Tool · 2001 · 5/8 + 7/8
The 5/8 + 7/8 polymeter in Schism 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: The song alternates 5/8 and 7/8 bar by bar; the demo stacks them at the same time so you can compare the two lengths directly.
Tempo: The song sits around 107 BPM felt in quarter notes; the eighth-note pulse runs about double that. The demo pulse is slowed so you can count along.
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
The main riff of Schism alternates a bar of 5/8 with a bar of 7/8, twelve eighth notes in total, and the band has joked that it adds up to a single bar of 6.5/8. That is only the opening move: one published analysis counts around 47 meter changes across the song.
On the record the five and the seven happen one after another, not at the same time. The demo runs a five-pulse loop and a seven-pulse loop simultaneously instead, so you can hear how different the two bar lengths feel and why the riff seems to keep tripping over itself in the best possible way.
What to listen for
- On the record: the riff leaning forward for five counts, then relaxing for seven
- In the demo: the five and seven downbeats drifting apart and meeting every 35 pulses
- How the bass keeps the pattern readable while the meters churn underneath