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Unsquare Dance

The Dave Brubeck Quartet · 1961

A classic study in holding a 7/4 groove and trading a solo in an odd meter.

Artist
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Year
1961
Genre
jazz
Drummer
Joe Morello
Tempo
132 bpm
Time
7/4
Feel
swing
Difficulty
advanced

Drummer's Quick-Start

Practice tempos

Woodshed
80bpm
Building
106bpm
Target
132bpm

The feel

A swing in 7/4 around 132 BPM. It moves — stay relaxed in the hands so you don't tense up and rush.

What to watch

  • •Lock the shuffle triplet; the #1 mistake is letting it straighten out as you speed up.
  • •Advanced: isolate the single hardest bar and loop it slowly before ever playing along.

How to learn it

Well-known tutorials exist for this one — use the links below, and play along from your own copy.

Generated from this song's groove profile — analysis only, no notation. A human-reviewed AI brief with a full groove breakdown, key moments and song map replaces this as briefs roll out.

Learn it

Find drum tutorials on YouTube ↗

iDrum links to where lessons already live — we don't host recordings or publish transcriptions. Play along from your own music.

Discussion

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