Schism by Tool is an interesting song for many reasons but one that has always interested me is the way in which that iconic riff can be counted and, by extension, written out.
I’ve seen it written out in both these ways (and wrote it out in one of them myself); one is more feel based while the other is a more rigid and “grid accurate” interpretation and possibly how Danny Carey is counting/working through it.
One is a mid tempo 6/4 time and the other is a pattern of alternating bars of 5/8 and 7/8.
6/4 Time Version:
5/8 - 7/8 Time Version:
It’s worth noting that the 2 alternating bars add up to a bar of 6/4 in terms of the number of 8th notes so that’s why this is viable in both methods…
In the 6/4 feel version, there’s an underlying pulse that runs through the whole riff. This can be felt as a result of both the constant 8th note driving of the picking hand also in the laid back flow of Maynard’s lyrics over the top when the riff transitions into the verse.
In order to play this in a 6/4 mindset, though, you have to be comfortable with playing and accenting both down and upbeats (you don’t have to consciously be aware of them or count them but you do need to be able to feel them).
To help illustrate this pulse, let’s get rid of the little fluttery run up part and just play the riff with a solid 8th note groove. Keep that picking hand chugging away on the beat.
And here it is with that flutter; keep hold of hearing the pulse underneath it all and keep that chug feel in the picking hand.
Can you feel it? Hopefully, with the click the Quarter Note pulse is easier to feel.
This is the one that most people go to and it’s understandable why. If you feel each of those 10th fret F notes as a downbeat then you have no real choice but to feel this as alternating 5/8 and 7/8 bars.
I suspect this is exactly how Danny Carey is counting it, maybe even everyone else in the band too. It makes sense from a drumming point of view.
There are clear kick drums on both the F notes which heavily imply a downbeat for each so breaking this riff up into 2 bars makes good sense.
Below is the drum tab and the audio of the pattern. You can clearly hear the clear "downbeats" that define this 2 bar interpretation.
Well, both and neither.
Sometimes music theory is entirely subjective and literally relies on how you, as the listener and the player, feel something.
For a long time I was pretty dogmatic about the 6/4 version being “right” but I had to concede that there is a logic and an elegance to the 5/8-7/8 interpretation too.
If you are more “feel” based then I’d suggest that the 6/4 model is the best fit and may be what you’re already feeling even if you’ve never really thought that deeply about it; if you’re someone who is more “mechanical” in your interpretation then the 5/8-7/8 interpretation might be the better fit.
It’s all in the way you feel and hear the music, the way that best helps you to navigate the landscape.
For me, the 6/4 version is what I feel but I’m not consciously counting it; it just “feels” more “right” to me even though I definitely see the merits of the 5/8-7/8 version.
Something that a lot of people don’t do when transcribing in times that use an 8th note as it’s beat subdivision is to use 8th notes as the tempo marking.
Doing this does mean that you need to double the tempo to keep the same feel as a Quarter Note marking so in this instance, the Quarter Note tempo is 109bpm but the 8th Note one is double that at 218bpm.
It’s a subtle thing and I guess, mechanically, you don’t really need to do it but if you’re writing out transcriptions then it’s a good idea to get used to doing things “correctly”.
