Songdog Music

The 3-3-2 GROOVE  

The 3-3-2 groove is extremely common, simple, and fun - but it's a bit confusing without a little explanation.

The meter is quadruple of course.

The usual time signature used is 4/4

• Four quarter notes per measure.
• Split that and you get eight 8th notes. Notice: we usually group those, quite logically, into four pairs of 8ths. Makes sense: four quarters get divided into eight 8ths. That can be counted as 2+2+2+2:
• But eight is a large number and can be divided in all kinds of ways. For instance: 3+3+2:

It looks like this on the staff:

“et voila!” a new rhythm, within the same time signature. It feels completely different and if you try to count it in the usual way for quadruple meter, you're going to have a hard time. That is why I list this idiomatic pattern out separately.

Now, one of the cool things about 3-3-2 is that it often is played WITHIN a regular quadruple meter song. The contrast of the usual patterns with this one creates a fascinating texture. But you wanna learn this by itself first before attempting to make plyrhythms with it. 

How you count it: 

The 3-3-2 pattern is so - just different - from regular old quadruple 4/4 that trying to count it as such is both uncomfortable and confusingly off-point. Simply count it “1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2”

Below are play-along Rhythm Backing Tracks

3-3-2 Groove based on Clocks by Coldplay

1. Rhythm Backing Track in Quadruple Meter - Clocks, 3-3-2 groove - 90BPM

2. Rhythm Backing Track in Quadruple Meter - Clocks, 3-3-2 groove - 110BPM

3. Rhythm Backing Track in Quadruple Meter - Clocks, 3-3-2 groove - 131BPM: 
ORIGINAL TEMPO of Clocks.