Time signatures make no fucking sense

Time signatures make no fucking sense.

Am I just retarded?

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=4_jDgRsOGvY
twitter.com/SFWRedditVideos

My advice is to actually look up example audio, I couldn't ever get this shit just by reading it either.

Literally the most entry-level theory concept
Sorry OP, you're just a brainlet

It makes sense,
I think you're putting too much importance on the term "quarter"
It's just a name bro.

I did, and it did help a lot but I don't know. I don't feel like a can grasp the concept yet. I'm inclined to believe this user () is right because such an essential and simple thing.

You posted a pic that explains it. If that is the aspect of reading music that stumps you then you are fucked.

learn to play like this

youtube.com/watch?v=4_jDgRsOGvY

how can you 'hear' a measure, then?

what does bottom number mean

So that means 3/4 are just three quarter notes and that's it?

So if I have something like a 6/8, the only thing I should be understanding from it that the time signature is comprised of six eight-notes? Nothing else behind it?

come on, man... I stopped my formal training more than a decade ago and I still remember to use this shit

Correct.

Good luck because the advanced rhythmic shit gets fucked.

pretty much.

the top number in the fraction indicates the number of beats per measure, whereas the bottom indicates which note (half, quarter, eighth, etc.) gets the beat. so 3/4 would be 3 beats per measure, giving the quarter the beat; 7/8 would be 7 beats per measure, giving the eighth note the beat, and so on. ()

yep

1 is whole note value, 2 is half note value, 4 is quarter note value and so on.

Well shit user I actually get it now. Thank you very much, seriously. I read shit everywhere and didn't fully get it. Thanks again.

time signatures are just like a language in sense that each time signature has certain common rhythmic vocabulary.
4/4 means it has 4 quarter notes to a measure ie counting it out loud like 1 2 3 4
for example 4/4 most accents are on the 2s and 4s of the beats or the 1s and 3s of the beat.
subdividing it to 8th notes you can count it 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
but if you subdivide each quarter note into 8th note triplets you count like 1 & uh 2 & uh 3 & uh 4 & uh
however with those triplets in 4/4 it could also be classified as 12/8 as time signatures are just ways to organize rhythmic patterns for performers to understand
12/8 is also goofy because 12 is also divisible by 3 so you can accent it as either 3/4 or 4/4 depending on how the rhythm feels

5/4 is goofy because it can use a clave rhythm that is 1 & uh 2 & uh 3 & 4 & but could also be counted as a straight 1 2 3 4 5

7/8 can be just 7 eighth notes and is far more uncommon to hear. 1 2 3 4 6 7
but be careful because fully pronouncing 7 as 'sev-en' as it is a 2 syllable word so try pronouncing it as 'sev'

Time signatures are weird dude so don't feel bad for not understanding them from the get-go.
Try listening to progressive rock or math rock if you want to hear different examples of different time signatures
Hope this helps.

A bit daunting to be honest but it does help. Thanks.

I'm going to guess that this thread will attract a bunch of theory nerds, so I got a question. I get how to write in a signature and can read signatures, my question is why. How drastically different does a song that's written in 7/8 sound from one in 4/4 and how the hell can people tell the exact rhythm when there's a bunch of shit to account for like tempo and different notes?

it's obvious if whoever wrote it can't hide the time signature to sound 'natural'
it's hard to get a time signature like 7/8 to sound natural but it can be done. It's all about making it seamless.

I've been learning to read for a few months and it seems to me that there are multiple ways to notate the same musical phrase, is that true or am I just not geting it?
Also is it possible for an incorrectly notated piece to get into a lesson book? I've run across a couple that just don't make sense according to what I've learned.

it is very true, time sigs are just ways to organize patterns for those reading or playing sheet music

like a dotted quarter is just the same length as 3 eighth notes

again its all about phrasing for an individual piece of music

Humans are pretty good at rhythm, try counting "One and two and three and four and" when listening to a song. Comparatively, to pick a simple example, Americ anFootball's Never Meant will not match up if you count that up to four, you need to extend to "five and". So that way you can know it's in 5/4. Another simple example is Pink Floyd's Money where to count the time properly you need to go "one and two and three and four-one and two and three and four-" because it's in 7/8 for most of it. It's easily to notice if you know what you're doing, and it's easy to notice because else the rhythm is absolutely fucked. This is more noticeable on post-blues stuff, where the strict adherence to time signatures is far more notable - particularly jazz, rock and modern pop. Classical is pretty hard to notice because they shift BPM according to "mood".

It's more drastic than you think; at a very base level 4/4 is a simple drum beat of let's say, a kick and snare going back and forth. The pattern would sound like kick snare kick snare repeatedly with a not so complex melody linking with it. This also holds when you play a more textured 4/4 using 8th notes as 8/8. In 7/8 though, it's like 4/4 but it sounds clipped. That's because if you play 4/4 as 8/8 but remove a single 8th note you get 7/8. If you hear lots lof 4/4 music then the drum almost feels unfinished. This allows for strange and varied note patterns for melody that when stacked together creates an odd, and seemingly lopsided piece.

>How drastically different does a song that's written in 7/8 sound from one in 4/4 and how the hell can people tell the exact rhythm when there's a bunch of shit to account for like tempo and different notes?
Because it sounds like you are missing a beat.

>like a dotted quarter is just the same length as 3 eighth notes
As long as the three eighth notes had that swooping line connecting them, right? otherwise I'm lost again.

yes but thats not the purpose of dotted notes

>five eight notes per measure
>sixth eighth notes played in the time of five
>first two are a quarter note split into a triplet
>next two are just 4 sixteenth notes
>then a eighth note split into a five note tuplet
where's the last eighth note? or is it five eighth notes in the time of six and the time signature didn't change for whatever reason

LMFAO, Sup Forums IN CHARGE OF COUNTING TO 3.

LITERALLY YOU ARE OVERWHELMED BY COUNTING TO 3.

LMFAOOOOOOO EXPLAINS LITERALLY EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS BOARD.

so i sorta get time signatures but what's the difference between 7/8 and 7/4

Different accents.

A 5-tuplet written with sixteenth notes is the length of one quarter note, so it actually takes up the last 2 eighth notes.

Thanks.

the triplet is written in eighth notes tho, why wouldn't the five tuplet with the same value be written with eighth notes as well?

it doesn't have to sound natural if you don't want it to sound natural

Time isnt real man its just an illusion *rolls physics 2 homework into a joint and smokes it*