Tool · 1996 · 7 over 4
The 7 over 4 polymeter in Forty Six & 2 by Tool
Press play to hear the rhythm isolated. Slow it down, speed it up, or change the counts to feel how it works.
Every player fits the same bar: A splits it into 3, B into 2. They meet on beat 1.
Note: On the record the band mostly phrases in seven together. This demo pins a 4/4 backbeat underneath so you can hear why a riff in seven feels the way it does.
Tempo: BPM analyzers disagree wildly on this one (from 80 to 216). The 7/8 phrasing confuses them. Most players count it around 108 BPM.
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
Forty Six & 2 rides Justin Chancellor’s bass riff, usually counted in seven. Tool’s signature move is exactly this: odd-length riffs that keep turning around before you expect, while Danny Carey decides bar by bar whether to lock to the riff or push against it.
The demo plays a seven-pulse figure against a straight four-beat backbeat, the cleanest way to hear the seven-versus-four tension. Every twenty-eight pulses the two downbeats meet again, and that arrival is the payoff the groove keeps building toward.
What to listen for
- The riff turning around "one beat early" against a four feel
- The downbeats drifting apart and reuniting every twenty-eight pulses
- On the record: how the drums switch allegiance between the riff and the backbeat