What the hell time signature is this song? Mental music...

So I play guitar, and have done so for many years.
I heard this song and for the life of me I can't work the time sig out. It sounds like it 6/(something).
Anyway, do ye best!

www.youtube.com...

12/8 for most of it but there are polyrhythms all the way through it.

There are also throw ins amongst it......3/8 15/8 7/8

Its like the Planet x stuff.....almost impossible to follow without the sheet music.

Good luck I'd try and fool around with poly's and odd times when you are feeling in the zone.

Skip to 0:20 to miss the crap...

sounds like a manipulation of 3/4 timing with a tad of 7/8 thrown in for good measure! (pun intended!)
listen to the bass,you'll get it!

I just looked at a couple of tabs, and it seems like they jump around a lot. From 4/4 to 4/8 and 5/8

tp.ultimate-guitar.com...

reply to post by OccamAssassin


i could count 4 over it and it repeated every 4 measures. 4/16.

Not my style of music.

Originally posted by kbriggss
reply to post by OccamAssassin

 

i could count 4 over it and it repeated every 4 measures. 4/16.

Not my style of music.

I think you might be right. The off beat moves 1/16 each bar.

Maybe it is just common time and the polyrhythm is dominating.

the song i believe is mostly in 8 measures of 7/8 followed by 1 measure of 8/8.

Intro does that all once........

part at 20 seconds does that twice (16 measures), then lyrics come ....

verse with lyrics does that twice until chorus comes in....

chorus does that twice.

However, the 7/8 and 8/8 measures are accented weirdly...
the 7/8 measures are strung in groups of two and accented as follows:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Repeat
so do that 4 times total and you have 8 measure of 7/8
You can also count every two measures of 7/8 12345 1234 12345 (easier to count the accents that way)

after it does the 8 measures of 7/8 it does one measure of 8/8 accented as following: 12345678

then it all repeats

NOW after the chorus it gets a little bit different... it does the standard 8 measures of 7/8 with the same accents as before, but then instead of a measure of 8/8, it is a measure of 9/9, with accents on 1 and 6 i believe.
Then there are 8 more measures of 7/8, but the accents are different. they are like this:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
so instead of like 12345 1234 12345, they are like 12345 12345 1234. its just moving the accent a little bit.
Then instead of a measure of 8/8, there is a measure of 7/8 to make up for the beat gained by the earlier 9/8. this measure of 7/8 has accents on 1 and 6.

Then there's the drum solo thing which is just like the intro- 8 measures of 7/8 and one with 8/8 with the original accents

after that there's one more verse that repeats that thing with the 8 measures of 7/8 followed by 1 measure of 9/8, then the differently accented 8 measures of 7/8 followed by one measure of 7/8...

Then it goes into the final chorus... which is i think, not quite sure, 18 measures of 7/8 (9 groups of two) grouped with original accenting of 12345 1234 12345 followed by one measure of i think either 2/8 or 3/8

then the ending... 8 measures of of 7/8, just like the intro, with original accenting 12345 1234 12345, then one measure of 7/8 that ends on beat five to end the song.

SO ALL IN ALL, its mostly in the same time signature of 8 measures of 7/8 followed by 1 measure of 8/8 for the whole song, just with weird polyrhythmic accents over the top and a few sections where the 8/8s change into 9/8 and 7/8.

wow that was a challenge to figure out!

reply to post by Noinoi


You know...if you count it straight in 4/4....it can be interpreted as straight 4. Its the accents on or before the beats that throws it. In my mind ...if you can tap out 4/4 thruout the piece...consider it straight 4/4/ or 4/8 with accents.

Tried it again...start out on the downbeat and tap on the quarter notes...you can tap out straight thru the song in 4.

reply to post by mysterioustranger


I can't believe it but you're right! If you look at my above post where I did the whole thing out,

the main riff for basically the whole song is 8 measures of 7/8 with one measure of 8/8 (with polyrhythmic underlying accents)

if you add 8 measures of 7/8 (56 8th notes) to one measure of 8/8 (8 8th notes), it equals 64 8th notes

64 8th notes=32 quarter notes... 32 quarter notes equals...

8 measures of 4/4!

So each part could be interpreted as being 8 measures of 4/4. The band has made something incredibly simple that really comes down to being in 4/4 sound like it is in some other completely wild time signature... wow!

Even though it could be said to be in 4/4, though, it is probably actually easier to count it as being in 8 measures of 7/8 with one measure of 8/8, simply because of the insane polyrhythms/accent placement might throw off your counting 4/4

It's mostly bars of alternating 5/8 and 4/8 but gets more complicated with some 3/8 in the middle of the song.

You could if you ignore the accents count it out in 4/4, but it wouldn't sound the same if it was actually played in 4/4.

Listen to the crash cymbal for the down beat, accent, of each bar. (it doesn't play on one all the way through btw)

reply to post by oak123


Well, being a guitar instructor my whole life (teaching since 1972)...I usually try to get things down to the simplest form of beats as in 1,2,3,4. If you can do that...then its the accents or "Up-strumming"...even "Down Up Down Up Down up Down up" strumming that throws you off. (ie: The instrumental TEQUILA by the Champs).

A good example of an unusual rythmn is Gregg Allmans "Queen of Hearts" middle-solo on sax. The Time Signature for it is 11/8...but can be broken into 6/8-5/8. (notice that that "8"-speed can be broken down to 4 as well.)

Happy pickin'...and always keep it simple. Remember. Its the accents that'll throw ya!

reply to post by Noinoi


Isolated to the subdivision of the cymbal and you get this:

5/8
2/4
5/8
5/8
2/4
5/8
5/8
2/4
5/8
5/8
2/4
5/8
5/8
3/8

It then repeats. In 1/8th notes, it represents 64 1/8 notes. That's 8 measures of 4/4 that repeat by accents and divisions of 1/8 notes. The final time signature would be 64/8 or 32/4, although the 1/8th note actually gets the beat. In the 5/8 bars, the 1/8 notes are either divided 3+2 or 2+3.

64/8

Originally posted by mysterioustranger
reply to post by oak123

 

Well, being a guitar instructor my whole life (teaching since 1972)...I usually try to get things down to the simplest form of beats as in 1,2,3,4. If you can do that...then its the accents or "Up-strumming"...even "Down Up Down Up Down up Down up" strumming that throws you off. (ie: The instrumental TEQUILA by the Champs).

A good example of an unusual rythmn is Gregg Allmans "Queen of Hearts" middle-solo on sax. The Time Signature for it is 11/8...but can be broken into 6/8-5/8. (notice that that "8"-speed can be broken down to 4 as well.)

Happy pickin'...and always keep it simple. Remember. Its the accents that'll throw ya!

That definitely makes sense, because it is easier to count/understand if it is broken down to the simplest form. But for this particular song, I kind of feel like it would be hard to, say, tap my foot in 4/4 while playing the accents in what is seemingly a completely different time signature, because the accents don't meet up with beat 1 of the 4/4 too often. Maybe it's just me but it seems like it could get confusing and my timing might get thrown off a bit. Also I'm a drummer, not a guitarist so no picking for me!

I also have to add that the song can't be reduced to 4/4 for the verse right after the first chorus and after the drum solo, because in these parts instead of having one measure of 8/8 at the end of 8 bars of 7/8, it is a measure of 9/8.... so 65 8th notes that doesn't reduce to 4/4.... and then it makes up for this extra 8th note by just doing 9 measures of 7/8 in the next part=63 8th notes