Time signatures

Certif1ed wrote: Normally 7/8 would be 2 and 1/3 beats to a bar, with a triplet swing

What has 7/8 got to do with triplet swing/shuffle feel? 6/8, 9/8, 12/8 ... sure (although 9/8 can also mean 2+2+2+3/8 or something like that). I mean ... it is possible that there are songs that work like 3+3+1/8, but I think that 2+2+2+1/8 is far more common.
    

Edited by MikeEnRegalia - May 11 2006 at 05:46

Moatilliatta wrote: Nobody seems to have read what I wrote about Money. It's clearly in a triplet meter. 12/8 followed by 9/8, or 21/8. I can see how it could just be 7/4, but the rhythm is based on triplets.

8/4 is just the regular 4/4 rhytm. In 8-notes, it's 8/8

Eloy - Decay of the logos is in 6/8 time, not 4/4 sorry...

MikeEnRegalia wrote: Zoso wrote: Right, it's all about feeling the rhythm. Listen to "Money" by Pink Floyd, a song that's in 7/8. Tap your foot along with the bassline, and you'll see that there are 7 beats for every time through the phrase. It will be obvious once you do it.     Actually, it's 7/4. Simply count 1-2-3-4-1-2-3, or 1-2-1-2-1-2-3.

Edited by Moatilliatta - April 28 2006 at 16:36

6/8 can just be like 2 bars in 3/4... some people mix that together...

Edited by Abstrakt - April 28 2006 at 09:52

Vompatti wrote: This is probably a silly question, but is 6/8 the same as 3/4 and 10/8 the same as 5/4 or is there a difference?

3/4= 1   2   3   1   2   3   1   2   3   1   2   3     one beat of 3 is much stronger
6/4= 1   2   3   1   2   3   1   2   3   1   2   3     one beat of 6 is much stronger

3/8 and 6/8 in the same tempo are 2x faster. 3/8 in tempo 100 = 3/4 in tempo 200.

10 8-notes  notes in 5/4 can sound  > > _ _ > > _ _ _ _
In 10/8  > _ _ _ _ > _ _ _ _ or > _ _ > _ _ > _ > _ etc.

I'd say: 2/4 means that a BAR includes a strong beat and a weak one:  ONE two     or     >  _ .
-3/4 means  strong,weak, weak   ONE two three ( > _ _ )

> strong
> less strong
_ weak

The 1st beat is called downbeat and is usually the hardest one. Other ones can also be graduated in strength but no so  stressed as  the first.
 
4/4 is usually > _ > _

The beats don't need to be single notes. 3/4 can be    > > _ _ _ _  (ONE TWO three four five six).
But  a sequence of    > _ _ > _ _  would be 6/8.
All beats are equal in duration but can be split into  any number of smaller parts: 


  3/4 =      1 . 1 . 1 . 1 .  2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 ....................


Another kind of 6/8 can be  > _ > _ > _     or  just  > _ _ _ _ _.  There are no strict rules.


7/8 can be  >_ _ > _ > _.

It's not always so simple. We can find meters like  > > _ _ _ .  It's not practical to say "(2 and a half)/4" so we can say 5/4.  In this situation an actual beat consists of 2 or 3 units.  

Meter can be constant or changing every 5 seconds or br different in every next bar.

>>_ _ _ _ > _> _ _ >> _ _    = 3  bars   3/4 + 5/8 + 2/4
 
A lot of music has random accents everywhere (not only on downbeat) . Sometimes it's difficult or impossible to tell the time signature.

So 13/8 is  like counting  1 -13 where  1 is strong  and the others  either weak or "a little strong" .  Example:     > _ _ > _ _ > _ _ >_ > _ .
Maybe we're talking about something like  > > > _ _ _ > > > _ _ _ _. , like a bar of 4/4 divided into 12 notes with an extra one.

There is no difference between "Money in 7/8" and "Money in 7/4". No one knows if a note is a half note or an 8-note.   Money is  7/4, 120 bpm = 7/2, 240 bpm = 7/8, 60 bpm.

Bpm value tells how many notes (4-notes) there are in a minute. If _ stands for 8-note, _ _ creates a 4-note but I can decide that _ is a 16- note or whole note etc.

The most popular drum pattern of 4/4  is   1. um 2. TSH 3. um 4. TSH  find in lots of rock, pop, hiphop etc. As you can see 2 and 4 are stronger here (played on snare drum). It is easy to count.
You can tap your fingers against your desk  like  > _ _ > _ _  > _ _ > _ _ and  a lot of music follows it (3/4 or 6/8, it has a feel of "swaying". "We are the champions" is in 6/8). try to count and you'll see how it works. Just practice.


Many people here go crazy about meters. They say that 4/4, 3/8 , 6/8  are "common", "simple", and 7, 9, 13, 5  are odd, complex ...They claim that 11/8 is difficult to play just because it is 11/8 . Musicians who play such things gain respect of "virtuosos". Is is wrong!!! Gripping a guitar chord and counting 1 to 17 is easy!  4/4 things can be very difficult!!


 

UnknownFlow wrote: Yeah my band also has a section in where the guitarists are playing 3 bars of 5/8 and i'm playing 5 bars of 3/8 so it could also be described as 1 bar of 15/8.

Do you go back in time when you play that section?

Some Time Signatures that I think sound pretty cool without being over complex or not complex enough.

Watcher Of The Skies - Genesis - 6/4 that sounds bloody cool
Gentle Giant - Pantagruels Nativity (one of the sections) - 11/4
Turn it On Again - Genesis - 13/8
Jacob's Ladder - Rush - numerous time signatures including - 11/8 and 13/16

adn I'm not sure if this is right but I reckon the intro to Changes by Yes in in 9/4.


Edited by UnknownFlow - April 26 2006 at 15:01