Three Four Drum Less Playalong

An oddtime minus drums practice track

This three four drumless backing track is a great opportunity to test your drum beats and fills in oddtime. Three four is one of the more common time signatures behind the standard four four so you will definitely need to play something in it soon. Mathematically it has the same value as six eight time signature but three four is phrased as three groups of two whereas six eight is felt as two groups of three. So in three four we count 1 & -2 &- 3 & and in six eight we count 1 2 3 – 4 5 6. It adds up the same but feels different.

So this three four drumless playalong is slightly crazy and avant garde I suppose and it has four distinct sections that don’t obviously go well together but the drum parts can work as the glue that binds it all beautifully.

If you get the MP3 track below then you will also get sheet music to help understand the structure and parts. So you can either read that or just listen and you will find the first groove that starts up. We then have a chilled breakdown section. I kept a funky groove going at a lower dynamic interspersed with sporadic improvised solo ideas.

This then breaks out into another odd part which has a dotted eight note high frequency keyboard note which helps to suggest a polyrhythmic element. You can play with this or ignore it and stay strong with the three quarter note pulse. Either way this part can be a real challenge to keep your place so don’t lose concentration.

It then builds up to the fourth section which is a two bar phrase featuring a bass line which is rhythmically based on Sting’s ‘Children of the Crusade’ from his 1985 ‘The Dream of the Blue Turtles’ album. If you aren’t familiar with that track then check it out because it features Omar Hakim who displays incredible drumming on the studio version and then goes into beast mode for the live tour. It really is stunning so watch it!

Anyway back to this backing track; After that fourth section it returns to the original groove then finishes with the breakdown section. So there’s plenty of scope to try different rhythms, develop your dynamic playing and just have fun working on your oddtime grooves.

If you want to try the backing track but don’t have a strong enough grasp of three four drumming yet, check out this free three four drum lesson. It also offers the chance to get a longer lesson to really get your skills and build your odd time vocabulary.

Here’s a video of me jamming some ideas over the track but scroll down below to get it for yourself.

Are you ready to get grooving in three four?

I hope the answer is ‘YES!’  Click below and you will get the full three four drumless playalong MP3 backing track as well as the PDF chart to help you learn the structure.

If you get it down then record yourself playing it and share it. Don't forget to leave a link in the comments below. I would personally love to see it and it will also be great for everyone else to share your ideas and get feedback. Don't be scared, it's an art form not a competition so it's always great to see everyone's different interpretations.

As well as this three four drumless playalong there are many other lessons available at Total Drummer so check out the free lessons, single lessons, mini courses and main courses, as well as the drum less playalongs and the charts of famous songs.

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