Examples in music: 1:45 4/4 : Paul Mccartney - Yesterday 2:33 3/4 : Billy Joel - Piano Man 3:38 2/4 : Johann Pachelbel - Pachelbel's Canon 5:25 5/4 : Dave Brubeck - Take 5 7:18 6/8 : The ANimals - House of the Rising Sun 9:15 7/8 + 9/8 : Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells Intro
jim gordon he does explain how a downbeat functions within a time signature though by example, which is all you need in this context of understanding the basics to time signatures.
The best kind there is imo. And yeah it might be a little tedious to have to go over stuff you (think) you already know, but I find most of the time even though I think I know it, there are still bits and bobs that I either didn't learn, or forgot over time. So it never hurts to brush up on the fundamentals.
I'm an ear musician only, so hearing examples really harmonized the notation with the concept (pun sort of intended). I write my own music, and I've started playing it with people who are all theory-trained, so I need to know how to be able to efficiently describe the next piece of music. They're all very smart, and they know what I'm trying to say, and once I start playing, they start to intuitively pick it up really quickly, so it's not like they NEED me to be less illiterate, but for their sanity, I'd like to at least be able to give them a technical expectation of what they're about to start playing.
The best video I’ve seen on explaining time signatures so far. The clarification of the downbeat, the repetition of bars, and how larger time signtures tend to be broken into smaller ones was super enlightening.
Thanks so much for making this. Lots of videos explaining different time signatures. I wanted to HEAR them, and you've allowed me to do that. I was looking for the 7/8 in Malachite's theme from Steven Universe. Hard to pin down but it sounds like it's broken up into 3, 2, 2, like you said. Thanks again!
Right! I learned a lot from this video, but I don't understand the difference between 7/8 time and 7/4 time (if 7/4 is a real signature). Are they the same thing? why does it go from 4 go 8?
Such a difficult thing to try to explain quickly! - It's the note length that determines whether its 4 or 8, so a quicker sounding piece with more short notes would be in x/8 time. (7/4 time is not a real time signature).
I found that it just needs a little practice, and for you to think a little differently - keep tapping out a 3/4 rhythm and try experimenting with it...
I've watched SEVERAL videos on this topic and this is the only video that makes sense of it. Playing the rhythm AND showing example songs? What a guy! Thank you!
Just reduce the fraction :p that'd make it 8/17. Strictly speaking, 7.52 16th notes in a bar. I'm sure you could make some really interesting music using that.
0:52 4/4 2:02 3/4 3:00 2/4 3:56 5/4 5:40 6/8 7:36 7/8 -But I recommend that you don't skip any of them... maybe 5/4. This video kind of helped me, or at least it helped more than any other videos on the platform...
If anyone's interested in hearing a song that has frequent changes in time signatures, try Karaste Broder, a Swedish song. It's very interesting to listen to, even more fun for singing. Edit: a version on YT that follows signature changes is of a choir in what looks like a church, from channel Erik L.
I feel as though I've already learnt in 5 minuetes more than I've all the other videos combined, straight to the point, clearly explained, I would have to say probably the best one I've seen 10/10
This video was like a key to the deadbolt of my head. It put all the tumblers in proper place, one by one, until I went from being a total dummy to fully understanding the basics. Thank you. Well done.
It’s so bl**dy hard to find explanation like this that are simple for beginners like me without a lot of knowledge of technique and certain musical jargon. Thank you fir this video, it was very helpful.
When the top number can be divided evenly by three, it's a waltz beat. It all comes down to 3/4 when you slow it. There are just two basic beats, waltz and common. The differences are syncopations. And don't forget the fluid, rubato rhythm where there isn't any toe-tapping. Consider Debussy's Claire de Line. It's notated in 9/8 (a waltz), but it's so free of beat tyranny that you find yourself floating along with it.
@@ivanvincent7534 Depends on the accent. A 6/8 can sound like a fast common (ONE two THREE four FIVE six ONE two etc) or a fast waltz (ONE two three FOUR five six ONE two three etc)
Thank you for this video. I've watched a few other ones to try and understand time signatures but none of them provided examples I could hear. I understand it all a little better now.
Thank you for making this video! I am forever grateful, the other videos I saw were rather mind boggling and throwing words at me I'm not yet familiar with. Being able to actually see and hear it played made it easy for me to play my own music along with your counts, allowing me to feel the beats better. Great stuff!
Thank you for this, I studied keyboard and did examinations and the likes from aged 5 to 15, but completely dropped off for almost a decade and this was *exactly* what i needed to start jolting my fuzzy memory I thought i had forgotten everything but I am so happy to now learn that it's somewhere in my brain I just have to get back into it. Liked, favourited and subscribed!
