This is the full, unabridged Cross Rhythm lesson from Sick Sounds #9, included within Terrorizer #217 which is available in digital here and as a totally retro printed magazine with covermount CD here.

Included within this issue is:

• Interview with Animals as leaders maestro Tosin Abasi;
• Two page analysis of Tosin's playing style;
• Two pages of tapping lessons;
• The cross rhythm lesson reproduced below; and
• Review of the amazing Yamaha THR10 table-top amp.

Rhythmic experimentation has long been a part of heavy music. Progressive bands like King Crimson began pushing boundaries and exploring options that would create rhythmic interest and originality in what was already an instrumentally ground breaking style. This first wave of prog bands provided a foundation that has been built upon to absolute extremes with bands like Meshuggah and more recently the djent movement. Cross-rhythms are an increasingly common way of twisting the listeners ear and blurring the meter, so that anyone wishing to tap their foot along to the music will require several years of formal music training and a degree in applied mathematics.

The Basics of Complexity - Cross-Rhythms

Essentially, a cross-rhythm is a rhythm that consistently and persistently contradicts the beat, causing a blurring or complete obscuring of where the beat actually is. You could think of it as a form of syncopation or polyrhythm, but really cross-rhythms deserve a category of their own due to their specific effect. Hopefully this definition will become a little clearer as we get into the actual examples.

Disguising the Bar

All of these examples will be best understood if you have a metronome on hand, to hear the sound of what you are playing against the true count of the beats and bars.

(Click on the music to see full size).

Playing triplets creates three notes to every two beats. What happens is that, after a while, the ear starts to hear each triplet as being a beat, and because the riff is phrased in twos, eventually it becomes hard to decide whether the click of the metronome or the notes of the guitar are the true pulse.

EX2 makes an even more forceful attempt to disguise the bar line, by adding a four note phrase to the rhythm. Because of the way the notes are arranged into four notes, the apparent phrase crosses the bar, and completely obscures the true count. Now the ear really wants to hear the notes as each being a beat of a standard 3/4 measure.

Targeting Smaller Note Divisions

EX3 divides the beat into 16ths then targets every fifth one. Since the riff is in 5/4, we would have 20 16th notes (5 x 4) so by playing every fifth one, we end up with four notes per bar. Four against five is a tricky timing to count, so you will probably find that initially you will literally have to count the whole thing in 16ths to make sure you are accurate.

EX4 takes this exact same principle, but now into bars of 4/4 and with more notes. Notice that the phrase is 8 beats long, and notes land every three 16th notes, meaning it lasts one and a half bars. This can become especially mind boggling if the drums (or click) drop out leaving the guitar on it’s own. The listener may completely lose the true count in this situation.

This brief introduction to a complex issue should have got you ready to start exploring the many possibilities available to you in your rhythmic adventures. The options for horrific mathematical and musical complexity are almost boundless, so grab a calculator, a metronome and a guitar and start djenting.

Get your hands on Terrorizer #217 and Sick Sounds #9 with our exclusive Tosin Abasi Masterclass, for iPhone and iPad, PC and Apple Mac, and Android .

All content (c) Dark Arts Ltd & Charles E A Hedger