Ah…good ol’ 4/4 time. It is so prevalent in western music that it is often referred to as “common time”. Most of the compositions in the standard jazz repertoire are composed in this ubiquitous time signature.

But even though the harmonic forms of these pieces are based around this time subdivision, it doesn’t mean that every idea you play as an improviser must be.

In fact, lots of interesting “rhythmic dissonance” can be created by playing melodic ideas that don’t readily fit into the 4/4 harmonic structure. Just listen to Lester Young, Sonny Rollins, Warne Marsh, et. al., and you can hear them build excitement and tension as they “ignore the bar line.”

Yet many of the jazz musicians that I know personally (as well as the vast majority of students who come to me for lessons) practice nearly everything they do, every day, in 4/4 time. This time signature/subdivision becomes their default, their “go to” place. In essence, it becomes habit.

Virtually every time they discover a new idea, concept, or lick, it’s immediately conceived of (and practiced) in 4/4.

In a way, it makes sense for you to spend so much of your practice time thinking/imagining/improvising in 4/4. Because in reality, most of the improvising you’ll do with other jazz musicians will take place in this time signature.

For sure, there are exceptions. A number standard tunes in the jazz lexicon are composed in 3/4 (e.g., Someday My Prince Will Come, Wayne Shorter’s Footprints). So it’s not like you never have the chance to improvise in other time signatures.

But 3/4 time is odd, not just because of the odd-metered subdivision, but it’s also a little odd  (not as familiar) because it you don’t visit it nearly as often as you do the “common time” of 4/4.

In the past, my own habit was to spend about 99% of my improvisational practice time in 4/4. I felt quite comfortable and confident doing so.

But I can tell you with absolute certainty that when I started to regularly improvise in “non 4/4” time signatures, I became a far better improviser. Not just in odd meters, but in 4/4 time itself.

Why? Because it challenged me to stop putting my “evenly organized” ideas into neat-fitting little packages, and got me to start imagining melodic construction in a more organic and expansive manner. The more time I spent improvising in odd meters, the more chances I had to re-discover what I could do as an improviser.

As a result of this, my time, feel and articulation improved. My phrasing dramatically expanded. My melodic organization possibilities from note to note opened way  up. My sense of form become deeply confident. My overall conception of spontaneously creating music became, well…more spontaneous.

All this because I changed a daily habit.

Nowadays when I practice, I choose a “default” time signature that I work in for each day. Typically, it’s one of the following: 3/4, 5/4, 5/8 and 7/8. (Occasionally I’ll work with 6/8, 9/8 and  11/8.)

I also work in 4/4 every day, too, in addition to my chosen default time signature. And I’ll assign at least one day a week where 4/4 is the default.

If you change your habit of spending 99% or more of your daily practice time in 4/4, you’ll be pleased with the results. Besides becoming a more expressive and spontaneous improviser, you’ll also become a better musician, overall.

Take Action

Here are some things to keep in mind (and/or to practice) to help you with this:

• Stay with one new time signature default at a time-3/4 is a good place to start. Spend three or four days of your practice week spending 90% or more of your time in this time signature. Do this for several weeks. More, if you feel the need. Once you are as free and comfortable in 3 as you are in 4, other odd times will seem immediately approachable (see below).

• All odd times are just subdivisions of 2 and 3-5/8 is a subdivision of 2 and 3 (or 3 and 2); 7/8 is 2-2-3 (or 3-2-2). Once you’ve mastered playing in 3 (see above), the rest falls into place. It’s just a matter of methodical practice. After 3/4, work on 5/4, then 5/8, then 7/4, then 7/8. (Again, one time signature at a time until you feel confident before moving on to another.)

• Put scale and arpeggio patterns into the odd time signature-Whether you’re working with a note grouping that you know well (like scales in thirds, for example) or are working out a new pattern, work it out into the non-4/4 time subdivision.

• Start with open-ended improvisation-When you begin exploring a new odd time signature, choose a mode, scale, or thematic fragment, turn on the metronome (or drum loop) and improvise as melodically and clearly as you can. Always know where beat one is. Always.

• Put standard songs and cyclical chord changes into odd times-Once you’re comfortable improvising without a bar form (you know where “one” is; you can play melodically), take a tune that you know really well into odd time. (I Got Rhythm changes in 7/8 is a blast!) If you don’t want to start with a tune, practice over some ii-V cycles, or the Coltrane Matrix, or…?

• Take a jazz lick or cliché that you know really well and modify it to fit into the odd time subdivision-This will really open up your ears as well as you melodic imagination.

• Work in both a swing feel and in a straight eighth note feel-Either with a metronome or with drum loops, it’s always a good idea to explore different feels. Even if all you want to do is play swing. With all the amazing smart phone apps out there these days, you have lots of fun things to work with.

• Work with polymeter-This is where it comes full circle. Once you’ve become comfortable improvising in odd meters, you can begin to actively explore odd-metered subdivisions as you superimpose them over 4/4 time. (I have written a very thorough and methodical eBook that helps you to develop this specific skill, called Essential Polymeter Studies in 4/4 for the Improvising Musician.) Polymeter is a highly effective way to build tension and interest in your solos.

So give up the daily habit of 4/4 as the “go to” time signature (you already know it well enough by now, I’m sure!), and enjoy a new adventure in your learning process, and in your musical expression.