I've just started learning music theory and don't really understand the concept of time signature. This video gave me a better understanding of time signature. Thank you
Amazing! I am truly grateful for you taking the time to make this. It helped me understand better why i find it so hard to see the difference between a beat and a note in a measure. Mentioning the downbeat also helped a lot in that. Thanks a lot!
Thank You! Much better then staring at someone talking over musical notation on a score sheet and charts and graphs. While those have their place to introduce terminology and methods, a lot of teachers forget that you also should show what you're teaching through practical examples. A lot of times I go to these youtube music theory videos with charts and graphs and at the end of the video you're just left wondering what exactly this stuff really is for.
This is my 3er video about this topic and I think I finally got it. And I think it should be called “Count signature” instead of “Time signatures”. Because I just got that what really matters is the count, not the time. The time can be different. 😮
Too good an explanation worth treasuring by every music learner and the learned too. I am saving it for myself to practice regularly so as to get the rhythm sense into me.
For anyone still confused. Time signatures are confusing because note names are confusing, and in 4/4 time a quarter note is a quarter of the bar but it doesn't make sense to have a whole bar to be made of 3 quarters like in 3/4. The thing that every one of these videos explaining time signatures fails to acknowledge is that a quarter note doesn't mean a quarter of the bar. A quarter note is 1 beat, a half note is 2 beats, a whole note is 4 beats, an 8th note is half a beat, etc. The notes are measuring beats not a fraction of time in a bar. So a whole note is the whole bar in 4/4 but in 3/4 it's 1 bar and 1 note. People should stop thinking about notes as being whole or half, and just think 4 beats, 2 beats, 1, 0.5, etc. So really time signature is irrelevant. If you have a bar of quarter notes in any time signature and then a bpm of 100, you play 100 notes per minute no matter what time signature you're in, because again the different notes are measurements of beats and a quarter note is 1 beat and you're playing a certain beats per minute. A whole note is 1-2-3-4 in 4/4 time and in 3/4 time it's 1-2-3-1. Time signature is there purely to make the sheet music look better and in some cases it indicates which notes are emphasised but that isn't always true as there's plenty of songs that don't follow that convention. Plus in the modern age you can go listen to one of these songs at any point to hear how it's supposed to be played make it irrelevant anyway. This used to be super confusing to me as well, nobody explained why time signatures made no sense and it took me like 2 hours of research just to discover that they mean nothing and that notes are actually beats.
@@oBCHANo Thank you so much. You should be making these videos. You're the only person I've ever seen explain a pretty simple though not completely easy concept logically without all the bullshit, answering with an answer of causation rather than rephrasing the question with equation. For example, I didn't understand why all objects fall at the same rate when under the same gravitational field and with no atmosphere or medium, when Newton's laws clearly say that more massive objects attract each other with more force (shouldn't more massive objects fall faster EVEN in a vacuum?). When I asked *my Physics teacher,* she said "because they're in the same gravitational field, so they accelerate at the same rate," which is literally just rephrasing the question. The actual answer is that more massive objects ARE attracted to the planet (or whatever object) with more force, the thing is that the more massive an object, the more force it requires to be moved at a certain speed. Since lighter objects generate less energy BUT REQUIRE less energy to be moved at the same speed, it cancels out and all objects fall at the same rate. Obviously, when there is a medium like an atmosphere, heavier objects move the air molecules out of the way more easily because they apply more force to them than a lighter, less massive objects would. This keeps happening to me, where people just can't explain properly. I don't get why we don't just say the number of beats in a bar and call it a day. Like 1/2 would be 2, 2/2 would be 4, 4/2 would be 8, and so on; 1/4 would be 1, 2/4 would be 2, 3/4 would be 3, 4/4 would be 4, so on; 1/8 would be 0.5, 2/8 wb 1, 3/8 wb 1.5, so on; etc. Edit: before anyone tries to correct me, obviously I know you can't do 1/8 or things like that, I'm just exemplifying.
@@oBCHANo Thank you. I've watched a few vids & gone over my drum lesson notes & read your excellent comment to try to figure out 'odd' time signatures & I think I'm coming closer to understanding it. The challenge now is to be able to count/recognize it by solely listening :)
@@oBCHANo Thanks for your input. However, you shouldn't outright say that time signatures mean nothing as that is not true. 4/4 and 2/2 can be viewed as the same, however they're not in terms of tempo and feel.
