Am i the only one who can't play in 5/4?

Simon

Member
17
Is it me, or is 5/4 the most awkward time signature to play in! Having that extra beat at the end really throws me off and getting stuff to sound smooth is so hard! I'm wrestling with learning Take Five right now, and although i can play it all, getting it so sound good and smooth is so hard 🙁

Any tips?
 
I find 4/4 the hardest. 5/4 comes naturally, usually when a piece is written in 3/4, 4/4, 6/8....

Truth is I tend to mix the time sigs all the time. Flexibility has it's drawbacks...
 
Take 5 has a 3/4 + 2/4 feel about it. It might help to think like that instead of straight 5/4. Otherwise it's just the usual - practice.
 
I was taught to count 3+2 as well.
Good vid reference Geoff. Crazydaisy's advice is good for anything - slow it right down, practice the bits you can't play over and over until you don't get them wrong.
YC
 
I even wrote a piece in 5/4 for our band but I'm damned if I could ever solo on it. It was completely beyond me even trying to keep the 1,2,3,1,2, beat in my mind. There was only one person in the band who could do it and she left a couple of years ago. I'm just hoping that our leader doesn't bring it out again. Paul Desmond was a bit of a genius, I think.
O.C.V.
 
Time sigs like 5/4, 7/4, 11/4 are tricky. Usually (!) if they are regular repeating patterns such as 3+2 or 2+3 then you will get the hang of them.

Unless you're an awkward @#$ like Leonard Bernstein and the Chichester Psalms which is irregular and one movement constantly switches 3/8, 7/8, 5/4, 7/4....my brain hurts, another one is in 11/4 etc......
 
Time sigs like 5/4, 7/4, 11/4 are tricky. Usually (!) if they are regular repeating patterns such as 3+2 or 2+3 then you will get the hang of them.

Unless you're an awkward @#$ like Leonard Bernstein and the Chichester Psalms which is irregular and one movement constantly switches 3/8, 7/8, 5/4, 7/4....my brain hurts, another one is in 11/4 etc......



My first odd meter was a Tashiko Akioshi & Lew Tabakkan Big band piece in 5/4 and then it went to some other odd stuff, I recall it was called "Henpecked Old Man" I was hen pecked after that.

Quote:

"Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art." - Charlie "YardBird" Parker
 
Please remember that "Take 5" came from Brubeck making an LP, as it was then, exploring differing time signatures. Try some of the others.

The quartet would have been much better with a good tenor player instead of an alto.

Maybe PD was a good tenor player, but he kept it to himself.
 
Different cultures have different music ingrained from birth. An adult unfamiliar with, rather, not brought up with odd meters, would naturally have trouble with it. There are lots of 5/4 grooves to encounter out there. My advice would be to find, or create your groove and sit with it ALOT. After a while it will start to sink deep inside and you'll get better and better at soloing over it and not try to be counting so much. It's hard at first but hang in there and I'm sure you'll see good results. Good luck.
 
"Time to break the bad news gently. Your teacher was lieing.... First request I ever got on a sax(apart from be quiet) was Take 5. I bottled out. Still haven't mastered it."

To be fair to him he did add the caveat "unless you are going to play Take 5". I would pretend I had not heard if called on for that.
 

Similar threads... or are they? Maybe not but they could be worth reading anyway 😀

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