4:3 Polyrhythm Generator

How fast is 4:3 at a given tempo?

With the 3-note layer selected as the BPM reference, one shared cycle lasts 3 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 4 against 3 feels like

Four against three fits four equally spaced attacks across three base beats. With the three as the reference, each counter note lasts three quarters of a base beat. Try the three in your left hand and the four in your right, then reverse the assignment without changing the spacing.

The usual mistake. Do not let the four side swing toward the three. On the twelve-slot grid the four notes fall on 1, 4, 7 and 10 and the three notes on 1, 5 and 9; the near-misses on slots 4 and 5, and on 9 and 10, are where the two sides pull each other out of place.

Count 4 against 3 out loud

Count 12 equal slots. Both sides land together on slot 1. The 4-side alone lands on slots 4, 7 and 10. The 3-side alone lands on slots 5 and 9. Beat numbers, Konnakol syllables, a spoken phrase and hands all sit on the same 12 slots. Ivory is the 3-side, orange the 4-side and gold is both together.

Left hand plays the 3, right hand plays the 4, B is both hands together. Phrase: “Pass the god damn but ter”. Six syllables, six hits; "Pass" is both hands.

Speed the same ratio up past twenty pulses a second and 4 against 3 stops being a rhythm and becomes a perfect fourth, 498 cents wide. Same ratio, same object.

How to practise 4:3 in 8 steps

Start around 80 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 3 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 4 drifting across the 3.
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 3. Both sides still play. Tap only the 3-side along with it. Listen for: Your taps sit inside the click, not beside it. Perfect means within 30 ms.
4. Tap the 4. Now tap only the 4-side while the 3 keeps you honest. Listen for: 4 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 110. 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 4 as the beat and play the 3 against it. Same notes, different gravity. Listen for: The cycle is the same length; now the 3 is the one drifting.

Where 4 against 3 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.

• Four semiquavers over a triplet bass

  • Piano

  The famous piano case. Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu writes the right hand in groups of four semiquavers over a left hand in groups of three quavers, so every beat is 4:3. Generations of pianists have learned the ratio from that one page of music.

  HearOnly the first note of each beat lines up. The other three right-hand notes and the two left-hand notes interleave: after the shared attack you hear right, left, right, left, right, then both again.

  PlayLeft hand taps the 3-side, right hand the 4-side, on the table lid before the keys. The hands view lights each hand so you can see which one is late.

  Hear it this way, 56 BPM

• Four dotted quavers across a 3/4 bar

  • Guitar & bass
  • Theory

  In 3/4 a bar holds twelve semiquavers, and a dotted quaver is three of them, so four dotted quavers fill the bar exactly. That is 4:3 written in ordinary notation, the strum pattern that makes a waltz sound like it is in four.

  HearPut the 3-side on the click and the 4-side on the woodblock: the woodblock sounds like it is playing in 4/4 at a slightly faster tempo, and the two agree once a bar.

  PlayTap your foot on the 3-side and strum on the 4-side. Then reverse it: the 4-side becomes the pulse and the three "dotted crotchets" slide over it, which is how the same ratio feels in 4/4.

  Hear it this way, 76 BPM

• Chatusra nadai against tisra nadai

  • Voice & Konnakol
  • Hand percussion

  In Carnatic rhythm the beat can be split into four (chatusra nadai, Ta Ka Di Mi) or three (tisra nadai, Ta Ki Ta). Speak one while a mridangam or the metronome holds the other and every beat is 4:3.

  HearThe Konnakol row in the counting grid shows the syllables on their slots. Say Ta Ka Di Mi, one syllable per 4-side click, while the 3-side holds the beat: Ta lands on the downbeat and the other syllables fall between the beats.

  PlayClap the 3-side, recite the 4-side. Then keep the clap and switch the mouth to Ta Ki Ta so the ratio inverts without the pulse moving.

  Hear it this way, 60 BPM

• The "three over four" drum fill

  • Drums

  A bar of 4/4 divided into three equal notes is a minim triplet. Drummers spread a three-note fill over the bar that way, or play the ride in three while the kick and hi-hat hold four, and call it "three over four". It is 4:3 with the four as home.

  HearKit on the 4-side, wood on the 3-side. The three notes are evenly spaced but only the first sits on a beat: the second falls just after beat two, the third just before beat four.

  PlayKick on every 4-side slot, floor tom on the 3-side. Then move the three notes around the kit while the feet stay on four.

  Hear it this way, 80 BPM