This is helpful. I play a number of instruments and I sing. The problem is I taught myself piano by ear when I was a little kid and I'm equally self-taught on all of the subsequent instruments I became interested in, so I didn't really bother to learn to read much music. When you played the pink floyd/exorcisty thing, it actually wasn't difficult at all from an AUDITORY perspective. It clicked right away, maybe because I've always preferred complex time signatures as they add dimension and subtlety to music. But because my understanding of notation and written music in general is so illiterate, I wanted to at LEAST understand how to speak in terms of rhythm, since I've started playing my own music with other people. "We're playing in 7/8" rather than "You know, like that song from the exorcist? Do that kind of thing, but here's the melody" and then i start humming like a little jackass.
Best explanation ive come across so far. However i still csnt fathom out why in a bar of music, say in 4/4, you can gave either a whole note, or four quarter notes, yet they both are counted out the same? So now ive come to understand what the numbers relate to in a time signature, i now need a video that will explain why we have so many different notes that all seem to add up to the same number of beats?????
Thanks . Great video, but I'm still left with same question- 'Is 2/2 timing for example, slower than 2/4 time? My guess is yes because 2/2 is counting 2 minims & 2/4 time is counting two crotchets. I know it sounds a simple question, but am I correct please?
Dave Brubeck's take 5 is using the 5/4 "clave" rhythm, which I like to call the "fake 5/4" because it is actually a 10/8 rythm, like the mission impossible theme and many other 5/4 rhythm. The difference between the true 5/4 and the fake 5/4 Is the down beat. True 5/4: liiii,lilii,liili,etc.(l is the strong down beat, i is the upbeat) Fake 5/4(10/8): liiliilili What I mean is a lot clearer when you try to clap the strong and weak beats. Listening to the pieces can also help understand and identify the different beats. I called the 5/4 clave fake because it does not fairly represent the feeling you get when you listen to 5/4. It sounds like 10/8.
The answer to your questions is TEMPO. It (sits above the script &) tells the speed in which that piece of music should b played. (then below.. description of tonality of the piece & then the time signature 2 tell the rhythmical aspect in the script, in the time frame defined by tempo above). That speed is in nowadays music expressed via "beats per minute" - bpm & therefrom, if it fancy your eagerness, u can calculate the exact durance of 1 beat in secs.. Metronomes also express tempo in bpm. The same piece of music can & often is played in different tempos. Changing the tempo (speed) u'll still remain with the same structure of the piece, but change of time signature will change the structure of it ( 4 exp.waltz can b fast or slow but has 2 b time signature of 3/4, otherwise it's not a waltz :) That's how i see it, hope it helps!
Great video! I gained answers to almost all the questions I had about time signatures in 10 minutes. The one thing I'm wondering though, is how do you determine the emphasis on the beat for melody? What I mean is illustrated below with capitalized words being the emphasized beat. ONE two three four one TWO three four and any variation on that. Let's use Money as an example. Would the count go like this? ONE two three four FIVE six seven
The emphasis is sometimes called the 'Accent' and there are no hard rules for determining it. A traditional 4/4 or 'common time' song might go: 'ONE two three four' or if it had a reggae beat, it would be 'one TWO three FOUR'. Accents are not usually shown in sheet music, so sometimes the rhythm and accents come out just by playing the music. In 'Money' it should be: 'ONE two three FOUR five SIX seven', splitting the seven beats into 3 + 2 + 2, but you could accent nearly ANY combination of beats.
I should have stated that I know what accents are to avoid confusion. That's what accents are essentially, a beat that is emphasized. But where I'm confused is what that is based on. When I think of beat, I think of drums. Even though I know the beat refers to things like tempo, etc, that's what I associated it with. So, if you take something like Tubular Bells, which has no drums, where is the accent? Does the note that has the accent usually have a slightly longer note? Say your notes are quarters, does the accent extend for longer?
In tubular Bells, there are irregular accented notes which have a mind all of their own! As I said, when you play the music, the accented notes 'come out of the playing' and you subconsciously put them in - there are no rules! If you were to analyse the accented notes, you find that they may be a fraction longer than unaccented ones, but not enough to change the overall time signature.
0:52 4/4
2:02 3/4
3:00 2/4
3:56 5/4
5:40 6/8
7:36 7/8
PhreezePhoenix THANK. YOU.
Good man.
3/4 does "sound" like 6/8
I love you
Examples in music:
1:45 4/4 : Paul Mccartney - Yesterday
2:33 3/4 : Billy Joel - Piano Man
3:38 2/4 : Johann Pachelbel - Pachelbel's Canon
5:25 5/4 : Dave Brubeck - Take 5
7:18 6/8 : The ANimals - House of the Rising Sun
9:15 7/8 + 9/8 : Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells Intro
A very clear explanation that doesn't assume prior knowledge.
except what a downbeat is.
jim gordon he does explain how a downbeat functions within a time signature though by example, which is all you need in this context of understanding the basics to time signatures.
