Polyrhythms: The Musician's Guide Paperback – October 1, 2001

all good....

I find this one of the most---if not the most---mind-bending books I've gone through for drums. I mean this in a positive way because I find that, as I go (slowly) through the exercises my playing gets that much better. My fills and solos get that much more creative with time and I think some of it has to do with these exercises being somewhere in my sub-conscious system and "just come out" at the right moment.You need a lot of patience as you work your way through it. The western musical brain is just not wired for what is being taught here, so you have to take it slow and easy till your brain gets re-wired.

I love this book. It helped me develop my four limb independence on drums.

The author has the idea of polyrhythms right, and he explains it very well, and gives great audio examples. He also has right the idea of how to thoroughly teach polyrhythmic abilities, and enhance rhythmic dexterity. The book is lacking, however, when it comes to practice exercises. While the instructions say practice these exercises at all tempos, the accompanying CD has them only at one tempo per exercise (which is, surprise, close to the easiest tempo for that particular exercise)... of course, you're expected to do different tempos on your own, but since you're counting two rhythms at once, it is very difficult to objectively hear each of them, to know if you're not "cheating" one to make it fit into the correct rhythmic space provided by the other. The book provides the musician with some great new ways to think about rhythm. The problem is that the book advances too quickly to some really difficult stuff. If you sit with it for hours, and practice on your own (drumming on a desk, as I have done), you can ascend its steep slope and help your rhythmic abilities. (In the end, I didn't get very far along in the book). This takes a hell of a lot of patience, discipline, and work, and It would've been much easier if there were more exercises, which slowly increased in difficulty, rather than the few exercises which demand a leap in difficulty from one to the next.

This book is a wonderful tool for those who are serious about musicianship. However, unlike most books which spend their lengthy breadth trying to lead you along "12 stupid-simple steps," this book spends its pages with application. You will not get anything from this book if you just want to read about polyrhythms. This book is for those who want specific practice on the subject, and "Polyrhythms: A Musician's Guide" does that very well.

I think that 3 stars is a good review for this book. I give it three stars, but for the opposite reasons Mr. Gindi gave. I found extremely LITTLE explanations in the book. Actually there are minimal written words. Personally, I would like more of a written explanation to better understand what the author is thinking. Instead, the author keeps adding on without explanation, leaving it up to the reader and the CD. If this book didn't come with a CD to hear the examples, it would be a complete waste of money. For me, there are plenty of playing examples in the book. Working with a metronome at different tempos is all I needed. Additionally, the author recommends using scales once the rhythms are better understood. I would recommend this book to anyone who has already mastered basic rhythms meaning everything up to triplets and 16th notes of all sorts, especially since these are the rhythms the book starts off with.

Essential for any musician learning to develop a stronger sense of rhythm and groove. I recommend the app Polynome to go with it.

Outstanding text and works well with drumset applications as well. This book kicked my butt in college, and now I am torturing my advanced drum students with it.

This was one of the first in what may be a growing trend in cutting edge jazz/rock/fusion technique texts for all instrumentalists. A book about 'tricky' rhythms. This has in recent years been limited to being an interesting subject for drummers. But the whole band need to know about them too if we drummers are allowed our fun. So congratulations Mr Magadini and thanks.Unfortunately there has been only a vague standard agreement on the correct way to refer to odd/artificial/false/polyrhythms, let alone notate them. The most logical seems to me to be the ratio notation employed by Gary Chaffee and Gavin Harrison among others.Although there is much to be commended, notational inconsistency and omission are minor irritations for me in an otherwise good stab at the subject. Groups of triplets subdivided again into triplets, (nested triplets), are never referred to as nines, or nontuplets, which is the logical progression after 8th note or quavers. Though sextuplet, septuplet are used. Most modern drum educators are familiar with rhythmic scales and label one to ten using 'tuplets' where odd groups are needed: As does notation software such as Sibelius. So it seems odd, no pun intended, that this book does not refer to 9s at all. Also there is what surely must be called an error in notating elevens. They are written as crotchet or quarter note values even in a bar of four. After Septuplets, the next subdivision has to be an eighth note or quaver!(11:4 ratio). Likewise 9s, 10s, and 11s. it becomes very confusing when the quarter note elevens ( in a bar of four/ four time) are doubled up so that one fits in 22 eighth notes! This should be semiquavers or 16ths (22:4 ratio). In a book endeavouring to clear the mystery instead this must add to it for a beginner to odd rhythms.That said there are many useful and challenging clearly notated rhythmic exercises here. Though more thorough and methodical explanation of polyrhythms are to be found in Gary Chaffee's Patterns series. Also Gavin Harrison's detailed explanations of how to achieve accurate subdivisions are of more use I feel. Ari Hoenig and Johannes Weidenmueller book/DVD 'An Introduction to Polyrhythms' is also an excellent tutor for rhythm section players including clear demonstrations. Paul Delong's "Delong Way: To Polyrhythmic Creativity on the Drumset" is also a fine effort though aimed only at drummers.It is because of the above confusing oddities I can't give 5 stars, and because it is a potentially difficult area where clarity is vital only award 3. (Having said that, Magadini's 'Polyrhythms for Drumset' is less ambitious but less confusing notationally, that would get 5 stars from me.)

