Metric Modulation Vs. Implied Metric Modulation

http://www.AaronEdgarDrum.com/pdf/metricmod.pdf : Free .PDF transcription of playing examples.

What is metric modulation? Metric modulation, in a nutshell is when we either speed up or slow down in a way that's relative to the original tempo/feel. The difference between an actual and an implied metric modulation is that in actual; we're basing our pulse on the new tempo. So we really do speed up or slow down. (For example, in the fourth playing example, the tempo changed from 150 bpm to 100 bpm). However, implied metric modulation is a trick or an illusion. We're PRETENDING to speed up or slow down by basing our groove and feel on a different subdivision than we were using originally.

For implied metric modulation there's a few ways we can go about phrasing these. (Not counting for the nearly infinite different modulations, I'm talking about musical placement).

Forced resolve implied metric modulation : In a forced resolve implied metric modulation we would be placing our illusion into a number of bars that doesn't fully fit the pattern. It's like dividing two numbers that don't work out evenly, it results in a remainder.

Naturally resolving implied metric modulations : In a naturally resolving implied metric modulation we can creatively place our illusion within our phrasing so that it ends on beat one where we go back to the original feel. There's a few ways to do this as well. We can make sure we use the correct number of bars to fill it up (for example three bars of 4/4 will fit a six quarter note long illusion twice). We can also take the same kind of illusion and place it starting on beat three in a bar of 4/4 so a bar and a half later it also ends on one. Finally, we can just change time signature to fit our illusion.

Implied metric modulations can be perceived as grooves and feels based on a polyrhythmic phrasing. In the above pictured examples the polyrhythm in question is four over three (cymbal versus actual pulse). We're placing a groove into the spacing of that polyrhythm.

In actual metric modulation there are also a few different ways to perceive them.

We can do a straight up tempo change although most of the time, numerically speaking these end up kind of ugly. Remember the dividing numbers with remainders reference? Same thing with your bpm.

We can also perceive them as what Gavin Harrison calls a related tempo, which is a totally appropriate name for the real deal metric modulations. If you look at the implied examples above you see that the note rate for your groove went from an eighth note to three sixteenth notes. I'll demonstrate that in the following picture as a real metric modulation. You'll see at the bar line where it changes a dotted eighth note = eighth note. This signifies our modulation.

Finally we can also take polyrhythmic phrasing like we spoke about above and use that as a basis to "pitch" our new tempo.

Of course we can go far beyond this. The examples shown here are specifically to get you understanding the basics. We don't need to stay in the same time signature when we modulate either for real or implied. We don't need to continue playing the same groove and it's far more musical if we can disguise the transitions with fills.

I hope this clears it up for some of you! This is my interpretation of the topic. I know there are a lot of conflicting views on it, but this works for me and has done so for a number of my students. If you have any questions or still are having trouble understanding, please leave a comment! I'd love to help you out, but I can't if I don't know you've got an issue!

Keep hitting things
~Aaron

The drumset in this video is : Sonor SQ2 Beech Vintage, Makassar Ebony with XRay, Designer and S-Classix Snares.

Suspended toms : 8x7, 10x7, 12x8
Floor toms : 14x14, 16x16, 18x18
Bass drums : 18x18, 22x19
Gong drums : 18x15, 22x16
Snare drums : 10x5 Designer Maple Light, 12x5 S-Classix, 12x7.5 SQ2 XRay

Cymbals : Hammerax

9, 12, 16" FlyHats
18" Hell Hats
23x19 Atom Oval Crash
23.5" Indigo Dark Crash Ride
21" Whipcrash
12, 18" Boomywangs
28" Meanie
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8" BellVine
6, 7, 8, 9.5" Nice Bells
5, 6, 7, 8" NuBells
9" Photon Splash
9" UV Splash

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Gavin Harrison
• Rhythmic Illusion
• Rhythmic Illusions
• Polyrhythms
• polyrhythm
• Aaron Edgar
• Drum
• Drums
• Drumming
• Meshuggah
• Tool
• Steve Smith
• Instructional
• How To
• Sonor
• Evans
• Vater
• Hammerax
• tutorial
• crazy
• extreme
• polymeter

[anulay]

The link you posted to the PDFs aren't opening. Not sure what happened here. Thanks for trying though!

[aaronedgardrum]

@anulay I know! I'm sorry mang, I had a malware attack on my site, it's been down for a couple days. Technically it's up again but ugly. Email me and I'll send you any PDF you need from my online videos :) a.edgardrum{at}gmail.com

[Oli4drums]

Hey Aaron, which snare listed in the description is your main one here?

[aaronedgardrum]

@Oli4drums That's the 12x7.5 SQ2 Xray :)

[socaldgafbro]

are those ec2s?

[aaronedgardrum]

@socaldgafbro Negative, GPlus clear

[aaronedgardrum]

@DrummerEtc haha ah well! I guess some people have nothing better to do :) Thanks for backin' me up!

[DrummerEtc]

@aaronedgardrum HA! Yea, you're not the only one man. You, Dimsunk, Steve Holmes, me...a lot of legit teachers with great styles and concepts that take the time to post on here. Maybe Mike digs that kind of a student, not me. It's You Tube, whaddya do...keep up the awesome vids tutorials!

-Stephen T.

[aaronedgardrum]

@DrummerEtc hehe yeah he had it out for me for a little bit :P

Thanks for the kind words, Stephen! You rule :)

[DrummerEtc]

@thelinedrummer There he is! The almighty linedrummer!!! Trollin' again bro! Glad to see you at least keep a consistent profile across YT. Seriously, if Mike read some of the stuff you put out there he'd be ashamed. Aaron is a great player...again, spend a bit more time on the kit and a little less on the keyboard.

-Stephen T.