@@isillor529 From this video, I got that a downbeat is whatever you play with your left hand.
The best kind there is imo. And yeah it might be a little tedious to have to go over stuff you (think) you already know, but I find most of the time even though I think I know it, there are still bits and bobs that I either didn't learn, or forgot over time. So it never hurts to brush up on the fundamentals.
@@wheedler nah the downbeat is the first beat of the bar
Counting to 5 has never been this hard
RainbowFarting Unicorns2003 that video is what brought me here. curiousity.
Sleepy Pup same
It seems impossible at first, but once you get the groove down it becomes second nature and it feels great
It seems so un-natural until you split it up
One two three four
ｔｗｏ two three four
ｔｈｒｅｅ two three four
ｆｏｕｒ two three four
I really wish musicians would use more of those unusual beats, they're really interesting to listen to.
+RainAngel111 Couldn't agree more! - I like to use 5/4 and 7/4 in a lot of my stuff
Progressive Metal. Anything by Tool has me questioning my tapping and head banging
Soundgarden's got some songs in odd time signatures too
13/8's a good one.
Metallica
Oddly enough, this has been the clearest explanation I've found so far. The fact you actually gave simple examples to listen to really helped.
Fantastic! - Glad you liked it!
yes for me too
Yes. This. I went through 4 other videos before I found this one
I'm an ear musician only, so hearing examples really harmonized the notation with the concept (pun sort of intended). I write my own music, and I've started playing it with people who are all theory-trained, so I need to know how to be able to efficiently describe the next piece of music. They're all very smart, and they know what I'm trying to say, and once I start playing, they start to intuitively pick it up really quickly, so it's not like they NEED me to be less illiterate, but for their sanity, I'd like to at least be able to give them a technical expectation of what they're about to start playing.
The best video I’ve seen on explaining time signatures so far. The clarification of the downbeat, the repetition of bars, and how larger time signtures tend to be broken into smaller ones was super enlightening.
Many thanks for your comment and I'm glad you got something from it!
Thanks so much for making this. Lots of videos explaining different time signatures. I wanted to HEAR them, and you've allowed me to do that. I was looking for the 7/8 in Malachite's theme from Steven Universe. Hard to pin down but it sounds like it's broken up into 3, 2, 2, like you said. Thanks again!
Yes, I agree that a lot of videos just talk jargon without giving actual audio examples - glad you liked it!
Thanks for this. I have already struggled to be able to count out anything other than 4/4, 3/4, or 6/8. Splitting them up really makes sense.
Glad you got something from it!
some hidden treasures on youtube like this video deserves more views. Everyone on the comments obviously loves this video.
Many thanks - We would all like more views! - Sometimes you make a video that just works for a lot of people and this seems to be one of them.
Brett Gossage teehee
I knew Money was coming, legendary tune
Yes, I didn't realise it started in 7/8 time until someone pointed it out to me - it morphs into 4/4 seamlessly as well!
Right! I learned a lot from this video, but I don't understand the difference between 7/8 time and 7/4 time (if 7/4 is a real signature). Are they the same thing? why does it go from 4 go 8?
Hi, It's too complicated to answer here - I'm working on a video that may explain!
Such a difficult thing to try to explain quickly! - It's the note length that determines whether its 4 or 8, so a quicker sounding piece with more short notes would be in x/8 time. (7/4 time is not a real time signature).
Hi, this might explain a bit on my 'The Keyboard Workshop' channel: czcams.com/video/dFB-SfjLZQU/video.html
everytime I try to make music I just think in 4x4 and it's so difficult to make a song you can follow along with that isn't in commontime
I found that it just needs a little practice, and for you to think a little differently - keep tapping out a 3/4 rhythm and try experimenting with it...
I may be wrong but cannot one count 4/4 over any time, basically lining up on different intervals. Like a polyrhythem.
jean cary it wouldn't work, no. you would be starting and finishing mid-bar and it would create a bizarre, uneven, syncopy like effect.
if you dont listen to prog it might be.
Led Zeppelin constantly did this where Bonzo and page would play one time where JPJ would play common time
I've watched SEVERAL videos on this topic and this is the only video that makes sense of it. Playing the rhythm AND showing example songs? What a guy! Thank you!
Thank you for providing the best and most complete explanation of time signatures on CZcams. The use of popular examples was very helpful.
Glad you found it useful! - thanks
Play 64/136. I don't know if it would work but *just try I believe in you*
EGK EAGLE ...I did it!! But the problem is that the speed was so fast that I sprained my finger and had to go to hospital
@ORION MILLER Exactly, like the Mission Impossible Theme, which is in 10/8.
