time after, the two hands will clap together. and if you focus on the hand on the left, after 5 claps, the sixth one will be at the same time with the 8th of the right hand)
Something called polyrhythms, where both hands play a different number of beats in the same length of time. Can be done with easy numbers like 3 against 2 but it can sound really weird or cool or both the more irregular the numbers get
We don't know either bro.
Lmao he is so amazing
Ppl tell me I suck at drums not realizing I'm a polyrhythmic genius
This is a great CZcams comment.
good one
This is just a real life moment and I love it
I spent multiple hours memorizing and I don't know why
I'm going to take your word for it, because that was so challenging to listen to. lol
that was pretty cool. now watch me play the beginning of für elise
I'd like to know if he practices this stuff or if it's just no challenge for him. I practice this stuff, as a drumset player. I have to start at 40 bpm and subdivide the beat in to 5s ('one-i-vers-i-ty two-i-vers-i-ty') and then accent every 7th note, it takes a long time
yep, totally the same. Fellow drummer, I have to practice these sort of polyrhythms in strange subdivisions. For HOURS. hahaha
remember that you only see the results of his practicing. Not the actual practicing. Of course he couldn't do this in one day :P
@@elinemay I think so too. Like my russian piano teacher said years ago "5% is talent, 95% is sitting on your butt playing piano for 5 hours a day". Often we deify virtuosos for their natural talent, maybe because we are in disbelief that their skill is attainable through ordinary means, as a way of defending our mediocrity. Maybe what all virtuosos have in common is believing that they can achieve greatness (with a lot of practice).
I can guarantee you that he practices his ass off. More than you can even imagine
I'm sure he practises, but I'm also sure he's a prodigy of the calibre of Mozart, which helps a lot I'm sure.
He split his brain.
Nah he just counted.
No one knows he even did it right no one is on his level 🔥🔥
Count each hand. He accents on the 1 of each measure, playing 2 measures total and ending with a beat on 1
Right hand: 5 per measure
Left hand: 7 per measure
@Ryandal Gilmore That's ridiculous. Count them musically and see that his intervals are all even, therefore meaning he did it right.
You seem to be implying that because you personally can't focus on it in a way that satisfies _your own mind,_ you don't want to believe it. That's fine, do whatever you want, lol
Also, who decided we require ultimate perfection for this candid moment to not be "wrong"? Just 'cause he's known to be smart and talented, I guess?
@Ryandal Gilmore if you count quintuplets in each beat of the 7 you can see pretty accurately if he’s right (and also do it yourself if you clap every 7th quintuplet)
He’s very slightly off on the third beat of the 7 but otherwise accurate.
Edit: wrong number
@Ryandal Gilmore man I need to watch Jacob Collier music videos drunk more often hope you had a good time my dude
i had no idea what he was talking about until he did it.
still amazed
my mind cannot comprehend
Seemed impossible at first, but 15 minutes of practice and I managed to do it. Had to use one hand and count loud to 7 at first, and then try to make the other hand match the rhythm I was singing.
So he hit his left hand 15 times and his right 11 times, starting and ending together.
Two full measures and the first note of the third.
That's how the new instrument was born.
My bathtub faucet does this same polyrhythm.
This sounds like popcorn in microwave
I guess you have to start with quintuplets in 7/4 time. Just like triplets in 4/4 (or sixteenth notes in 3/4) to do 3 against 4. Folks doing things like 7 against 11 are crazy to me.
yeah imma just take his word for it on this one
multi-instrumentalist at work
...and I'm sitting here beating 5 against 1 atm
*people who don’t know what he was doing*: “aw look at that kid playing with the pilars for his TikTok videos”
I imagined someone passing by and telling him: cool bro 👍🏽
The trick is to find a phrase of words that just by coincidence happens to produce the polyrhythm you want. All piano teachers know how to teach four against three: just recite to yourself “not difficult” - - - “not-dif-i-cult” - - - and alternate your hands as you play along to the natural rhythm of the verbal phrase. I’ll bet he has discovered such a string of words by coincidence happens to produce five against seven just by alternating his hands while thinking of that phrase. [UPDATE: I meant to say three against two, not four against three for “not difficult”]
I think he thinks in rhythm, chords and melodies, not phrases ;)
@@sebastiansprotte2551 That just shows how terrific his talents is!
I don't even know if it's correct or random slapping . Going to have to rely on the percussion nerds for this one
And he does it with an evil smirk
It’s all about creating some sort of word scheme, where the syllables lineup with this. Like when I play 3 over 4 my brain isn’t really doing 2 things at once. I just learned it a beat at a time so now it’s muscle memory. The crazy thing is that Jacob is so talented. His brain probably is doing two different things at the same time.
