Odd-Time Hack for Better Beats

    Odd-Time Hack for Better Beats   In this lesson you'll learn how to use odd time signatures, but without them sounding odd. But first… Tea!   Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Theory, the fast, easy and fun way to make music! If you’re new to theory, or if you just want a refresher, then read our free book "12 Music Theory Hacks to Learn Scales & Chords". It’ll give you a super solid music theory foundation in just 30 minutes. The free download is below. Enjoy!   INTRO Odd time signatures are one of the best ways to make your beats stand out! And one of the easiest to use is 7|8, which you get by shortening 4|4 by an 1/8 note.   FAULT But, as you can hear (click play above to listen), the problem most producers have when using odd time is that it sounds wrong. That’s because it’s usually made by shortening or lengthening the end of a 4|4 bar, so it either sounds too short (like 7|8) or too long (like 5|4).   HACK The trick is to make your odd-time beat not sound odd. And you do that by disguising it as 4|4, cos that’s what everyone will subconsciously compare it to. So here’s the hack: Hide that bit you shorten or lengthen in the middle of your bar! That way by the end of the bar, where your loop repeats, it actually sounds normal.   NEXT Hope you found this hack helpful, and if you did, then check out our DRUMS page for more!     Free Book     Wooohooo!!! You’re a mere 30 minutes away from being even smarter than you already are. Just head on over to your inbox now for your free download. There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.   “The most brilliant, fast, easy & fun music theory book I’ve ever seen!” DEREK SIVERS, CD Baby founder We use this field to detect spam bots. If you fill this in, you will be marked as a spammer. DOWNLOAD FREE BOOK     Podcast Listen below, or on any podcast app.