Current Events > What time signature is this? [Music]

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bvdsYUCFuw

I can't quite put my finger on it. It's like:
1... 2... 3... 4... 5 6

The 5 6 does not seem like half beats either, so it's not like 5/4 time signature...

maybe its 16 counts of eight notes, not quarter note counts it would make more sense that way
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I've played guitar almost my whole life but I never could understand time signatures. Even simple 4/4 I can't tell.
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Ser_Jaker posted...

I've played guitar almost my whole life but I never could understand time signatures. Even simple 4/4 I can't tell.

I don't play an instrument but yeah, I've never understood time signatures and their importance. Just play the song how the song goes, fuck "keeping count".
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that's just 2 bar groupings of 4/4
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Mostly 3/4 and then 4/4 on those last few beats.
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SpiralDrift posted...

Mostly 3/4 and then 4/4 on those last few beats.

So the music just keeps on changing time signatures back and forth, every two bars?

123 123 123 123 12 12 (repeating)

There are a few different ways you could time signature this. If you had it at a fast tempo, it could be 4 bars of 3/4 followed by 1 bar of 4/4 and then repeating. This would have that string rhythm playing triplets the whole time

Alternatively, it's possible to write it in compound time. So that would be either:
1 bar of 12/8 followed by 1 bar of 4/8
OR
2 bars of 6/8 followed by 1 bar of 4/8.

I think it's more likely just 3/4 and 4/4 though. Only some of the instruments are playing triplets.
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IdiotMachine posted...

SpiralDrift posted...

Mostly 3/4 and then 4/4 on those last few beats.

So the music just keeps on changing time signatures back and forth, every two bars?

no

what you're hearing is 3/4 (or, to be more precise, 6/8) figures in 4/4. the first four "beats" are actually dotted quarter notes (or quarter notes tied to 8th notes, or other ways of grouping 1.5 beats). the last two in the phrase are quarter notes.

1.5 + 1.5 + 1.5 + 1.5 + 1 +1 = 8

so it would be written as 2 bars of 4/4
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it's just 4/4 the whole way through lol it's not changing time signatures
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I've definitely played orchestra passages where this would be denoted as 3/4 + 3/4 + 2/4 for emphasis, but there's an underlying 4/4 feel.
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averagejoel posted...

IdiotMachine posted...

SpiralDrift posted...

Mostly 3/4 and then 4/4 on those last few beats.

So the music just keeps on changing time signatures back and forth, every two bars?

no

what you're hearing is 3/4 (or, to be more precise, 6/8) figures in 4/4. the first four "beats" are actually dotted quarter notes (or quarter notes tied to 8th notes, or other ways of grouping 1.5 beats). the last two in the phrase are quarter notes.

1.5 + 1.5 + 1.5 + 1.5 + 1 +1 = 8

so it would be written as 2 bars of 4/4

Sonic Cannon posted...

2 bars of 6/8 followed by 1 bar of 4/8.

I think it's more likely just 3/4 and 4/4 though. Only some of the instruments are playing triplets.

That helped a lot. I got it now. Thanks!

It's all just up to how the composer wants it to be read. What tempo etc. It's possible to write it just in 4/4, but it would probably make more sense to the player in compound time since the accented notes are every 3.

Or you could do it like @Anteaterking says.

See example for all 3 one after the other:

https://www.noteflight.com/scores/view/c7a2806c83e98d8857cef009d2e6e6ed021112e8
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OwlRammer posted...

maybe its 16 counts of eight notes, not quarter note counts it would make more sense that way

why is this so common with guitarists

can you read music?
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Sonic Cannon posted...

It's all just up to how the composer wants it to be read. What tempo etc. It's possible to write it just in 4/4, but it would probably make more sense to the player in compound time since the accented notes are every 3.

See example for both:

https://www.noteflight.com/scores/view/c7a2806c83e98d8857cef009d2e6e6ed021112e8

Yea the 10/8 makes more sense.

Edited clip above to include another alternative.

Time signatures don't actually change anything about the music. It mostly comes down to how readable you want it to be and how much space you want it to take on a page.
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Sonic Cannon posted...

https://www.noteflight.com/scores/view/c7a2806c83e98d8857cef009d2e6e6ed021112e8

what is this abomination

literally no one would ever write it the second or third way unless they hated the musicians who were going to play it
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKjEwQeGAEU
try to figure out the time signature of this bad boy
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Garioshi posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKjEwQeGAEU
try to figure out the time signature of this bad boy

there are a couple ways to interpret that. I hear it as 1 measure of 13/8, 1 measure of 10/8.

edit: the groupings of 8th notes in the first measure are 3 - 3 - 3 - 4, and in the second measure they're 3 - 3 - 4
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Garioshi posted...

try to figure out the time signature of this bad boy

4/4
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQRvkyZul6o
this is what it sounds like when space jam is properly synced up to it
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