The National · 2007 · 4 against 3 · ≈100 BPM
The 4 against 3 polyrhythm in Fake Empire by The National
Press play to count the meter or try the original drum exercise. Slow the pulse down or speed it up to feel how the pattern works.
Every player fits the same bar: A splits it into 3, B into 2. They meet on beat 1.
Original practice groove. Kick follows the first layer and snare follows the second. Hi-hat keeps the first layer’s beat. This is a teaching model, not the recorded drum part.
● Hit · empty cell = rest. Switch a part off and play it yourself.
Practice tempo: 100 BPM
BPM follows the first layer. Both parts fill the same bar.
Simplified educational demo, not a transcription of the recording.
Hear the real thing
Playing the track pauses the demo automatically (and vice versa) so they don't fight each other.
What's happening rhythmically
Fake Empire opens with a piano part built on a genuine polyrhythm: four evenly-spaced notes in one hand against three in the other, both filling the same bar.
Unlike a polymeter, the two layers here always start the bar together. The conflict happens inside each bar rather than drifting across bars. It’s why the song feels like it’s gently rocking rather than marching.
What to listen for
- Beat one, where both hands strike together, the anchor of the whole pattern
- The galloping composite rhythm the two hands make between downbeats
- The drums entering later and siding with the "four" layer
Practise this rhythm
- Choose Drum exercise at half speed. Tap four evenly spaced kick hits against three snare hits in the same bar. Both start together.
- Mute Snare and supply its marked hits yourself while the kick continues. Keep going until both layers meet on one.
- Restore Snare, mute Kick and swap roles. Return to Count clicks and maintain both parts yourself.