Just reduce the fraction :p that'd make it 8/17. Strictly speaking, 7.52 16th notes in a bar. I'm sure you could make some really interesting music using that.
@@adityasrinivasulu "I Am The Doctor" with an extra half beat would be roughly the same as 8/17.
Aftee playing that,your hands phase to another dimension. Itll probably be turned to a meme if played on 69/420
0:52 4/4
2:02 3/4
3:00 2/4
3:56 5/4
5:40 6/8
7:36 7/8
-But I recommend that you don't skip any of them... maybe 5/4. This video kind of helped me, or at least it helped more than any other videos on the platform...
Thanks for your input..
If anyone's interested in hearing a song that has frequent changes in time signatures, try Karaste Broder, a Swedish song. It's very interesting to listen to, even more fun for singing. Edit: a version on YT that follows signature changes is of a choir in what looks like a church, from channel Erik L.
Finally! I've watched a few videos, but this one is the most helpful. The left hand downbeat was most helpful. Thankyou!
Yes, the downbeat is crucially important - Thanks for your comment!
I feel as though I've already learnt in 5 minuetes more than I've all the other videos combined, straight to the point, clearly explained, I would have to say probably the best one I've seen 10/10
That's great Stu, glad you got something from it!
This video was like a key to the deadbolt of my head. It put all the tumblers in proper place, one by one, until I went from being a total dummy to fully understanding the basics. Thank you. Well done.
It’s so bl**dy hard to find explanation like this that are simple for beginners like me without a lot of knowledge of technique and certain musical jargon. Thank you fir this video, it was very helpful.
No problem - My aim was to make it simple!
6/8 sounds like 3/4 when it's split up. 123, 123.
The difference is in the length of the bar. The counting starts anew once the melody pattern is repeated.
When the top number can be divided evenly by three, it's a waltz beat. It all comes down to 3/4 when you slow it. There are just two basic beats, waltz and common. The differences are syncopations. And don't forget the fluid, rubato rhythm where there isn't any toe-tapping. Consider Debussy's Claire de Line. It's notated in 9/8 (a waltz), but it's so free of beat tyranny that you find yourself floating along with it.
@@ivanvincent7534 Depends on the accent. A 6/8 can sound like a fast common (ONE two THREE four FIVE six ONE two etc) or a fast waltz (ONE two three FOUR five six ONE two three etc)
6 eighth notes is the same as 3 quarter notes, so 6/8 is 3/4.
The difference would be 1,2,3,..123... vs 1,2,3,4,5,6,1,2,3,4,5,6
Yes, this was very helpful Brett. I will probably watch again. I am a songwriter, and always looking to do something beside 4/4 timing on my songs.
+mrshelfsong Yes, thanks. I find that trying unusual time signatures also generates interesting rhythms as well..
Another song with interesting time signatures is "Turn it On Again" by Genesis.
So, imagine how many times you can split the 12s, 13,s and 14 time signatures... probably why a lot of jazz people like it
Hearing the time signatures really helped! Thanks
Thank you for this video. I've watched a few other ones to try and understand time signatures but none of them provided examples I could hear. I understand it all a little better now.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for making this video! I am forever grateful, the other videos I saw were rather mind boggling and throwing words at me I'm not yet familiar with. Being able to actually see and hear it played made it easy for me to play my own music along with your counts, allowing me to feel the beats better. Great stuff!
Thank you for this, I studied keyboard and did examinations and the likes from aged 5 to 15, but completely dropped off for almost a decade and this was *exactly* what i needed to start jolting my fuzzy memory I thought i had forgotten everything but I am so happy to now learn that it's somewhere in my brain I just have to get back into it. Liked, favourited and subscribed!
Memory is a funny thing - Glad you got something from the video!
I finally understand time signatures thank you
This is VERY helpful to my lack of keeping time signature on the drums!
Thanks - Glad you liked it!
Excellent explanation and something that's eluded me up until now. Thanks!
No problem!
I've just started learning music theory and don't really understand the concept of time signature. This video gave me a better understanding of time signature. Thank you
No Problem - Glad you got something from it!
Amazing! I am truly grateful for you taking the time to make this. It helped me understand better why i find it so hard to see the difference between a beat and a note in a measure. Mentioning the downbeat also helped a lot in that. Thanks a lot!
No problem David - glad you got something from it!
Excellent and lucid explanation of essential time signatures. Thanks!
Outstanding video! The examples are helpful. Thank you for making this.
No Problem! - Thanks for your comment.
