Exercises in African-American Funk This month we will address is the three-against-four polyrhythm, which is crucial to many African rhythms. It’s necessary for you to be able to hear and feel this rhythm in order to alley some of the concepts presented later. In the exercises, hearing the rhythm is as important as, if not more important than, actually playing the patterns. Let’s learn to hear the three-against-four polyrhythm. Play the following triplet exercise on the hi hat. Be sure to use a metronome or external sound source. Start at a tempo of 80 BPM. As you’re playing this exercise keep the tempo steady and count out loud 1, 2, 3, 4.