Time signatures
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Topic: Time signatures
Posted By: Astrodomine
Subject: Time signatures
Date Posted: July 03 2007 at 16:49
Hi, I am a big fan of progressive rock of all sort, but I am not a musician. I would like to understand how time signatures works. What does the fraction means? I can figure out what does a 4/4 sound like, but I would like understant how 9/8 or other complicated time signature sounds like. Thanks, sorry for my bad english 
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Replies:
Posted By: billbuckner
Date Posted: July 03 2007 at 16:59
It's not a fraction.  The bottom bit's probably the confusing part. It determines what note recieves one beat. 2 - Half note 4 - Quarter note 8 - Eighth note The top bit determines how many of those notes make up a measure. So... A measure in 4/8 would be worth 4 eighth notes, or equivilent. A measure in 15/8 (soundgarden!!!) would be worth 15 eighth notes, or equivilent. Though it's not recommended, lower numbers that aren't divisible by 2 are possible, 3 (triplet) being the most common. Anyway, you wanted to know what a 9/8 measure sounded like? Measures, or bars, are divisions of musical pieces into small segments. These segments correspond to the timings of motives or phrases in pieces. So, if you had a repeating motif of 3 half notes, you'd probably use a 3/2 or 6/4 time signature. If you had a motif of 3 quarter notes, and two eighth notes, you'd probably use 4/4. A 9/8 signature is used for a motif of 9 eighth notes, but it's generally used for a motif of 5 eighth notes followed by 4 eighth notes (or vise-versa), to make 9. Reason being that counting off 9 beats is rather difficult while playing, but counting off 5 beats, then 4 beats is not. |
Astrodomine wrote:Posted By: Astrodomine
Date Posted: July 03 2007 at 17:12
Nice reply, thanks alot it's clearer now 
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Posted By: sircosick
Date Posted: July 03 2007 at 17:23
I reccomend you to listen to variated music and songs with complex signatures and so you'll be discovering the different ones. Also, I reccomend an excellent PC program called GuitarPro, in which you're gonna know better the signatures and their function. 
------------- The best you can is good enough... |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: July 03 2007 at 17:42
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The "fractions" are not fractions - they "\" is only used text (such as this reply) but not in a music score. The upper number refers to the number of beats in a bar while the lower number is the note value that each beat is made from. So 4/4 time is 4 beats in each bar, each beat being a quarter note (a crochet) and 2/4 says there are 2 beats in each bar (one two three four) Next comes Compound Time Signatures. In these the top value is divisible by 3 (3, 6, 9 12 etc) and the bottom value is usually "8" meaning an eighth note or quaver, but the beat in this case is usually every third note, e.g. in 6/8 time: one two three four five six
so 9/8 is actually compound tripple time, and it is normally counted one two three four five six seven eight nine (3+3+3) However, the 9/8 in Genesis's Apocalypse in 9/8 goes one two three four five six seven eight nine (or 3+2+4 as it is sometimes written)
The more wacky time signatures used in Prog can be achieved in many ways, for example just by adding an extra beat to a regular time signature (12/8 would become 13/8) or by combining two or more regular time sigs, (so 13/8 could also be 3/4 + 7/8 - or by just alternate bars in two signature 6/8 and 7/8)
or you could look in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musical_works_in_unusual_time_signatures#13.2F8 - List of musical works in unusual time signatures
/edit: sorry - I took so long writing that, several people got their answers in before me so it looks like I've repeated somethings that have been said already  ------------- What? |
Posted By: sircosick
Date Posted: July 03 2007 at 17:44
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I strongly reccomend some Radiohead's stuff (Kid A, Amnesiac) to explore the signatures beyond.
------------- The best you can is good enough... |
Posted By: Astrodomine
Date Posted: July 05 2007 at 15:51
| Thanks everyone! |