This is so well explained and exactly the video I was hoping for, using songs with their time signature explained. Thank you so much :)
Thanks - Sometimes explanations need to be spelled out thoroughly without being patronising? - This is what I try to do in my videos.
Excellent - the 5th vid on the subject and it's starting to make sense!
Glad it was helpful!
This well explained! I must repeat it a few times and try to recognize the patrons in the music I hear.
Thank you so much. I've been trying to figure out how time signstures work for so long and I finally understood.
Glad it helped!
Thanks Brett. Great job very understandable to an old guy.
Yes, I'm an old guy too! - perhaps it's just the way we learn to do things...
Is it too late to say thanks? This really was illuminating.
It's never 'too late' - thanks!
Hey uncle brett ur channel is the most random and amazing thing ive ever seen, you are an amazing curious and intelligent guy. Thank u for sharing
Thanks C: - Glad you got something from it!
I actually UNDERSTOOD what you said. Thank you very much.
Thanks Ken, Glad you got something from it!
Thank You! Much better then staring at someone talking over musical notation on a score sheet and charts and graphs. While those have their place to introduce terminology and methods, a lot of teachers forget that you also should show what you're teaching through practical examples. A lot of times I go to these youtube music theory videos with charts and graphs and at the end of the video you're just left wondering what exactly this stuff really is for.
Glad you enjoyed it!
This is my 3er video about this topic and I think I finally got it. And I think it should be called “Count signature” instead of “Time signatures”. Because I just got that what really matters is the count, not the time. The time can be different. 😮
Well I did not got it all but most of it. This is still difficult
Glad you got something from watching!
This is incredibly helpful. The very first time I actually feel like I am understanding time signatures. Thank you!
No Problem - Glad you got something from it!
Too good an explanation worth treasuring by every music learner and the learned too.
I am saving it for myself to practice regularly so as to get the rhythm sense into me.
Thanks for your great comment!
thanks Brett. so easy to follow for a person just starting piano. Alan
No Problem!
wow ! thanks a lot !
this was really useful and easy to understand !
ramiro martinez Thanks! - I like to be able to explain easily...
Thank you so much for making and sharing; very clear, concise and informative for us non-musicians.
yup still confused
For anyone still confused. Time signatures are confusing because note names are confusing, and in 4/4 time a quarter note is a quarter of the bar but it doesn't make sense to have a whole bar to be made of 3 quarters like in 3/4. The thing that every one of these videos explaining time signatures fails to acknowledge is that a quarter note doesn't mean a quarter of the bar. A quarter note is 1 beat, a half note is 2 beats, a whole note is 4 beats, an 8th note is half a beat, etc. The notes are measuring beats not a fraction of time in a bar. So a whole note is the whole bar in 4/4 but in 3/4 it's 1 bar and 1 note. People should stop thinking about notes as being whole or half, and just think 4 beats, 2 beats, 1, 0.5, etc.
So really time signature is irrelevant. If you have a bar of quarter notes in any time signature and then a bpm of 100, you play 100 notes per minute no matter what time signature you're in, because again the different notes are measurements of beats and a quarter note is 1 beat and you're playing a certain beats per minute. A whole note is 1-2-3-4 in 4/4 time and in 3/4 time it's 1-2-3-1.
Time signature is there purely to make the sheet music look better and in some cases it indicates which notes are emphasised but that isn't always true as there's plenty of songs that don't follow that convention. Plus in the modern age you can go listen to one of these songs at any point to hear how it's supposed to be played make it irrelevant anyway.
This used to be super confusing to me as well, nobody explained why time signatures made no sense and it took me like 2 hours of research just to discover that they mean nothing and that notes are actually beats.
@@oBCHANo Thank you so much. You should be making these videos. You're the only person I've ever seen explain a pretty simple though not completely easy concept logically without all the bullshit, answering with an answer of causation rather than rephrasing the question with equation.
For example, I didn't understand why all objects fall at the same rate when under the same gravitational field and with no atmosphere or medium, when Newton's laws clearly say that more massive objects attract each other with more force (shouldn't more massive objects fall faster EVEN in a vacuum?). When I asked *my Physics teacher,* she said "because they're in the same gravitational field, so they accelerate at the same rate," which is literally just rephrasing the question. The actual answer is that more massive objects ARE attracted to the planet (or whatever object) with more force, the thing is that the more massive an object, the more force it requires to be moved at a certain speed. Since lighter objects generate less energy BUT REQUIRE less energy to be moved at the same speed, it cancels out and all objects fall at the same rate. Obviously, when there is a medium like an atmosphere, heavier objects move the air molecules out of the way more easily because they apply more force to them than a lighter, less massive objects would.
This keeps happening to me, where people just can't explain properly.
I don't get why we don't just say the number of beats in a bar and call it a day. Like 1/2 would be 2, 2/2 would be 4, 4/2 would be 8, and so on; 1/4 would be 1, 2/4 would be 2, 3/4 would be 3, 4/4 would be 4, so on; 1/8 would be 0.5, 2/8 wb 1, 3/8 wb 1.5, so on; etc.
Edit: before anyone tries to correct me, obviously I know you can't do 1/8 or things like that, I'm just exemplifying.
@@oBCHANo Thank you. I've watched a few vids & gone over my drum lesson notes & read your excellent comment to try to figure out 'odd' time signatures & I think I'm coming closer to understanding it. The challenge now is to be able to count/recognize it by solely listening :)
yep clear as mud' if you can play by ear carry on doing so and enjoy the music be done with the science ............
@@oBCHANo Thanks for your input. However, you shouldn't outright say that time signatures mean nothing as that is not true. 4/4 and 2/2 can be viewed as the same, however they're not in terms of tempo and feel.
My dude, your voice reminds me of murdoc. And I love that.
This video is going to be my guide, thanks💕
Many thanks Ellie!
This is the best explanation of this I've found.
Glad you think so!
How beautiful and simple is the way you explain!!!
Many Thanks!
Thx... This is definitely the proper starting point for understanding time signatures.
First time I've watched a video on Time signatures and actually grasped the concept! Great video Brett, many thanks!
Very welcome!
Very helpful in such a short lesson. thanks a lot.
Thank you so much. Clear and to the point. Got it. Greetings from Morocco.
Peace.
Many thanks!
When he showed us the "common time" symbol, wasn't that a cut time symbol?
Thank you so much for this! I’ve been looking for something that makes this whole thing more understandable. This definitely helped.
Glad to have helped, Jo!
Finally!!! I couldn't understand it despite being able to play drums and finger cymbals intuitively
Glad you got something from this...
This is helpful. I play a number of instruments and I sing. The problem is I taught myself piano by ear when I was a little kid and I'm equally self-taught on all of the subsequent instruments I became interested in, so I didn't really bother to learn to read much music. When you played the pink floyd/exorcisty thing, it actually wasn't difficult at all from an AUDITORY perspective. It clicked right away, maybe because I've always preferred complex time signatures as they add dimension and subtlety to music. But because my understanding of notation and written music in general is so illiterate, I wanted to at LEAST understand how to speak in terms of rhythm, since I've started playing my own music with other people. "We're playing in 7/8" rather than "You know, like that song from the exorcist? Do that kind of thing, but here's the melody" and then i start humming like a little jackass.
Great - can relate to you last point - and glad you got something from the video!
Thanks for this wonderful tutorial, Brett. Much appreciated. Cheers, Rey
Glad you got something from it!
Thanks so much for this video, very clear and good examples!
Kind regards,
Kim
Kim, glad to hear that the clarity is working!
I still struggle differentiate say, between 2/4 and 4/4, or 4/4 and 8/8, etc. in practice
Beautifully explained - Thanks.
Glad it was helpful!
Good
Nicely done. Thank you, W.
Best explanation ive come across so far. However i still csnt fathom out why in a bar of music, say in 4/4, you can gave either a whole note, or four quarter notes, yet they both are counted out the same? So now ive come to understand what the numbers relate to in a time signature, i now need a video that will explain why we have so many different notes that all seem to add up to the same number of beats?????
It is confusing! - Very roughly, the bottom figure in a time signature denotes the pace or speed of the music, but that is an over simplification...
Thank you. So clear and simple. Much appreciated!
Thanks . Great video, but I'm still left with same question- 'Is 2/2 timing for example, slower than 2/4 time? My guess is yes because 2/2 is counting 2 minims & 2/4 time is counting two crotchets. I know it sounds a simple question, but am I correct please?
Yes, you are!
The time signature showing for yesterday was actually cut time not common time.
Good point!
this was really helpful thanks for playing the music it really helped to make sense of it in my mind on how to play the different time sigs.
Glad to have been of help!
Very clear and helpful. Thank you!
Thanks so much for the video. Learnt a lot!
This was so helpful! Thank you so much for making this video.
Glad it was helpful!
Awesome teacher and great accent!
Wow, thank you!
It's like DadCubed and Ashens had a gamechild.
Very good video, it's helped in my own attempt to make music
Great stuff! - Glad you got something from it.
can you demonstrate the dance of eternity?
Dave Brubeck's take 5 is using the 5/4 "clave" rhythm, which I like to call the "fake 5/4" because it is actually a 10/8 rythm, like the mission impossible theme and many other 5/4 rhythm. The difference between the true 5/4 and the fake 5/4
Is the down beat.