Great book! Very useful polyrhythm examples.

amazing for limb independence

all good. delivery and quality.

Cette méthode est en fait l'association de deux ouvrages de Peter Magadini, le premier datant de 1967 (pages 1 à 31) et expliquant comment placer 6 coups sur 4 temps, 3 coups sur 4 temps, 5 coups sur 4 temps, ainsi que toutes les subdivisions (croches, double-croches...) qui en découlent, plus un chapitre sur le mélange de tout ce qui a été vu dans les 3 premières sections. La 2e partie est donc le second livre, et traite des groupes de 7, 11 et 13 coups sur 4 temps.La première partie est bien évidemment indispensable pour tout batteur qui désire "mettre un pied" (et, bien sur, les 2 mains...) dans le domaine si dense, si riche, si "dingue" de la polyrythmie (*). Car jouer les sempiternelles double-croches ou triolets, c'est bien, mais ça a ses limites. Ces premières pages sont donc une ouverture logique vers un monde... nouveau ? Pas vraiment, mais une piqûre de rappel (comme les vaccins), ça ne fait pas de mal. Ca fait même un bien fou...Curieusement, il y manque les groupes de 3 notes... sur 3 temps. Ce que Peter Magadini aurait pu appeler "4 against three", soit 4 notes sur 3 temps. (Petite parenthèse : je déteste l'appellation "contre". Avec un instrument, on joue "sur" de la musique, "avec" des musiciens, "pour" un public, mais on ne joue jamais "contre" quelque chose !!! Je préfère pour ma part utiliser le terme "4 SUR 3" : on joue 4 coups là où d'habitude on n'en joue que 3.) En revanche, les groupes de 9, qui semblent absents de la 2e partie de l'ouvrage, sont bien présents, et ce dans la première partie justement : page 6, 9 coups sur 2 temps, et page 15, 9 coups sur sur 4 temps.En revanche, la 2e partie me semble de moindre intérêt, notamment en ce qui concerne les groupes de 11 et de 13. Ce débit ne pouvant se jouer qu'à tempo lent ou medium (disons de 40 à 80 bpm, 100 maxi si on joue sans subdivisions), ça limite considérablement la plage de tempo. Ce qui n'est pas le cas dans la 1ere partie, où on peut "pousser" des triolets de noires et de blanches sans problèmes à 160 bpm. Et puis pourquoi s'arrêter à 11 ? pourquoi pas 13, 15, 17 ou 19 tant qu'on y est ? Quant à la dernière section ("Polyrhythmic Time Signature"), je la trouve bien petite et bien maigre en explications et en exemples...Une chose est sure : les 40 premières pages de cette méthode sont un complément d'ouvrages tels que  Rhythmic Illusions , et... allez, j'ose :  Marcel Frederic Groupes De Note & Polyrythmie Drums Book/Cd French , car d'une approche différente. Et donc : indispensable !(*) Plutôt que de dire que la polyrythmie consiste à jouer 2 rythmes différents, je parle plutôt de "rythme dans le rythme". Si la différence est minime sur le papier, elle est, conceptuellement, de taille : il ne s'agit plus de se battre avec 2 rythmes différents, mais bel et bien de jouer un (nouveau) rythme par dessus le rythme (de base). Rhythmic IllusionsMarcel Frederic Groupes De Note & Polyrythmie Drums Book/Cd French