How to Count 7/8 and 5/8 Time (Odd Meters Made Simple)

What makes a meter “odd”

In 4/4 or 3/4, every beat in the bar is the same size. In 7/8 or 5/8 that’s impossible: seven or five eighth notes can’t be split into equal groups of two or three. So musicians hear these bars as small groups of 2 and 3 added together. That’s why they’re often called additive meters.

The catch is that the grouping isn’t always written in the time signature. One piece in 7/8 might be 2+2+3 while another is 3+2+2. Some scores spell it out with an additive signature such as “2+2+3/8,” but more often you have to read the grouping from how the notes are beamed and where the accents fall.

5/8: 2+3 or 3+2

A bar of 5/8 is grouped either 2+3 or 3+2:

• 2+3: “ONE two ONE two three.” A short group, then a long one.
• 3+2: “ONE two three ONE two.” A long group, then a short one.

Either way, 5/8 feels like a bar of two beats where one beat is a little longer than the other. Whether the long beat comes first or second changes the whole lean of the rhythm.

7/8: 2+2+3, 3+2+2 or 2+3+2

With three groups, 7/8 has more options:

• 2+2+3: “ONE two ONE two ONE two three.” The long group at the end makes the bar seem to hang for a moment before it repeats.
• 3+2+2: “ONE two three ONE two ONE two.” It starts with the long group and then drives forward.
• 2+3+2: “ONE two ONE two three ONE two.” The long group sits in the middle.

Two passages can both be in 7/8 and still feel nothing alike, because the accents land in different places. Before you practice a piece, work out which grouping it uses.

Setting the accents on the metronome

In 8th-note meters, our metronome automatically puts a medium accent on the first beat of each group. The BPM counts eighth notes, so every click is one eighth.

7/8: Tap 7/8 in the time signature list. The default accents are strong, weak, medium, weak, medium, weak, weak, which is 2+2+3.

5/8: There’s no 5/8 button in the list, but you can make one:

1. Under Time signature, tap Custom.
2. Set Beats to 5 and Note value to 8.
3. Tap Apply.

You get five beat blocks with the default accents strong, weak, medium, weak, weak: a 2+3 grouping.

Changing the grouping. Each tap on a beat block cycles it through strong → medium → weak → mute. To turn 5/8 into 3+2, tap beat three once (medium becomes weak) and beat four three times (weak becomes medium), giving strong, weak, weak, medium, weak. To turn 7/8 into 2+3+2, tap beat five once (medium to weak) and beat six three times (weak to medium). Changing the time signature resets the accents to the default, and the Reset button under Beat accents does the same.

Count with syllables

Counting 1 through 7 is harder than restarting the count at every group:

• 2+2+3: “1 2 / 1 2 / 1 2 3”
• 3+2+2: “1 2 3 / 1 2 / 1 2”

Another approach is to pick words with the right number of syllables. A two-syllable word for each group of 2 and a three-syllable word for each group of 3 turns the bar into a short phrase you can say in rhythm. Once the phrase is in your mouth, it’s in your hands soon after.

A practice routine

1. Voice only. Set the metronome fairly slow (somewhere around 120 BPM in eighth notes) and say the grouped count out loud. Every accented click should line up with a “1.”
2. Clap the groups. Clap only the first note of each group. For 2+2+3 the gaps between claps go short, short, long.
3. Clap every note. Clap all seven eighth notes, a little louder on the first of each group.
4. Add your instrument. Play the actual rhythm of the piece over the same accent pattern.
5. Speed up. Once it’s solid, raise the tempo a few BPM at a time. As it gets faster, you’ll start feeling the groups rather than individual eighth notes.

The most common early mistake is adding or dropping an eighth note at the end of the bar. Use the strong (red) beat as your check: it should arrive exactly when you say “1” at the start of each bar. If it doesn’t, you’ve miscounted the bar.