What are odd meters?

They’re just like regular meters and are only considered “odd” because they are used less commonly than other meters.

If you’re familiar with how they work, and you practice them, odd meters aren’t any harder to read or play than others.

In popular music, odd meters are often found in jazz fusion, some progressive rock, and many folk music style from around the world. Contemporary art music for solo percussion, large orchestras, and even chamber groups all use these strange meters on a regular basis.

Here are some less common time signatures that you may encounter.

Some Odd Meters

Subdividing Odd Meters

When playing odd meters it is often helpful to subdivide the beats into smaller groupings. By breaking these time signatures into groups of twos and threes you can feel the flow of the beats in the rhythm easier.

Here are some examples of Odd Meters in action:

5/4

“Living In The Past” – Jethro Tull

This 5/4 groove is subdivided as 3 + 2 = 5. So we would count it this way:  || 1 2 3 | 1 2 || 1 2 3 | 1 2 ||

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbiHf3fpkXo

7/4

“Money” by Pink Floyd

This 7/4 groove is subdivided as 3 + 4 = 7. So we would count it this way:  || 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 4 || 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 4 ||

11/4

Mario Kart 64 (video game), music by Kenta Nagata, at the race results screen

This 11/4 groove is subdivided as 3 + 3 + 3 + 2 = 11. So we would count it this way:  || 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 ||

7/8

“Them Bones” – Alice In Chains

This 7/8 groove is subdivided as 2 + 2 + 3 = 7. So we would count it this way:  || 1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2 3 ||

9/8

“Lateralus” – Tool

When this 7/8 groove kicks in at 1:13 in the song it is subdivided as 3 + 3 + 3 = 9. So we would count it this way:  || 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 ||.

It also seems that the riff is broken into three bars, two of which are 9/8 with the third bar written in 6/8.

10/8

“Everything In Its Right Place” – Radiohead

This 10/8 groove is subdivided as 3 + 3 + 4 = 10. So we would count it this way:  || 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 4 ||

12/8

“Whippin’ Post” – The Allman Brothers Band

The intro to this song is written in 11/8 subdivided as 3 + 3 + 3 + 2 = 11. So we would count it this way:  || 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 ||

When the verse comes up they switch to 12/8 subdivided as 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 12. So we would count it this way:  || 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 ||

Give it a listen and see if you can hear the difference & what effect this change has to the feel of the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkLCWrRFBPs