3:2 Polyrhythm Generator

How fast is 3:2 at a given tempo?

With the 2-note layer selected as the BPM reference, one shared cycle lasts 2 beats. The table gives the cycle length, the spacing of each layer and one counting slot at three practice tempos. Changing the reference changes the playback speed; muting a side does not.

What 3 against 2 feels like

Three against two fits three evenly spaced notes into the same span as two. Keep the two in your foot or left hand while your other hand plays the three. The combined attacks occupy four of the six counting slots, so learning that short composite pattern can be easier than trying to track both hands separately.

The usual mistake. The usual mistake is to play the three side as a triplet with a skipped note, which makes it lurch. Both layers are even: the three notes are equally spaced, the two notes are equally spaced, and only the first note is shared.

Count 3 against 2 out loud

Count 6 equal slots. Both sides land together on slot 1. The 3-side alone lands on slots 3 and 5. The 2-side alone lands on slot 4. Beat numbers, Konnakol syllables, a spoken phrase and hands all sit on the same 6 slots. Ivory is the 2-side, orange the 3-side and gold is both together.

Left hand plays the 2, right hand plays the 3, B is both hands together. Phrase: “Hot cup of tea”. "Hot" is both hands together.

Speed the same ratio up past twenty pulses a second and 3 against 2 stops being a rhythm and becomes a perfect fifth, 702 cents wide. Same ratio, same object.

How to practise 3:2 in 8 steps

Start around 90 BPM. Everything below uses the generator on this page: Hear Base and Hear Counter isolate a side, the Hands view shows the sticking, Tap along scores your timing, and Practice tools open silent gaps or ramp the tempo. Move on when a step feels even for three cycles.

1. Hear both sides. Play it and let the 2 be the beat you nod to. Do not count yet. Listen for: The two sides meet once per cycle, on 1. Everything else is the 3 drifting across the 2.
2. Count it out loud. Switch to the Hands view and say the syllables with the clicks until they feel even. Listen for: Every hit has a word. Silent slots are the spaces between words.
3. Tap the 2. Both sides still play. Tap only the 2-side along with it. Listen for: Your taps sit inside the click, not beside it. Perfect means within 30 ms.
4. Tap the 3. Now tap only the 3-side while the 2 keeps you honest. Listen for: 3 even taps that land back on 1 with the other side.
5. Both hands together. Tap both sides with the guide still playing. Keep it slow until the meeting point is calm. Listen for: One clean composite line, not two people arguing.
6. Take the guide away. Two cycles play, two go silent. Keep both hands going through the silence. Listen for: When the click comes back, you are still on 1.
7. Speed it up. The tempo climbs one BPM per cycle toward 120. Stop when it stops feeling even. Listen for: The relationship stays the same at every tempo; only the space between hits shrinks.
8. Swap sides. Feel the 3 as the beat and play the 2 against it. Same notes, different gravity. Listen for: The cycle is the same length; now the 2 is the one drifting.

Where 3 against 2 turns up

4 places musicians actually meet this ratio, from traditions and notated idioms to studio habits, each with a setup you can hear. Every link loads this generator at the tempo, sounds and view that show the idea best.

• The 12-pulse bell cycle

  • Hand percussion
  • Dance
  • Drums

  West African and Afro-Cuban 6/8 music runs on a cycle of twelve fast pulses. The bell or shaker groups them in threes, dancers and the low drum feel them in fours, and everyone hears both at once.

  HearCount the twelve pulses out loud in threes, then in fours, then let the generator do both: the 3-side is the dancers, the 2-side is the bell hand. Neither is "the beat"; the meeting point on 1 is.

  PlayStep or tap your foot on the 2-side and clap the 3-side. When that holds, swap. The 6/8 bell pattern sits on the 3-side slots.

  Hear it this way, 84 BPM

• Hemiola: 6/8 sliding into 3/4

  • Theory
  • Piano
  • Guitar & bass

  Baroque dances, Brahms and every musical-theatre number that leans from "one-two-three, four-five-six" into "one-two, three-four, five-six" are using 3:2 across a bar. Six quavers grouped as two threes against the same six grouped as three twos.

  HearThe composite goes long-short-short-long: that is the sound of a hemiola cadence. In the grid, watch the gold slot where both sides land: it happens once per bar, on the downbeat.

  PlayStrum or play the left hand in 6/8, then keep the pulse and re-accent it in 3/4 for one bar. Guitarists know this as the flamenco and Latin "twelve" turning over.

  Hear it this way, 72 BPM

• Triplets over a duple left hand

  • Piano
  • Theory

  The oldest keyboard polyrhythm: a right hand in triplets over a left hand in quavers. Impressionist piano is full of it, and it is written into the score, so you can check every bar against the grid on this page.

  HearSlow the tempo until each beat is a small event: two notes in one hand, three in the other, one shared attack at the start. The second left-hand note falls exactly between the second and third right-hand notes.

  PlayLeft hand plays the 2-side, right hand the 3-side, for one beat, then rest a beat. Grow to two beats, then continuous. Keep the shared note heavier than the rest.

  Hear it this way, 60 BPM

• Playing in two over a waltz

  • Drums
  • Guitar & bass

  Rhythm sections in a jazz waltz float a two-feel over the three: the bass plays two evenly spaced notes per bar of 3/4 while the ride keeps the three. It is the same 3:2, felt as a groove instead of an exercise.

  HearSet the 3-side as the ride and the 2-side as the bass. The second bass note lands halfway through beat two, and that "late two" is the lilt.

  PlayRide cymbal on the 3-side, kick or bass on the 2-side, hi-hat foot on the shared 1 only. Then move the 2-side to the snare cross-stick.

  Hear it this way, 96 BPM