True 5/4: liiii,lilii,liili,etc.(l is the strong down beat, i is the upbeat)
Fake 5/4(10/8): liiliilili
What I mean is a lot clearer when you try to clap the strong and weak beats. Listening to the pieces can also help understand and identify the different beats. I called the 5/4 clave fake because it does not fairly represent the feeling you get when you listen to 5/4. It sounds like 10/8.
Great explanation Jeff! - I used it because it was probably the song that most people know...
Another theme people might know is the Isengard theme from Lord of the Rings.
Beautifully done. I hope you get to help millions before you’re done.
It makes sense only if you know the types of notes ! Whole, half. Quarter etc... that is.
Truly appreciated
Thanks!
That made so much sense to me with it being related to music I know so well. Thank you!
Great video. Opening my mind!
Glad it was helpful!
Finally, I can play L's theme.
Here is a dumb question from me.
In physical time (sec) how long is the 4 in 3/4 or 5/4?
Is it 3 beats in 1 sec or 3 beats in 2 sec etc.. ?
The answer to your questions is TEMPO.
It (sits above the script &) tells the speed in which that piece of music should b played.
(then below.. description of tonality of the piece & then the time signature 2 tell the rhythmical aspect in the script, in the time frame defined by tempo above).
That speed is in nowadays music expressed via "beats per minute" - bpm & therefrom, if it fancy your eagerness, u can calculate the exact durance of 1 beat in secs..
Metronomes also express tempo in bpm.
The same piece of music can & often is played in different tempos.
Changing the tempo (speed) u'll still remain with the same structure of the piece, but change of time signature will change the structure of it ( 4 exp.waltz can b fast or slow but has 2 b time signature of 3/4, otherwise it's not a waltz :)
That's how i see it, hope it helps!
@@MoVed33 thanks!! That's definitely a push in the right direction..
Yes MoVed33's answer is good - if the song is 120bpm (beats per minute) then each beat is half a second, so the '4' would mean 2 seconds.
Thank you very, very much for this beautiful lesson!
Great! - Glad you got something fromit...
Oh it makes more sense now. Just listening to it makes it more clearer hmmm no wonder time signatures are important when it comes to timing the piece.
Glad you got something from it!
One small correction; the splitted C cymbol is not 4/4 but 2/2. Could be transcribed to 4/4 but the pulse is different.
Thanks for that correction! - will bear in mind in future...
@@BrettGossage No problem, thanks for the videos!
Thank you, very useful video, exactly what I was looking for.
Glad to be of help!
This video is really good and has helped me understand thank you
Glad it helped!
thanks for posting, way to make things simple like they should be
Exactly, thanks!
Finally! Someone has explained time signatures in a way I can understand. Thank you so much. xxx
No Problem Rebecca!
You're a good teacher
Thanks - I like to make things simple to understand!
Great video! Very helpful! Thank you!
Glad you got something from it!
Very helpful, simple and interesting video
Best explanation of this ive heard
Great video! I gained answers to almost all the questions I had about time signatures in 10 minutes.
The one thing I'm wondering though, is how do you determine the emphasis on the beat for melody? What I mean is illustrated below with capitalized words being the emphasized beat.
ONE two three four
one TWO three four
and any variation on that.
Let's use Money as an example. Would the count go like this?
ONE two three four FIVE six seven
The emphasis is sometimes called the 'Accent' and there are no hard rules for determining it. A traditional 4/4 or 'common time' song might go: 'ONE two three four' or if it had a reggae beat, it would be 'one TWO three FOUR'. Accents are not usually shown in sheet music, so sometimes the rhythm and accents come out just by playing the music.
In 'Money' it should be: 'ONE two three FOUR five SIX seven', splitting the seven beats into 3 + 2 + 2, but you could accent nearly ANY combination of beats.
I should have stated that I know what accents are to avoid confusion. That's what accents are essentially, a beat that is emphasized.
But where I'm confused is what that is based on. When I think of beat, I think of drums. Even though I know the beat refers to things like tempo, etc, that's what I associated it with.
So, if you take something like Tubular Bells, which has no drums, where is the accent? Does the note that has the accent usually have a slightly longer note? Say your notes are quarters, does the accent extend for longer?
In tubular Bells, there are irregular accented notes which have a mind all of their own! As I said, when you play the music, the accented notes 'come out of the playing' and you subconsciously put them in - there are no rules!
If you were to analyse the accented notes, you find that they may be a fraction longer than unaccented ones, but not enough to change the overall time signature.
This was great! Thank you so much.
Glad you got something from it!