He pointed the opposite ways, he pointed to 5 instead of 7 and 7 instead of 5
I guess he's counting the number of counts each subdivision gets and not the number of subdivisions. That is, each of the "fives" gets 7 counts, and each of the "sevens" gets 5 counts. We hear five "fives" and seven "sevens," so that's what we call them--but Jacob counts seven for each "five" and five for each "seven," so it probably makes more sense to think of it that way for him.
Ah yes 7:5 aka septimal tritone
He pointed the wrong ways right? 7 was on our right, 5 on the left.
this is called the ‘it’s good for you’ beat
shit sounds like a train passing
This dude is top-notch!
That's Laguardia airport, would recognize that
I thought he was Jordi
It’s like dribbling dodgeballs.
Hmm. Would be something to try practicing
hey that laguardia airport
I can pay my stomach and rub my head.
So its a F and G drum ig
ok, but why did youtube suggest this?
Unfortunately that’s not quite right.
I don't even know what I just watched.
Polyrhythms 👌👌
While it is not mathematically PERFECT, it is so close to it that the errors may as well be played off as limitations of the human body and a lack of 100% control of muscular twitching, rather than a lack of technical prowess in a musical context.
How to confuse a non-musician
That's cool, but does he know about "nice cuppa tea, nice cuppa tea"?
Noice
some years ago i was playing 16 on 10 from India hey !
Holy jesus
who else had to rewatch it to get the rhythm?
Certainly, but it's not that hard once you got it!
Sounds like my faucet
Like an egg rolling down hill... Didn't he say something like that once?
Now switch hands
Most have two brain-halves, he has two brains.
Tritone!!
I just had a mild stroke trying to count
He's not quantized
Kids don’t try this at home, he’s a professional
Dude has 2 metronomes in his head
i have no understanding of this
Thumbnail confused me, genuinely thought he was going to compare the numbers☹
Well you just learn it like a melody don’t you, then it’s simple. That way, it’s actually one thing in your mind rather than two (which is impossible, although you can jump from one to the other quickly). Also, watch the timing of the left in isolation, I’m not sure that’s great timing!
People: I wish I had perfect pitch
Me: I wish I had at least 50% of this guys since if rhythm
This is what JC does with multiple girls in a hotel
if you dont realize how hard this is. ITS HARD.
WOW amazing I literarily didn't understand anything
not to take anything away from the man but i bet over half the people in this comments section could learn how to do this with 30 minutes of free time and 2 metronomes.
I know this video is almost a year old, but you are absolutely right. Technically, I am a terrible drummer, but I do love the music of Tool so I suppose that helps. I’ve been working on this with no metronome, just mimicking the video for about 30 minutes and I’ve just about got it. It’s really similar to 3 over 4, it’s almost the same at the beginning. The difference between me and Jacob is his brain is probably actually hearing these two rhythms independently whereas I am just learning this beat by beat and copying it.
At this point he could have done anything, cause no one really gonna check....
If we used 99% of brain cells
I envy people who know how to appreciate this. Because i dont know how to appreciate it. I have no idea why is that 5 on 7 is special. Maybe because i have zero knowledge on music, notes, rhythm and theories.
You and me both. To me it just looks like slapping some poles.
even if you're not musical, you could try doing a 2 over 3 polyrhthym. take an arbitrary amount of time (a bar) and subdivide it into 3 equal beats, tapped by the right hand. subdivide the same amount of time into 2 beats (so divide in half) and tap it with the left hand. if you do it right, the 4th tap of the right hand and the 3rd tap of the left line up perfectly. it's a little hard to do at the same time if you haven't ever done it before, much less more complicated subdivisions like 4 over 3 or 5 over 7
And?
Meanwhile, in an organization aimed at creating the flawless human specimen…
11/4 is the real matter
so, ok
I have a mathematical approach to performing literally any polyrhythm. But it doesn't mean I can always perform it well
minimim common multiple?
I didn't understand
Hey guys, what does 5 against 7 mean?
Hum.....ok
Holy shit
Can someone explain?
I didn't understand no shit, to me it sounds like the kid hitting on a pole waiting for his mum outside, please explain.
He points the wrong ways at the beginning tho
And I was proud of my 3 against 4 😂
?
I don't get it
Can someone explain to me what 5 against 7 is?
I understand he was tapping at two different rhythmic tempos. But what is the significance of 5 against 7, why say 5 “against” 7?
Think about the length of 5 seconds. He is tapping the left one 7 times in 5 seconds, and the right one 5 times in 5 seconds.
Shoot, I can do this. I'm pretty sure most people would say I suck at rhythm haha. I'm just a regular dude who listens to regular music. I don't know anyone who thinks polyrhythms sound good. It's just noise. I think it's a code to make crappy rhythm acceptable.
Wut
Its not 5 at 7
HA jokes on him, he can’t count. It’s not 5 and 7, it’s 11 and 15.
I counted.